Business

It’s a long time ago and a lot has happened since then but can you remember how much money Rishi Sunak set aside to spend on COVID-19 in last year’s budget? I’ll give you a clue: the amount this country has now spent on coronavirus is close to £280bn and still rising. OK… as clues

What’s going to be in the budget? A lot of the big announcements have already been revealed, leaked, or guessed at. Here’s what to expect: HOUSINGA mortgage guarantee scheme will help home buyers purchase properties worth up to £600,000 with a deposit of just 5% with the government underwriting the other 95%.Rishi Sunak could also

Rishi Sunak should use this Budget to ditch the government’s pensions triple lock, lift taxes on older voters and should be wary of raising corporation taxes, according to former chancellor Ken Clarke. The intervention from Lord Clarke carries some weight, since he was the chancellor who introduced tough spending limits and tax rises in the

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been told by MPs that “now is not the time for tax rises” – though a moderate hike in corporation tax could help the government without damaging growth. A report from the Treasury select committee acknowledged that the public finances are on an “unsustainable” path long term but argued that it

A £5bn grant scheme to help pubs, restaurants and retailers hit hardest by lockdown restrictions is set to be unveiled by the chancellor in Wednesday’s budget. Rishi Sunak is also planning to support first-time buyers by incentivising lenders to accept deposits of just 5% for properties up to £600,000. The chancellor has warned hard decisions

Guildford High Street, with its pretty cobbled streets, chi chi shops and historical architecture, is the perfect example of an affluent commuter suburb. But even this pleasant corner of Surrey hasn’t been immune from the economic shock of the pandemic. The Hair and Beauty Bar has been a staple on the High Street for 21

Britain’s second-richest family is exploring plans to join a wave of “blank cheque” mergers in a move that could see another major UK electric vehicle manufacturer going public in the US. Sky News has learnt that Ashok Leyland, the Indian-listed group controlled by the Hindujas, is working with bankers on a potential merger of Switch

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has warned that Britain’s public finances will face “enormous strains” in the wake of the latest national lockdown. Ahead of Wednesday’s Budget announcement, Mr Sunak told the Financial Times a bill for the government’s £280bn investment in coronavirus support will eventually have to be paid, with low interest rates leaving the nation’s

NatWest Group is braced for the government to further delay its target date for returning the lender to full ownership, raising the prospect that it could face almost 20 years as a partially nationalised company. Sky News understands that the Treasury is likely to confirm alongside Rishi Sunak‘s Budget next week that its ambition of

The parent firm of British Airways has called for the introduction of digital health passes to help reopen the skies while revealing a €7.4bn (£6.5bn) annual loss as a result of coronavirus pandemic disruption. International Airlines Group (IAG) demanded a global approach, with common testing standards, as the travel industry reels from a disastrous 12

Asda has warned that 3,000 workers in its stores are at risk of losing their jobs as the chain plans to ramp up investment in online sales. The UK’s third-largest supermarket chain said the shake-up was driven by the shift in demand towards grocery deliveries which charged forward for the sector as a whole at

There were an estimated 4.7 million employees furloughed at the end of January with women accounting for the majority of the number, according to provisional Treasury figures. They showed a leap in demand for the Job Retention Scheme, which provides up to 80% of salaries, during the month as England entered its third COVID-19 lockdown.

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has warned Brussels against creating a “serious escalation” by forcing firms to relocate euro clearing business away from the UK. Mr Bailey told MPs Britain should “resist very firmly” any attempt by the EU to try to dismantle by “dubious” means the dominance of London in clearing euro-denominated derivatives

Lloyds Banking Group says it is to expand its insurance and wealth businesses as rock bottom interest rates and bad loan provisions take their toll on profitability. The bank, which returned to private hands in 2017 following its taxpayer bailout during the financial crisis, revealed a 72% slump in pre-tax profits for 2020. Much of

The number of foreign-born workers in the UK saw its largest fall on record last year, official figures suggest. Employment data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed there were 795,000 fewer such workers in Britain in the last quarter of 2020 than a year earlier. The figures suggested that the number of

Rates of pay growth are running at their highest level since 2008, according to official figures which also show the first rise in payrolled employment since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported average weekly earnings up by 4.7% on an annual basis during the three months to December.