Business

Unions are calling on the UK government to inject £200 million into British Steel, in a last-ditch attempt to keep its two blast furnaces in Scunthorpe running until electric arc replacements can be brought online. The trade union Community warns that without additional support, the rapid shutdown of Scunthorpe’s coal-fuelled blast furnaces could spark nearly […]

Lloyds Banking Group has posted a 20 per cent drop in annual pre-tax profits for 2024, missing City forecasts amid rising costs and one-off charges linked to the ongoing motor finance commission scandal. The FTSE 100 lender recorded profits of £5.97 billion last year, down from £7.5 billion in 2023 and below analyst expectations of

Small businesses across the UK are urging the government to scale back its proposed Employment Rights Bill, warning that sweeping changes could hamper hiring and trigger widespread job losses. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), which represents thousands of employers nationwide, claims the plans — including expanded grounds for unfair dismissal and automatic sick pay

Senior City of London bankers have urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to soften plans for abolishing non-domiciled tax status, claiming the policy is prompting high-earning foreign workers to relocate. At a breakfast meeting in No 11, representatives from major financial services firms, including BlackRock, Schroders, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, raised concerns over

Turning your smartphone interface darker might not preserve battery power after all. Despite long-held beliefs that “dark mode” extends battery life — particularly on phones equipped with power-saving OLED screens — a new BBC study has found that most users compensate by pushing their brightness levels higher, effectively negating any energy gains. According to the

Confidence in the state of the economy has slid to its lowest level since last spring, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). The trade body’s latest monthly survey — conducted among 2,000 UK adults — shows consumer confidence tumbling to a net balance of -37, down three points from January and marking an 11-month

Mira Murati, once the chief technology officer of OpenAI during the development of ChatGPT, has unveiled a new venture — Thinking Machines Lab — with an initial team of about 30 researchers and engineers. Notably, the group includes several former OpenAI colleagues and hires from Character.AI and Google DeepMind. Among the recruits are John Schulman,

HSBC has unveiled plans to cut staffing costs by 8% in a push to save $1.5 billion, with thousands of UK employees expected to bear the brunt of the losses. Georges Elhedery, the bank’s chief executive, announced that while HSBC’s 211,000-strong headcount will shrink by less than 8%, the overhaul will nonetheless involve significant job

Grenada’s Citizenship by Investment (CBI) program has become an increasingly sought-after option for wealthy individuals around the world, offering a pathway to a second citizenship in one of the Caribbean’s most beautiful and stable countries. This program allows investors and their families to obtain Grenadian passports by making a financial contribution through real estate or

Former President Donald Trump has proposed a range of tax policy initiatives, including extending the provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that are set to expire, reinstating the deduction for state and local taxes (SALT), lowering the corporate tax rate for domestic production, exempting certain income types from taxation, eliminating green