Fowl play: Morrisons loses £17m VAT battle over rotisserie chickens December 16, 2025 Supermarket giant Morrisons faces a £17m tax bill after the First-Tier Tax Tribunal threw out its dispute over VAT on cool-down rotisserie chickens. The dispute arose from George Osborne’s controversial 2012 Finance Act changes that sought to clarify the VAT treatment of hot takeaway food, famously known as the “pasty tax” debacle. Morrisons tried to [...]
Premier League clubs count £1bn cost of injuries December 16, 2025 Premier League clubs have forked out more than £1bn in wages to injured players across the last five years, a new study has found. Since the start of the 2020-21 season, 5,367 injuries in the English top flight have cost its clubs £1.2bn in salary payments – equivalent to a quarter of their matchday revenue [...]
Kylian Mbappe wins £53m payout from Paris Saint-Germain December 16, 2025 Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain have been ordered to pay Kylian Mbappe €60m (£53m) after he won a legal dispute over unpaid wages and bonuses. Mbappe had been claiming €263m (£231m) from PSG, who counter-sued the France captain for €240m (£211m), following his acrimonious move to Real Madrid in summer 2024. A French labour court [...]
Redundancies hit highest level since pandemic as unemployment climbs higher December 16, 2025 The UK unemployment rate jumped above the 5 per cent mark and redundancies surged to their highest level since the pandemic. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published damning figures on Tuesday morning that will likely send chills throughout the Labour government ministers ahead of the Christmas break. It said the number of payrolled employess [...]
FCA boss: Treasury and MPs slowing deregulation push December 16, 2025 The pedestrian pace of government and parliament is preventing City watchdogs from introducing pro-growth measures fast enough, the boss of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said as he called for the introduction of statutory timetables to ensure the Treasury ratifies deregulation faster. Nikhil Rathi told the Treasury Committee that the FCA was “moving as [...]
Shoosmiths to give staff extra £1m after hitting AI target December 16, 2025 Law firm Shoosmiths will give staff an extra £1m in bonuses after they hit the firm’s annual target for 1m Microsoft Copilot prompts more than four months ahead of schedule, Morning Wire can reveal. The firm told Morning Wire in April that it had set a “clear and ambitious annual target” of 1m on its [...]
Leyton Orient hire firm behind world’s biggest stadium for new home December 16, 2025 Leyton Orient have appointed Populous, the architects behind Wembley and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, to design their new home in East London. The third-tier club announced plans earlier this year to relocate from Brisbane Road to a new ground, which will be the centre of a multi-use development also featuring shops, restaurants and leisure facilities. [...]
Housing market set for ‘return to normality’ after year of uncertainty December 16, 2025 UK house prices have dropped around £2,000 in the last year despite improved access to mortgages and lower interest rates. The average price of a home in the four weeks to 6 December was £358,138, which is 0.6 per cent ( £2,059) lower than the same period a year ago, according to Rightmove. Last year, meanwhile, house [...]
Monzo boss was ‘pushed out’ over IPO dispute December 16, 2025 The boss of digital bank Monzo is said to have been pushed out from the top role following a dispute with the company’s board over a potential stock market listing. TS Anil, Monzo’s chief executive of the last five years, is said to have been at odds with the fintech’s board ahead of his surprise [...]
BBC charter review opens with trust broken and money running out December 16, 2025 The government has fired the starting gun on a charter review that will determine how the BBC is governed, funded, and held to account. Culture secretary Lisa Nandy on Tuesday launched the formal review of the BBC’s Royal Charter, setting out a broad consultation on trust and long-term funding as audience behaviour continues to shift [...]