Reynolds fails to confirm British Steel will get raw materials required April 13, 2025 The business secretary has declined to guarantee that British Steel will be able to secure enough raw materials in time to keep the Scunthorpe blast furnaces going. Jonathan Reynolds said he would not “make my situation or the nation’s situation more difficult” by commenting on specific commercial details, the day after taking emergency powers to [...]
Reeves unveils £500m support for tariff-affected small businesses April 13, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has launched a £500m plan to smaller businesses affected by US president Donald Trump’s tariffs. Run by the British Business Bank, the Growth Guarantee Scheme will now provide additional lending capacity for firms that will need support with cashflow issues due to changes in tariffs. Lending up to £2m per business group, [...]
Labour MP calls for action over Grangemouth oil refinery April 12, 2025 A Labour MP has urged the UK Government to intervene to help the Grangemouth oil refinery remain open, saying there are “striking similarities” between the plant there and the Scunthorpe steel plant. Brian Leishman said he hoped the UK Government would nationalise British Steel and take the plant at Scunthorpe “under Government control” – but [...]
MPs begin debating emergency law to save British Steel April 12, 2025 The Business Secretary accused British Steel’s Chinese owners of attempting to “unilaterally” close down its Scunthorpe blast furnaces as MPs began debating emergency legislation to save the plant. Jonathan Reynolds told MPs that developments over recent days had made Saturday’s extraordinary sitting of Parliament necessary as Jingye rejected the Government’s offer of support and took [...]
Trump, tariffs and GDP: How do you forecast uncertainty? April 12, 2025 The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), one of the UK’s central forecasters, prepared itself for President Trump’s tariff war – or at least partially. At a presentation after Chancellor Reeves’ Spring Statement, OBR chair Richard Hughes admitted the fiscal watchdog’s central forecast risked being completely undermined by global events. Hughes came up with three possible [...]
UK growth in February smashes low expectations April 11, 2025 The UK economy grew by 0.5 per cent in February, official data has shown, beating forecasters’ expectations by a wide margin. A Bloomberg poll of economists predicted growth to come in at 0.1 per cent for the month. UK GDP grew 0.6 per cent in the three months to February, the Office for National Statistics [...]
Layoffs creating bigger pool of jobseekers, recruiters say April 11, 2025 More people were added to the large pool of jobseekers in March than at any point since the pandemic, according to recruiters, as high levels of redundancies are driving a “steeper rise” in staff availability. Employers have come under greater strain in the months since Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ announced a £25bn national insurance tax raid [...]
Bank of England’s postponement of bond sale is a ‘precaution’ April 10, 2025 The Bank of England’s decision to postpone the sale of long-dated bonds to after June following market volatility was a “precaution”, according to deputy governor Sarah Breeden. President Donald Trump’s tariffs sent markets around the world into a state of panic as 30-year gilt yields surged to its highest level since 1998, pushing up borrowing [...]
Cabinet Office to shed 2,100 jobs as government shrinks civil service April 10, 2025 The Cabinet Office will lose almost a third of its staff as Labour seeks to shrink the civil service, the government has announced. Around 1,200 jobs will go through redundancies and leavers not being replaced under plans unveiled to civil servants on Thursday, with another 900 transferred to other departments. The 2,100 job cuts represent [...]
UK-India trade deal reportedly 90 per cent agreed, businesses told April 10, 2025 The UK’s trade deal with India is reportedly 90 per cent agreed, businesses have been told, according to a report in the Guardian. Firms were informed on a call with trade negotiators this week that some remaining issues included cars, pharmaceutical drugs and the whisky trade, the newspaper reported, with India currently the largest overseas [...]