Business

Plans for a multibillion pound mass market sale of the government’s stake in NatWest Group have been derailed by Rishi Sunak’s decision to call a summer general election. Sky News can reveal that a proposed retail offer of shares in the taxpayer-backed bank will be scuppered by the timing of the poll. The Treasury has

A victim of the Post Office Horizon scandal has told Sky News that ex-boss Paula Vennells must “come clean” in her evidence to the statutory inquiry. Chirag Sidhpura, a former sub-postmaster who became one of the public champions for justice based on his own treatment at the hands of the Post Office, said he was

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said the UK economy is heading for a “soft landing” but reiterated its message to Jeremy Hunt that he should not have cut national insurance at the last two fiscal events. In its annual check-up on the state of Britain’s economy, the Washington-based Fund also warned of a black

The rate of price rises has dropped to 2.3% in April – the lowest in nearly three years and closer to the Bank of England’s target, according to official data. Inflation is at a low not seen since July 2021, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Money latest: Do Sunak and Hunt deserve any

The government is set to offer “skills boot camps” in an attempt to get people on benefits back into work and to fill job roles previously held by foreign workers. In a speech on Tuesday, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride will promise job training for sectors experiencing shortages, such as social care, hospitality and

Traders are facing increased costs and more paperwork due to Brexit border controls, according to a new report from the independent public spending watchdog. The government is estimated to have spent £4.7bn so far but some of that spending was not necessary, the National Audit Office (NAO) has said. Despite the UK voting to leave

Getir, the grocery delivery app which this month confirmed plans to exit the UK, has an outstanding debt to Tottenham Hotspur Football Club running to millions of pounds. Sky News understands that Turkey-based Getir, whose three-year training kit sponsorship deal with Spurs expired at the end of the Premier League season on Sunday, owes close

Billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe has told Sky News that Britain is ready for a change of government after scolding the Conservatives over their handling of the economy and immigration after Brexit. While insisting his petrochemicals conglomerate INEOS is apolitical, Sir Jim backed Brexit and spent last weekend with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at Manchester

Marks & Spencer’s website and app has not been working for several hours, with a message telling shoppers “you can’t shop with us right now”. “We’re working hard to be back online as soon as possible,” it adds. All the menus and images have disappeared apart from one showing a model in a green jacket.

Bosses at Revolut, Britain’s biggest fintech, are drawing up plans to allow employees to cash in with a sale of stock valued at hundreds of millions of pounds. Sky News has learnt that the banking and payments services provider is lining up investment bankers to coordinate a secondary share sale worth in the region of

The Post Office scandal inquiry has said it will “urgently” review dozens of new documents it has received from former chief executive Paula Vennells. The inquiry heard her legal team had conducted further searches ahead of her appearance next week and found 50 additional documents that had previously not been shared. A spokesperson for the

The Body Shop’s administrators are to launch an auction of the chain after concluding that an alternative restructuring of one of Britain’s best-known high street retailers was not viable. Sky News has learnt that FRP Advisory, which has been overseeing the collapsed business since January, is to begin formally sounding out potential buyers in the

A former Post Office executive has said she was forced to block ex-boss Paula Vennells’ phone number after the ex-CEO called multiple times asking for help to avoid an independent inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal. Lesley Sewell, previously the company’s head of IT, told the Post Office inquiry on Thursday that former CEO Ms

London City Airport will on Thursday name its first permanent female chief executive as it targets approval of an expansion plan that would create nearly 1,500 jobs. Sky News understands that the Docklands airport has told staff that Alison FitzGerald, who has been co-CEO since January alongside finance chief Wilma Allen, has landed the role.

The owner of Royal Mail has said it is “minded” to accept a revised takeover bid by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. The latest offer from Mr Kretinsky’s investment firm EP Group values the Royal Mail parent company International Distribution Services (IDS) at £3.5bn. An earlier offer had been rejected last month as being too low.

Representatives of Thames Water’s multinational syndicate of shareholders are poised to quit as directors of its corporate entities after refusing to inject the billions of pounds of funding required to bail it out. Sky News has learnt that a number of board members at companies connected to Kemble Water Finance, Thames’s parent, are expected to

A former Post Office communications director told fellow employees he was at “the heart of a corporate cover-up”, at the same time as sub-postmaster prosecutions were taking place and years before an apology was made to victims. The inquiry into faulty Horizon software, and the associated prosecution of 700 sub-postmasters for theft and false accounting,

The new version of the ChatGPT AI chatbot has been unveiled and offers near-instant results across text, vision and audio, according to its maker. OpenAI said it was much better at understanding visuals and sounds than previous versions. It offers the prospect of real-time ‘conversations’ with the chatbot, including the ability to interrupt its answers.

The prospects for an interest rate cut next month have not been helped by the latest wage growth figures which have come in higher than expected. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed regular wage growth, excluding the effects of bonuses, was 6% higher over the three months to March compared with a

Young homebuyers are being forced to gamble with their retirement prospects by taking on ultra-long mortgages, according to a former pensions minister. Sir Steve Webb described data – supplied by the Financial Conduct Authority to the Bank of England – as “shocking”. It suggests that more than one million new mortgages have been issued over