Business

The father of a two-year-old boy who died after exposure to mould at his housing association flat has backed proposals to bring in a strict time frame for landlords to fix problems. The new requirements are part of a consultation on measures under legislation named after Awaab Ishak. Awaab died in December 2020 from a

Barclays is in the process of removing 5,000 roles from its global workforce in recent months as part of a renewed push by executives to slash costs and improve the bank’s profitability. Sky News has learnt that a total of roughly 5,000 jobs were shed from the British bank’s 84,000-strong ranks during 2023, with about

A petition calling for former Post Office boss Paula Vennells to lose her CBE over the Horizon scandal has attracted more than one million signatures. Demands to remove Ms Vennells CBE emerged again after ITV aired a new drama into the scandal, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which tells how former subpostmasters and subpostmistresses

Planned strikes which would have crippled London Underground services this week have been called off, according to a union. RMT say the industrial action by its workers on the Tube network – scheduled to take place from Monday to Thursday – will no longer go ahead, after positive talks with Transport for London (TfL). The

Dramatic footage shows the moments after a window and chunk of fuselage blew out of a passenger plane in mid-air, leaving a gaping hole in the side of the Boeing 737-9 MAX.  One Alaska Airlines passenger on the affected flight said a boy and his mother were sitting in the same row as the damage

Some of BP’s largest shareholders have urged it to approach Charles Woodburn, the BAE Systems chief executive, about becoming the FTSE-100 oil behemoth’s next boss. Sky News has learnt that several large investors believe that BP should target the appointment of an external candidate as its CEO for the first time in its 114-year history.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is unsure if the government can afford further tax cuts – as a National Insurance (NI) reduction comes into force today. The pre-election cut to NI, from 12% to 10%, will impact around 27 million payroll employees across the UK. A person earning the UK’s average salary of £35,000 will save £450

The chairman of NatWest bank has come under fire after he claimed it is not “that difficult” for people to get on the property ladder in the UK. Sir Howard Davies said that while some found it hard to “start the process”, aspiring homeowners “have to save and that is the way it always used

Here’s a sentence which might sound a little odd: higher interest rates have been good news for the UK economy. For the first time in many decades, the pain faced by borrowers from higher interest rates has been more than balanced out by the benefit experienced by savers from those interest rates. If this sounds

Sir Keir Starmer has refused to commit to unfreezing tax thresholds if Labour wins the next general election, saying he won’t make promises he can’t keep. However, the Labour leader was firmer in his position on inheritance tax, telling Sky News if the Tories reduce it, he will reverse that change because he does not

Imported foods may be labelled when they do not meet welfare standards, as the government considers measures to help shoppers “buy British”. Environment Secretary Steve Barclay is set to announce plans to change labelling on goods to clarify if it is produced to the highest standards, as part of sweeping reform to support farmers. Mr

A string of banks and building societies are likely to follow the UK’s largest lender in cutting mortgage rates in the coming weeks, experts have said. It comes after Halifax reduced its rates by up to 0.83% on Tuesday, including a two-year deal of 4.68% with a £999 fee. Lloyds Banking Group, which owns Halifax,

Two of the world’s largest container ship operators have extended diversions from the Red Sea following an attack on a vessel at the weekend that has been blamed for a renewed oil price volatility. Maersk had suspended, on Sunday, sailings near or via the Suez Canal after one of its giant carriers, the Maersk Hangzou,

The number of new first-time buyers with a mortgage fell last year to the UK’s lowest level in a decade, according to a new report. Yorkshire Building Society said around 290,000 first-time property owners entered the mortgage market in 2023 – a decline of more than a fifth on 2022’s total of 370,287. It comes

Philip Jansen, the outgoing BT Group boss, has been approached about becoming the next chairman of WPP, the FTSE-100 marketing services giant. Sky News has learnt that Mr Jansen, who is to step down from the telecoms company in the spring, is one of a number of prospective candidates to have been sounded out in

A British buyout firm is hoping to triumph in a two-way battle for Princes Foods, one of Britain’s biggest tinned produce manufacturers. Sky News understands that Epiris wants to secure a deal to buy Princes within days. Epiris has been bidding against Italy’s Newlat in recent weeks, with both said to remain in the running.

It was advertised as “the best job in the world” – beer tasting for a brewery in Northern Ireland – but the prospective employers did not anticipate 2,500 applicants. The offer of free beer, chips and a taxi home attracted global interest, but only a tiny proportion of the population has the genetic ability to

If you crack open a bottle of something – be it wine, water or soft drinks – over the festive season, there’s a good chance the glass came from the Encirc factory in Cheshire. Here, on the banks of the River Mersey, you will find one of the world’s largest glass factories. They take sand

Campaigners say hundreds of neglected historic buildings across the UK should be put to new uses to help meet the country’s net zero emissions targets. Eighteen buildings in Greater Manchester have been added to the Buildings at Risk register run by the campaign group SAVE Britain’s Heritage. They join more than 1,000 buildings nationwide which

The finance chief of The Daily Telegraph’s parent company is to leave amid a government-commissioned probe into the newspaper’s takeover by a state-backed Abu Dhabi investment vehicle. Sky News has learnt that Cormac O’Shea, who has been Telegraph Media Group’s (TMG) chief financial officer since the autumn of 2021, is likely to step down in