Finanse

Broadband should be made more accessible to people on benefits by encouraging them to use discounted deals designed for them, experts say. They told the Lords Digital Committee's digital exclusion hearings that cutting VAT on broadband could help people who struggle with "digital exclusion".more

British opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer today outlined "five missions for a better Britain," the priorities of his future government, which, with Labour's steady poll lead, is an increasingly realistic prospect.more

The Government’s surprise decision to end a decade-old investor residency programme – commonly known as a ‘golden visa’ scheme – came after concerns were raised about unvetted applicants and a lack of real job creation.more

New state pension rates are set to come into force on April 6, 2023. The new state pension was first announced in April 2016, with transitional agreements in place that are set to end on April 5, 2023.more

The Chesterford Group's CEO says many prices are stabilising but there are additional costs still feeding through that are yet to be felt by customers seeking out the nation's favourite takeaway dish.more

The UK government saw a surprise surplus in its finances in January despite "substantial spending" to help with energy bills and EU payments. more

Britain's biggest grocer Tesco has agreed to increase its workers' wages by 7%, marking their third pay rise in just 10 months. more

Energy provider Pinergy has become the first energy supplier here to reduce its prices since elevated wholesale costs began to fall on international markets. more

Almost two in three Britons believe Brexit has damaged the UK economy, a new poll for The Independent has found. Some 61 per cent of voters say quitting the EU has made Britain’s economy worse, according to the Savanta survey – with only 13 per cent saying it has improved the economic situation.more

Nearly 15,000 British retail jobs have already been cut since January in a “brutal start to the year” for the high street. A total of 14,874 retail job losses have been announced by companies so far, according to analysis from the Centre for Retail Research (CRR).more

London's mayor Sadiq Khan has announced he is launching a £130m scheme to give every primary school pupil free school meals for the next academic year. The mayor's office said it is estimated the one-off funding could help more than 270,000 children in the capital during the 2023-24 academic year.more

A crackdown on unregulated buy now, pay later (BNPL) schemes is set to protect around 10 million Britons from borrowing what they cannot afford to pay back, ministers said.more

We’ve seen some whacky London living solutions emerge as rent continues to rise in the capital. more

The National Lottery has revealed where two unclaimed tickets – worth a whopping £1,000,000 each – were bought. more

A record win of €371 million fell yesterday in the Italian numbers game Superenalotto. However, this amount will not be awarded to one person, but to 90 players who chose the system game. Each will therefore receive around €4 million.more

The UK’s annual inflation rate fell in January, continuing a decline to 10.1% from a peak of 11.1% in October. But households remain under pressure as prices continue to rise for a wide range of goods and services. Despite the fall in the headline reading, the price of many goods and services continued to rise at a much faster rate.more

British Gas owner Centrica has posted huge profits after oil and gas prices soared last year, sparking renewed calls for energy firms to pay more tax. Its profits hit £3.3bn for 2022, more than triple the £948m it made in 2021. more

The Swiss government yesterday declared the confiscation of Russian oligarchs' assets and their transfer to Ukraine for reparations to be unconstitutional, Reuters reported.more

High-end grocer to reduce prices of hundreds of items in its Essential range by average of 14%.more

Nearly two-thirds of retail workers are earning less than €451 per week, new research from the Mandate trade union shows. more

The UK's annual inflation rate fell to 10.1 per cent in January from 10.5 per cent in December last year, and this is the third consecutive month that price growth has slowed, the ONS statistics office here reported today.more

Millions of households in Britain are facing another financial squeeze with local authorities set to raise council tax by the maximum amount possible as they attempt to make up for funding shortages. more

A&E waiting times have deteriorated so much this winter that at some hospitals in England more than half of patients have had to wait more than four hours.more

Due to the surplus of wine in France, the Ministry of Agriculture plans to spend €160 million on distilling the liquor to obtain industrial alcohol for pharmaceutical and cosmetic use, French public radio station RFI reported.more

British employers expect to raise wages for their staff by the most in at least 11 years but the 5% pay deals for workers would still fall well below expected inflation, a survey published on Monday showed.more