Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ spending review continues to generate headlines today, with the Mail reporting that experts were urging for the government to deliver a genuine industrial strategy to reboot the British economy.
In a “lavish spending spree”, Reeves backed an extra £2.2bn for R&D, a £2bn AI action plan, and £1.2bn a year for training and apprenticeships, but her announcement did nothing to change the size of the spending ‘envelope’ set out at the time of her spring statement, the Mail criticised.
It comes as nearly a third of smaller UK firms have paused or axed parts of their businesses over the past two years in response to a lack of financing, according to YouGov data analysed by Manx Financial Group.
The UK government has agreed a post-Brexit deal with the EU on Gibraltar, unpicking another issue in its negotiations with Brussels.
Foreign secretary David Lammy flew to the British overseas territory late last night for talks with ministers there, before heading on to Brussels for finalising talks with the EU and Spain (Sky News).
Prices of toys, car parts and major appliances jumped in the US last month, but the overall impact of Donald Trump’s new tariffs on consumers remained relatively muted.
Prices were up 2.4% in May compared with a year ago, up from a rate of 2.3% in April, the latest official inflation figures showed (BBC).
Cheaper petrol partially offset higher rents, but inflation is expected to accelerate in the coming months on the back of the Trump administration’s import tariffs (Reuters).
Fuller, Smith & Turner has hiked prices in efforts to offset soaring labour costs, the pub group said on Tuesday, as it revealed profits jumped by almost a third last year.
Chief executive Simon Emeny has said the group increased the price of a pint of beer by abut 15p across its sites after being hit with £8m in extra staff costs related to the Chancellor’s autumn budget (The Mail).
The rate of women being hired into UK leadership roles has fallen for the third year in a row, with increasing barriers to top jobs as they advance through their careers, according to figures from LinkedIn.
The professional networking site revealed women were hired into just more than a third – 36.8% – of leadership positions in the year to March 1, down 2.1% year on year (The Standard).
Starbucks has received “a lot of interest” in the sale of a stake in its China business as the US coffee chain explores a partnership with an outside investor to restore growth there, its chief executive Brian Niccol told the FT.
Beer maker Heineken will invest $2.75bn in different projects in Mexico, the company’s CEO in the country Oriol Bonaclocha said in a press conference yesterday (Reuters).
Three-quarters of parents have bought their children beauty products in the last year, a survey suggests.
Parents have spent £111 on average on items such as lip balms (41%), face moisturisers (39%), and cleansers (37%), according to the poll for cashback and rewards site Rakuten (The Independent).
No comments yet