Category: News

Asos to close its main US warehouse in Georgia, taking a £200m impairment charge to boost profitability. The fashion giant will serve American shoppers from a UK facility and a smaller US site, cutting costs while slowing delivery times.

Mitchells & Butlers, operator of Harvester and Toby Carvery, reports strong festive sales but cautions on a “material adverse impact” from poor weather. Rising labour costs after the budget add further pressure, yet analysts highlight M&B’s underlying resilience.

Britain’s vital west coast main line faces up to ten years of closures in a £3.84bn upgrade of overhead wires, signals and track. Discover how these essential works will disrupt travel between Scotland and England, with weeks-long shutdowns each year from 2026.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves refuses to dismiss a second Budget in March, pointing to global market pressures and reaffirming her fiscal rules. Meanwhile, gilt sales signal rising yields and potential headwinds for her economic plans.

Regional hiring in the UK has plunged by 45pc amid Rachel Reeves’s NI increases, with recruitment firm Robert Walters citing waning confidence. Labour’s employment law overhaul could add further pressure on employers.

West End retailers face a £44.5m annual rise in business rates, prompting fears of store closures and job losses as new government reforms pile pressure on high-street shops.

Senior Lloyds bankers could lose part of their bonuses for failing to meet a two-day office attendance rule, as employers across the UK tighten remote working policies.

Rachel Reeves faces mounting pressure as the cost of borrowing soars and Labour’s poll rating collapses, with Reform UK edging within a point of Labour. Despite speculation, Sir Keir Starmer pledges she will remain chancellor until 2029.

Charlie Mullins, former Pimlico Plumbers boss, backs Reform UK after leaving Britain over tax hikes by the new Labour government, with Nigel Farage urging him to run for office.

Morrisons publicly supports farmers in a standoff with Sir Keir Starmer’s Government over planned inheritance tax changes on farmland. Protests loom amid fears smaller family farms could be forced to sell land or face crippling tax bills.

Fears rise over 2,700 jobs at Spirit Aerosystems’ Belfast factory amid a stalled takeover by Boeing and a partial buyout by Airbus, leaving the future of Northern Ireland’s largest private employer hanging in the balance.

Traders are increasingly betting on a significant drop in the pound as concerns mount over the Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s ability to stick to her fiscal targets following a sharp rise in borrowing costs.

British manufacturing giant JCB has backtracked on plans to convert 500 agency staff to permanent positions, citing “challenging market conditions” in the wake of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s recent tax-raising Budget.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is once again inviting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from across the country to compete in its Made in the UK, Sold to the World Awards, with entries open until 9 March.