Healey to unveil AI package with £100m biosecurity lab in Budget
John Healey will set out an AI investment package in Wednesday's Budget, with funding for biosecurity, cyber defence, chip design and UK AI firms.
Monday 26 October 2026
The latest news affecting small and medium sized (SME) businesses in the UK
John Healey will set out an AI investment package in Wednesday's Budget, with funding for biosecurity, cyber defence, chip design and UK AI firms.
Alex Depledge, the Treasury's entrepreneurship adviser, is stepping down this week and says ministers treat founders and innovation as a sideshow.
HMRC tax debt that the tax authority does not expect to collect has trebled to £12.9bn since 2019-20, according to a National Audit Office report.
The OpenAI valuation sought from investors has been cut by $150bn to $1.25tn after pushback, as concern grows over the cost of sustaining the AI boom.
Retail sales fell 0.4 per cent in September as households cut back on food and warm weather hit winter clothing, ONS figures show, days before the…
The Institute of Directors has backed Government plans to cut red tape for businesses, while urging ministers to avoid piecemeal changes and complexity.
UK consumer confidence fell 11 points to -24 in October, GfK's survey shows, the sharpest drop outside the pandemic since the 2016 EU referendum.
Rheinmetall has opened a Telford factory that restores UK gun barrel production after 20 years, making barrels and breeches for 120mm and 155mm guns.
Meta data privacy ruling: a New Mexico judge orders the Facebook owner to pay $25bn after a trial found it misled the public about user data…
Tech minister Baroness Lloyd tells peers there are 32 government services offline and four partly unavailable as officials patch a critical PHP flaw.
Barclays job cuts will remove about 5,000 roles this year as the bank rolls out AI; Q3 pre-tax profit rose 12 per cent to £2.3bn, with…
NatWest has launched the NatWest Youth Offer, a place-based scheme it says will connect more than 10,000 young people with jobs, training and enterprise.
The $15m Firstwork Series A, led by Earlybird VC, will fund AI agents that clear frontline workers for their first shift across the US and Europe.
