Business

Europe’s reliance on Russian oil and gas is funding the rape and murder of Ukrainian children, an MP and member of the country’s delegation to the World Economic Forum in Davos has told Sky News. Ivana Kylmpush-Tsintsadze, an MP and former minister, said Western states and companies need to end “business as usual” with Moscow,

The Royal Agricultural University (RAU) is launching a new scholarship scheme to encourage more British students from ethnic minorities to enter the farming sector. The RAU, one of the leading agricultural institutions in the UK, hopes the two undergraduate scholarships will increase diversity and equality in the industry – which is predominately made up of

A senior figure in Donald Trump’s Cabinet is plotting a £700m deal that would see one of Britain’s biggest digital-only banks being listed on the US stock market. Sky News has learnt that a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) set up by Wilbur Ross, who was President Trump’s commerce secretary between 2017 and 2021, is

Following the commercial success of Facebook’s Oculus virtual reality headset, companies are now in a race to develop the first consumer market-aimed augmented reality (AR) glasses. AR has been commonplace in consumer tech for some time, particularly popular in Instagram and Snapchat filters on smartphones. However, some companies are now aiming toward the sci-fi vision

Hundreds of staple grocery items had shot up in price by more than a fifth over the two years prior to the surge in food inflation caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to an investigation. As households get to grips with a growing cost of living crisis, the consumer group Which? said that shoppers

Britons must brace themselves for a “very unpleasant period”, with “considerable” interest rate hikes now needed to prevent a re-run of the 1970s, former Bank of England governor Mervyn King has warned. Lord King launched a coruscating attack on central banks including the Bank of England itself, saying they shared responsibility for the cost of

National Grid has seen its annual pre-tax profits increase by 107% to £3.4bn. The energy network operator attributed much of the rise to its £7.8bn purchase of Western Power Distribution (WPD), which was recently fined £14.9m for failing to help vulnerable customers. National Grid, which delivers electricity to households and businesses, previously said profits in

Royal Mail has said it will need to rise prices and cut costs in the face of soaring inflation. The company warned that it sees “significant headwinds” from rising costs including wages, energy and fuel. Royal Mail revealed that it aimed to make cost savings of £350m over the course of its current financial year

Britain’s biggest dairy producer has admitted the price of milk will continue to increase due to sky high energy costs that have already risen by 200%. Arla Foods’ chief commercial officer Peter Giortz-Carlson told Sky News that input costs, driven higher by the war in Ukraine, will have to be passed on to customers. His

There is no getting away from the shock of the headline figure here. The consumer price index is the main measure we use to track how fast the prices of the goods and services we tend to buy are rising. It’s far from a perfect measure: it takes a typical “shopping basket” of items based

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has written to the leading petrol retailers “to remind them of their responsibilities” to pass on tax cuts to motorists. The letter, sent to fuel giants on Tuesday, follows claims some retailers hiked profits following the 5p per litre fuel duty cut implemented by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in March to help

Real wages have dropped by 1.2% as regular pay growth fails to keep up with soaring inflation, according to the latest official figures. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that the fall in regular pay, which excludes bonus payments, intensified when the effects of inflation were included in the three months to March compared

The £4.25bn takeover of Chelsea Football Club has been thrown into fresh doubt amid a renewed impasse between owner Roman Abramovich and Whitehall over the deal’s terms. Sky News understands that government officials have doubts about whether a special licence needed to approve the sale will be issued before a deadline at the end of

The energy price cap, the mechanism that determines gas and electricity bills for 22 million households, could soon be reviewed every three months under plans announced by the industry regulator. Ofgem revealed that it was putting the idea out to consultation amid criticism that the current twice-yearly adjustment arrangement – in April and October –

Oil giant Saudi Aramco has revealed its profits skyrocketed by more than 80% in the first three months of the year, with prices buoyed by post-pandemic global demand and the Ukraine war. The bumper first-quarter earnings by the state-owned firm, which overtook Apple as the world’s most valuable company last week, showed a record net

The Premier League is considering a formal ban on debt-fuelled club takeovers as part of a far-reaching  overhaul of its ownership rules. Sky News has learnt that the 20 top-flight clubs are being canvassed by Premier League executives for their views on the merits of a block on so-called leveraged buyouts. The consultation process, which

What is Elon Musk up to? Not for the first time that’s the question on the minds of Twitter executives, global investors and many of his 92 million followers, after the world’s richest man announced, in a tweet, naturally, that his purchase of the social media platform is “temporarily on hold”. The impact was instant,

Diesel prices have hit a new record high wiping out the chancellor’s cut in fuel duty, latest figures show. The average cost of a litre of the fuel at the pump reached 178.4p on Monday, according to government data. The previous high of 177.5p was set two days before Rishi Sunak introduced a 5p per

It’s been a long time since I returned to Wigan. Situated equidistant between Liverpool and Manchester, the old mining town has stood proudly on the banks of the River Douglas, and later the Leeds Liverpool canal, since at least the seventh century. It’s been my family home since 1960. I went to school there in

Be in no doubt, today’s GDP figures are bad news indeed. Bad news as they show the economy is shrinking sooner than expected, down 0.1% in March. But bad news too, in terms of what it heralds for the rest of the year. All the signs and predictions were already that the worst is set