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The government has announced a £150 million cash injection for struggling high streets across the UK, but small business owners and industry leaders have warned the funding risks being little more than a “trivial sticking plaster on a gaping economic wound”. The funding, unveiled as part of a forthcoming High Streets Strategy, will be targeted at town centres hit hardest by years of shop closures, rising costs and declining footfall. Ministers said the money would...

Greater adoption of agentic artificial intelligence could help rejuvenate Britain’s sluggish economy, according to business and technology leaders speaking at an AI summit held at the House of Lords. The event, chaired by Steven George-Hilley, founder of Centropy PR, brought together senior figures from the technology, legal, financial services and cybersecurity sectors to examine how AI is reshaping economic growth, jobs and boardroom decision-making. A central theme of the summit was the role of agentic...

Rising taxes and operating costs forced more than one in five UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to make redundancies last year, underlining the growing strain on business owners as financial pressures mount. A survey commissioned by Rathbones, one of the UK’s largest wealth and asset management groups, found that 21 per cent of SME leaders were compelled to cut staff in response to higher costs and tax burdens. The poll of more than 1,000...

The UK Government is facing renewed pressure to freeze hotel business rate revaluations, after Northern Ireland moved to halt the process following an outcry from hospitality operators. Hotel owners and advisers warn that without similar action in England, Scotland and Wales, many operators will be hit with unsustainable cost increases from April 2026, on top of higher employment taxes and rising operating expenses. Frazer Callingham, managing director of Starboard Hotels, said the contrast with Northern...

HM Revenue & Customs is preparing to embark on a technology spending programme worth more than £2 billion over the next two years, as long-running efforts to modernise its ageing IT estate continue to run into delays and rising costs. According to HMRC’s latest procurement pipeline, the tax authority will begin with a large-scale data warehouse transformation programme, expected to be worth around £410 million. The contract will combine the running and modification of existing...

British manufacturers are scaling back exports to the United States as uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump’s shifting tariff policies disrupt trade and supply chains, according to new industry research. A joint study by Make UK and DHL Express found that 20 per cent of UK factories have already stopped or reduced exports to the US in response to tariff uncertainty. A further 16 per cent said they plan to reduce their reliance on the...

UK unemployment is expected to rise to its highest level in five years in 2026 as previously announced tax increases begin to weigh on growth and hiring, according to new forecasts from the EY Item Club. The forecasters warned that joblessness could peak at 5.2 per cent in the first half of this year, up from the current 5.1 per cent and the highest level since January 2021, as modest economic growth is constrained by...

The Bank of England is widely expected to keep interest rates on hold this week after inflation rose for the first time in five months, although markets believe the door remains open to a cut later in the spring. Analysts expect the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to vote to maintain the base rate at 3.75 per cent when it announces its decision on Thursday. The rate is already at a three-year low following four...