Royal Mail has announced it will double its apprenticeship support for small businesses, gifting another £1 million of its levy to help SMEs upskill their workforce. The move follows the success of its first £1m funding round, which was oversubscribed earlier this year. The new funding is open to SMEs with up to 250 employees that sell products online. It forms part of Royal Mail Means Business – a nationwide campaign launched to champion UK...
British brands are failing to unlock an estimated $10 billion in value by relying too heavily on short-term marketing tactics and struggling to differentiate themselves, according to the latest Kantar BrandZ Top 75 Most Valuable UK Brands report. Globally, brand contributes 33% of company value on average, but in the UK that figure slips to 29%, highlighting a significant gap in long-term brand building. While UK brands are generally well known and successful at meeting...
Cash from the £1.5 million government-backed commercial loan to support Jaguar Land Rover’s supply chain is not reaching smaller suppliers quickly enough, raising fears that many SMEs could collapse before funds filter through. The warning came during a webinar hosted by audit and advisory firm Crowe, where participants highlighted the growing crisis facing UK automotive. ‘Worse than COVID-19’ for many suppliers One contributor described the situation as more damaging than the pandemic: “Nobody outside of...
PPE Medpro has been ordered to repay nearly £122 million to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) after losing its High Court case over the supply of sterile gowns during the Covid-19 pandemic. The company’s principal backer, Doug Barrowman, has responded with a blistering statement accusing the government of political scapegoating and the court of delivering a “travesty of justice”. In her ruling, Mrs Justice Cockerill found that the gowns supplied by PPE...
President Donald Trump shared photos on Truth Social on Tuesday showing red ‘Trump 2028’ hats strategically displayed on the Resolute Desk during an Oval Office meeting with Democrat leaders Monday in hopes of fending off a government shutdown. Trump’s post came late Tuesday, hours before Washington grappled with its first shutdown since 2018-19. ‘The Trump administration wants a straightforward and clean CR [continuing resolution] to continue funding the government – the exact same proposal that...
Senate Democrats again blocked Republicans’ short-term funding extension Tuesday afternoon, further increasing the odds of a partial government shutdown and thousands of federal workers going without paychecks. Democratic lawmakers in the upper chamber, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., banded together to vote against the GOP’s continuing resolution (CR), a move that marked the second time Democrats impeded the legislation’s progress this month. Congress has until midnight Wednesday to pass a CR or...
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday aimed at improving ways to identify and treat pediatric cancers using artificial intelligence. Specifically, the executive order instructs the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission to work with the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy to employ AI on how to use it to diagnose and treat childhood cancers and identify new cures. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spearheads the MAHA...
The Interior Department announced Tuesday it is testing autonomous lawnmowers on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in an effort by the Trump administration to use artificial intelligence to ‘boost operational efficiency.’ In an order obtained by Fox News Digital, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said AI will ‘drive smarter decision-making, boost operational efficiency, and better deliver on our core mission of advancing American energy dominance, protecting our natural resources, partnering with Tribal Nations, and enhancing...
Rumours that the Chancellor is preparing to add VAT to all taxi journeys in the autumn Budget have sparked concern across multiple industries, with hospitality leaders warning the move could deepen an already fragile economic environment. Charlie Gilkes, co-founder of the Inception Group, which operates restaurants and bars across London, said: “Policies like the taxi tax destroy the ecosystem in which the hospitality sector functions.” The sector is still reeling from last year’s Budget, which...
Rumour has it that Rachel Reeves is limbering up for November with a Budget that will make the taxman’s quill squeak like a stuck pig. Property, pensions, profits, pasties — all grist to the Exchequer’s mill. The Treasury is leaving no stone unturned, no pocket unpicked, no cupboard unopened. The only thing, one suspects, that remains miraculously safe from her fiscal scythe is Larry the Cat’s supper. Cat food, so far, has escaped. But give...
