News

Made Smarter, the Government-backed programme helping manufacturers embrace digital technologies, has launched a new £1 million funding round aimed at accelerating digital transformation across the North West’s manufacturing sector. The initiative, now in its seventh year, is offering match-funded grants of up to £20,000 to help small and medium-sized manufacturers adopt cutting-edge technologies such as robotics, automation, artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and additive manufacturing. Alongside the financial support, eligible businesses gain...

The UK’s office market may have reached a turning point, with vacancy rates falling for the first time since the start of the pandemic. New data reveals a modest but symbolically significant drop in the amount of empty office space, suggesting that businesses are beginning to reclaim the desks they once deserted. According to commercial property data provider CoStar, the national office vacancy rate edged down to 8.6 per cent at the end of March,...

The UK government has put on hold controversial plans to relax rules around high-stakes slot machines in adult gaming centres (AGCs), in a move that signals growing caution over the industry’s impact on vulnerable players. The decision marks an unexpected setback for the rapidly expanding AGC sector, which had anticipated a shift in regulation that would allow more lucrative machines in high street venues. Industry figures had hoped the government would scrap or amend the...

Rachel Reeves faces mounting pressure to either raise taxes or announce deeper spending cuts after official figures revealed that UK borrowing for the last financial year exceeded forecasts by nearly £15 billion. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that public sector borrowing in the 12 months to March reached £151.9 billion—£14.6 billion more than forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) just weeks ago and over £20 billion higher than the previous year’s...

British Steel has officially withdrawn plans to make up to 2,700 workers at its Scunthorpe plant redundant, following an emergency intervention by the UK government earlier this month that secured the company’s immediate future. The move ends a period of intense uncertainty for employees at the Lincolnshire steelworks, after Chinese-owned parent company Jingye announced its intention to close the site’s two blast furnaces—Queen Anne and Queen Bess—effectively ending primary steelmaking in the UK. In response,...