News

Ed Miliband has approved a sweeping expansion of renewable energy projects across the UK, backing solar farms that could cover an area of farmland close to the size of Manchester, alongside dozens of new onshore wind developments. On Tuesday, the energy secretary awarded consumer-funded subsidies to 134 new solar farms across England and a further 23 in Wales and Scotland. He also approved 28 large onshore wind projects, mainly located on hillsides in Scotland and...

UK semiconductor start-up Fractile has announced a £100 million expansion of its British operations, scaling up in London and Bristol as ministers intensify calls for greater domestic ownership of critical artificial intelligence technology. The investment, to be deployed over the next three years, will fund a new industrial hardware engineering facility in Bristol, alongside the expansion of Fractile’s existing UK sites and a significant increase in its domestic workforce. The company is focused on developing...

The founder of Starling Bank has reduced her shareholding in the fintech, as new filings reveal that Anne Boden has cut her stake during a secondary share sale that valued the business at up to £4 billion. Boden, who launched Starling in 2014 after senior roles at Allied Irish Banks and Lloyds, has lowered her holding to around 2.7 per cent from a previous 4.3 per cent, according to the disclosures. The move follows a...

UK government borrowing costs climbed on Monday as markets reacted to intensifying pressure on Sir Keir Starmer, with investors pricing in heightened political risk and the possibility of a shift towards more left-leaning Labour policies. The yield on the benchmark 10-year UK government bond rose by as much as 0.08 percentage points to nearly 4.6 per cent, while yields on 30-year gilts reached their steepest level since November. Bond yields move inversely to prices, meaning...

Apple and Google have agreed to make changes to their UK app stores following intervention by the country’s competition watchdog, after it concluded the two firms hold an “effective duopoly” over the sector. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the tech giants have committed to a series of measures designed to improve transparency and competition. These include pledges not to give preferential treatment to their own apps and to be clearer about how third-party...

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) has launched a new expert-led commission to examine the future of occupational safety and health (OSH) skills in the UK, amid growing concerns over workforce shortages and rising pressures on safety professionals. Convened in partnership with Speedy Hire, the OSH Skills Commission brings together leading figures from across industry, trade unions and professional bodies to develop practical solutions to skills challenges that threaten workplace safety and...