Neil Macdonald

Councils in England will be given an emergency £500 million from the Government to tackle their funding crisis.

The price of oil initially jumped by over 3.5 percent, as did gold, as the markets feared the inflationary impact of a wider war. 

The National Living Wage is going up to £11.44 an hour, and the higher rate will apply to workers aged 21 and 22 for the first time.

Rishi Sunak has insisted he remains committed to his “levelling up” agenda – amid the growing row over the future of the HS2 high speed rail link to the North of England.

Inflation has fallen unexpectedly, raising hopes that financial pressure on families and businesses may be easing.

Today, the Chinese authorities cut interest rates in a bid to boost growth, but financial markets were surprised they didn’t do more.

The Bank of England has raised interest rates 13 times in the last 18 months – but today the financial regulator said big banks have failed to pass on those higher rates to their savers.

As the government struggles to find short term funding for more public sector pay, the long term outlook for the public finances has become more vulnerable, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.  

A million UK households are set to see their mortgage payments jump by a painful £500 a month over the next three years, according to the Bank of England. 

Two year fixed deals have risen to an average rate of 6.6 percent.

Pension incomes could be boosted by a thousand pounds a year, the government has claimed, under reforms which it is announcing this evening. The plan is to encourage the UK’s big pension funds to pump more money into smaller start up businesses – and the chancellor is setting out his ideas to the City this…

The UK energy secretary has accused fuel retailers of using motorists as “cash cows” after an investigation by the competition watchdog.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will meet Britain’s biggest mortgage lenders this Friday.

Fixed rates on two-year mortgages rose above six per cent today – while short term interest rates on government borrowing hit their highest level for more than a decade.

There is no alternative. That was the message today from the Chancellor, saying the government gave complete backing to the Bank of England in its bid to bring down inflation by raising interest rates.