UK business confidence weakened sharply at the end of 2025 and hiring fell amid rising costs and uncertainty about the economic outlook, according to key business surveys. Contrasting with the prime minister’s optimistic new year message that the country was about to start feeling richer again, the jobs market weakened, with full-time and temporary appointments falling in December, according to a study by the accountants KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). – Guardian

Senior Labour backbenchers are urging the government to introduce legislation forcing UK banks to expand affordable lending to small businesses and low-income neighbourhoods. The former minister Gareth Thomas has tabled a 10-minute rule bill – a type of private member’s bill – echoing the US Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). – Guardian

Marks & Spencer is facing a fresh legal row over copycat products after it was accused of ripping off a nutritionist’s “brain bomb” health snacks. The supermarket has been hit with legal action over its range of “Brain Balls”, which it released last year as part of its so-called “Brain Food” line, which is designed to provide people with brain health-supporting nutrients that they lack in their diets. – Telegraph

The Liverpudlian tycoon and Labour donor behind Home Bargains has paid himself and his family a £66m dividend as his budget retail chain embarks on a major expansion. Tom Morris, who is nicknamed “the richest Scouser to have ever lived”, received the payout from his company, TJ Morris Group, last year, according to newly published accounts. – Telegraph

The Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell is under a federal criminal investigation related to the $2.5 billion renovation to the central bank’s headquarters, he has revealed. Powell said the investigation was a pretext because the Fed had set “interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of” President Trump. – The Times

MPs have registered their dismay and disappointment at the lack of pace and clarity concerning the government’s plans for a state-owned railway. Key questions remain unanswered about the progression of the railways bill and the creation of Great British Railways (GBR) merging trains operators with Network Rail. – The Times