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\u2019s 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). \u2013 Guardian<\/p>\n
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 \u2013 a type of private member\u2019s bill \u2013 echoing the US Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). \u2013 Guardian<\/p>\n
Marks & Spencer is facing a fresh legal row over copycat products after it was accused of ripping off a nutritionist\u2019s \u201cbrain bomb\u201d health snacks. The supermarket has been hit with legal action over its range of \u201cBrain Balls\u201d, which it released last year as part of its so-called \u201cBrain Food\u201d line, which is designed to provide people with brain health-supporting nutrients that they lack in their diets. \u2013 Telegraph<\/p>\n
The Liverpudlian tycoon and Labour donor behind Home Bargains has paid himself and his family a \u00a366m dividend as his budget retail chain embarks on a major expansion. Tom Morris, who is nicknamed \u201cthe richest Scouser to have ever lived\u201d, received the payout from his company, TJ Morris Group, last year, according to newly published accounts. \u2013 Telegraph<\/p>\n
The Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell is under a federal criminal investigation related to the $2.5 billion renovation to the central bank\u2019s headquarters, he has revealed. Powell said the investigation was a pretext because the Fed had set \u201cinterest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of\u201d President Trump. \u2013 The Times<\/p>\n
MPs have registered their dismay and disappointment at the lack of pace and clarity concerning the government\u2019s 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. \u2013 The Times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UK business confidence weakened sharply at the end of 2025 and hiring fell amid rising costs and uncertainty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,45077,45080,45078,45079,15199,1294,20733,100119,16922,28055,20734,20608,140470,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-367066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-categoryall","tag-categorymarket-pulse","tag-categorymarket-report","tag-categorypress-round-up-short-premium","tag-confidence","tag-economy","tag-federal","tag-marks","tag-monday","tag-newspaper","tag-reserve","tag-round-up","tag-spencer","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}