Business

It can feel like all the money is flying straight out of your bank account this month, but payday isn’t quite as far away as you may think. There is also a range of extra benefits available in December which could ease some pressures amid the cost of living crisis. Here are some key money

The cost of antibiotics needed to treat Strep A has skyrocketed – as industry professionals claim prices have been hiked up to take advantage of “unprecedented” demand. Multiple pharmacies have warned they cannot obtain the necessary medications to treat Strep A as a 16th child died in Sussex with a suspected infection on Friday –

Depending on your point of view, Jeremy Hunt’s proposed reform of financial regulations represents a potentially significant boost to the competitiveness of the UK’s financial services sector or a potentially dangerous watering-down of rules put in place to prevent a re-run of the financial crisis. The truth, as ever, is that it is probably somewhere

Former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has admitted he and Liz Truss “blew it” and got “carried away” with bringing in sweeping economic reforms. The Tory MP said the low-tax, small-state plans they had were “very exciting” and he was fully behind them but accepts that the way they were executed was their downfall. Mr Kwarteng announced

US regulators have filed a complaint aimed at stopping Microsoft’s planned $69bn (£50bn) takeover of Call of Duty games maker Activision Blizzard. Microsoft, which owns Xbox, said in January that it had agreed an all-cash deal – the biggest in the gaming sector to date. But regulators globally, including in the UK, have taken great

A striking Royal Mail worker has voiced fears up to 25,000 staff could be sacked and new working conditions imposed on those left after the core Christmas season has finished. The man, who usually delivers letters and parcels in the London area and is being identified as ‘Derek’ because he wished to remain anonymous, was

The chances are you haven’t heard of the BBL pipeline. It’s a 235km steel tube which runs under the North Sea between Balgzand in the northern tip of the Netherlands and Bacton in Great Britain. It’s one of those bits of innocuous infrastructure which, most of the time, no-one except energy analysts pay all that

Motorists should not expect to see a return of supermarkets using cheap fuel to lure in shoppers, an industry source has told Sky News. They spoke out after weeks of criticism from motoring groups and fuel price campaigners that supermarket petrol stations are failing to reflect plunging wholesale fuel prices. Data supplied by the AA

The price of own-brand and budget products in supermarkets has been rising far faster than premium and branded items during the cost of living crisis, new figures suggest. Which? tracked tens of thousands of products across eight major supermarkets – and while budget ranges had surged by as much as 18%, the price of premium

A minister has urged the Rail, Maritime and Transport union not to “hold the country to ransom” after it announced days of extra strikes over Christmas in a long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions. Calling on the union to cancel the strikes, Nick Gibb, the school minister, said the walkouts are “inconveniencing people up

A medical company set up by Elon Musk is under investigation for potential welfare violations – with a total of 1,500 animals dying in four years, according to a report. Staff at Neuralink have made internal complaints that animal testing is being rushed – causing needless suffering and deaths, Reuters says. Records seen by the

Union leaders have rejected revised offers to end industrial action on the railways – and announced more strikes over Christmas. RMT members at Network Rail are being urged by union bosses to reject new pay proposals and proceed with walkouts on 13-14 and 16-17 December. The RMT has also announced further strike action from 6pm

As the cost of living crisis threatens livelihoods and local communities, a growing number of people have turned to crowdfunding platforms to offset some of the very worst costs. Go Fund Me said it had seen a 63% increase in Christmas fundraisers mentioning “cost of living”. The crisis is leading more people to rely on

The RMT has rejected an offer from train operators aimed at preventing strikes over the Christmas period, the union has announced. The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) said its proposed framework would have supported pay increases of up to 8%, covering 2022 and 2023 pay awards, while delivering much-needed reforms. But the RMT, led by secretary

Amazon is planning to resume multimillion dollar advertising on Twitter, according to reports. The move will see Amazon ply about $100m (£81.3m) per year into the platform, now owned by Elon Musk, according to Reuters news agency, citing a tweet from the tech blog Platformer. The tweet by a Platformer reporter said the company’s return

McLaren Group, the supercar manufacturer and Formula One team-owner, is in talks to raise hundreds of millions of pounds in new funding aimed at steering the British-based company into the electric vehicle era. Sky News has learnt that McLaren has opened talks with existing shareholders including the sovereign wealth funds of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia