UK business confidence falls to lowest level in over two years, survey shows

UK business confidence has fallen to the lowest level for more than two years amid growing concern over tax rises and Donald Trump’s escalating trade war, according to a survey.Highlighting the risks to the economy, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) said the first quarter of the year had been “harrowing” for companies across Britain.The industry body for the accountancy profession said its survey of 1,000 chartered accountants found a sharp drop in business confidence, fuelled by record high tax worries, rising cost pressures and slowing sales expectations.Its index of business confidence fell to -3, the weakest reading since the fourth quarter of 2022, and down from 0.2 in the final three months of 2024

‘Welcome green shoots’: warm March weather gives 1.1% lift to UK retail sales

Warm weather in March helped give a lift to retailers despite a late Easter, with sales of gardening, DIY, food, and health and beauty products getting a boost from the spring sunshine.Purchases for Mother’s Day also helped retail sales climb 1.1% last month, according to a British Retail Consortium-KPMG survey, keeping pace with February despite trading against a much stronger period a year before and a downturn in visitor numbers on high streets and in retail parks as more sales shifted online.Helen Dickinson, the chief executive of the BRC, said: “Despite a challenging global geopolitical landscape, the small increase in both food and non-food sales masked signs of underlying strengthening of demand given March 2025’s comparison with last year’s early Easter.“The improving weather made for a particularly strong final week, with gardening and DIY equipment flying off the shelves

Topgolf founders raise $34m to turn pool hi-tech as activity bars boom

Pool sharks could soon be playing a digitally enhanced version of the bar-room sport, after the British founders of the competitive leisure venues Topgolf and Puttshack raised $34m (£25m) to turn the game hi-tech.The venture is the latest attempt to offer a technological twist on traditional competitive pastimes alongside food and drink to attract younger audiences who want more than a pint in the pub.Twins Steve and Dave Jolliffe plan to open the first Poolhouse near Liverpool Street station in London next year. It promises to be a blend “the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas” with the “grit of iconic pool halls”, adding another player to the booming activity bar market.The venue, which is being backed by investors including the US-based venture capital firm Sharp Alpha Advisors and the Daily Mail investment arm, dmg ventures, uses pool tables, balls and cues from the traditional game but adds tracking technology and video projections to add bonus targets and obstacles in an attempt to appeal to larger groups

Rightwing media falsely blame Ed Miliband for UK steel crisis, experts say

Ed Miliband and the UK’s net zero target are being falsely blamed for the UK’s steel crisis, experts have said.On Saturday, parliament passed a law containing emergency powers to gain control of the last remaining maker of mass-produced virgin steel in England, based in Scunthrope, after its Chinese owner, Jingye, declined government support to keep the plant running over the next few weeks.Some parliamentarians and media commentators placed the blame for Britain’s declining steel industry on the energy secretary, claiming that his net zero policies and lack of support for a proposed coalmine in Cumbria had made the energy and coking coal used to make steel more expensive.During Saturday’s debate, the shadow business secretary, Andrew Griffith, said: “No one is more responsible for this than the energy secretary and the prime minister who appointed him.”Andrew Neil blamed Miliband and what the broadcaster described as “net zero nonsense”, saying: “And now Miliband has the audacity to pose as the saviour of British steelworkers

Stock markets rise on signs of Trump tariff retreat; British Steel races to keep furnaces burning – as it happened

After the heavy selling we saw last week, European stock markets have staged a recovery, with nearly all the main indices rising by more than 2%.The exemption for smartphones, laptops and other electronic devices from US tariffs on Chinese imports, announced on Friday, has brought some much-needed cheer to markets. However, Donald Trump and US officials have said that the exclusion could be short-lived.UK’s FTSE 100 index up 151 points, or 1.9%, at 8,115Germany’s Dax up 559 points, or 2

Don’t politicise row over Scunthorpe steel plant, says Chinese foreign ministry

China has urged the British government not to “politicise” the row over the Scunthorpe steel plant, saying that doing so could deter Chinese companies from investing in the UK.A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday that Jingye, the Beijing-based owner of British Steel, had acted as a commercial business when it tried to shut down the plant, not as an arm of the Chinese government.The ministry issued its warning after an unprecedented intervention from the British government, which has taken control of the site and is trying to secure enough supplies to keep its two blast furnaces in operation.The Chinese foreign ministry’s spokesperson, Lin Jian, told a briefing in Beijing that the UK should “avoid politicising trade cooperation or linking it to security issues, so as not to impact the confidence of Chinese enterprises in going to the UK”.He added: “When it comes to the operational difficulties currently faced by British Steel, the two sides should negotiate a solution on the basis of mutual benefit