Pubs and live music venues to get support after business rates backlash

The Treasury has announced a support package worth more than £80m a year for pubs and live music venues in England, in a climbdown that follows a fierce backlash against plans to overhaul business rates.Trade bodies had warned that Rachel Reeves’s changes to business rates, announced at the chancellor’s November budget, would trigger widespread closures and job losses in the hospitality sector, particularly in pubs.On Tuesday, the government announced financial support to mitigate the effect of the rates shake-up, after officials admitted they had not foreseen its total financial impact.The package is expected to be worth more than £80m a year, over three years, for pubs and gig venues. It will only apply to England but the government said extra funding would be freed up for Scotland and Wales to follow suit

Treasury announces business rate support package worth more than £80m a year – as it happened

The Treasury has unveiled a support package worth more than £80m a year for pubs and live music venues in England and Wales, in a climbdown that follows a fierce backlash against plans to overhaul business rates.Trade bodies had warned that Rachel Reeves’s changes to business rates, announced at the chancellor’s November budget, would trigger widespread closures and job losses in the hospitality sector, particularly in pubs.On Tuesday, the government announced financial support to mitigate the effect of the rates shake-up, after officials admitted that they had not foreseen its total financial impact.The package, final details of which were still being hammered out on Monday night, is expected to be worth more than £80m a year, over three years, for pubs and gig venues.Dan Tomlinson, the exchequer secretary to the Treasury, said every pub in England and Wales would get 15% off its new business rates bill from 1 April, worth an average of £1,650 for each

The value of the Australian dollar is high right now. So should you book that overseas trip?

In a year of extraordinary global news, and more of it bad than good, it may be surprising that the Australian dollar is proving a world beater.The Aussie has hit some impressive milestones of late: the strongest against the US dollar in nearly two years, the highest against the euro in 10 months, and approaching the strongest in decades against the yen.Ray Attrill, the head of foreign exchange strategy at National Australia Bank, says the Aussie has outperformed every other major currency in 2026.“So far this year it has been a case of there’s nothing not to like about the Australian currency,” Attrill says.It’s been good news for overseas travellers and shoppers looking to buy from overseas websites

Can’t decide on a food delivery? Just Eat launches AI chatbot to help you choose

In the beginning, collecting a takeaway was the epitome of a lazy night in. Then delivery apps saved some more energy. Now, consumers can skip even bothering to read the menu as AI takes over the job of choosing the perfect evening meal.Just Eat is introducing an AI voice assistant that lets customers discuss what they might be interested in eating, and then offers personalised recommendations.The food delivery company is launching what it calls a “personal food concierge” within Just Eat’s existing chat function on its UK app on Tuesday

‘Mother of all deals’: EU and India sign free trade agreement

India and the EU have finalised a landmark free trade agreement, which the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, hailed as the “mother of all deals”.The agreement comes after almost two decades of on-off negotiations between India and the EU, which vastly accelerated in the past six months and were finally concluded late on Monday night.The deal is expected to open up India’s vast and traditionally tightly guarded market to the 27 nations in the bloc, with a focus on manufacturing and the services sector. It will ease market access for key European products, including cars and wine, in return for easier exports of textiles, gems and pharmaceuticals.The agreement is expected to double EU exports to India by 2032 by eliminating or cutting tariffs in 96

First of its kind ‘high-density’ hydro system begins generating electricity in Devon

A hillside “battery” outside Plymouth in Devon has begun generating electricity using a first of a kind hydropower system embedded underground.The pioneering technology means one of the oldest forms of energy storage, hydropower, can be used to store and release renewable energy using even gentle slopes rather than the steep dam walls and mountains that are usually required.The design means the principles of hydropower could be used as a form of “long duration energy storage” in many more locations across the UK, and the world, than traditional hydropower dams. The projects could be quicker and cheaper to build too.Engineers at RheEnergise built the project to mimic the UK’s traditional hydropower plants, which have powered the grid for decades by using electricity to pump water uphill when power supplies are abundant, and later releasing the water back down through turbines to generate electricity when supplies are short