Retailers warn of higher prices in 2025 and urge ministers to ease tax burden

UK retailers have urged ministers to ease their tax burden as they said that the cost of food and other items will rise sharply throughout the year as companies grapple with higher employment costs.Food prices are forecast to climb by 4.2% on average in the latter half of the year, while non-food items are likely to increase in line with inflation, which stands at 2.6%, according to modelling by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and finance leaders of retail businesses.Retailers will face a £7bn increase in their costs in 2025, the BRC has calculated, as the government’s hikes to employers’ national insurance contributions announced in Rachel Reeves’s October budget come into force, along with the rise in the “national living wage”, as well as new packaging levies

Don’t panic – despite the headlines, the Australian dollar isn’t crashing | Greg Jericho

As I returned to work after the Christmas holidays, I checked in on how the economy was going and was rather startled to read the headline “Panic as Aussie dollar crashes to five-year low”. Cripes. So much for easing into the year.It wasn’t even a week in and already I was wondering if I needed to rush to the shops and buy up all the canned goods on offer. But, as is often the case with economics and news headlines, things are not as grim as they might seem

Shein’s silence is farcical. It must answer fair questions if it wants a London listing | Nils Pratley

It is “not unusual” for UK-listed companies to carry legal risks around the world, Nikhil Rathi, the chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, told the FT last month. The boss of the regulatory body that ultimately decides which companies can list their shares in London added: “What’s important is that they disclose it, the investors understand it and they can price that risk.”Rathi’s remarks were inevitably read as aimed at Shein, the Chinese-founded but Singapore-headquartered fast-fashion retailer whose possible listing in London has been a running story since the company filed preliminary paperwork seven months ago.That interpretation looked correct. Whereas US lawmakers bombarded Shein with hostile questions about its supply-chain practices in China to the point where the company abandoned hope of listing in New York, the early reception in the UK has been constructive

Two power station owners to get more than £12m for three hours of electricity

Two gas power station owners will be paid more than £12m to supply just three hours of electricity on Wednesday evening after freezing weather led to some of the highest market prices since the energy crisis began.Britain faced surging power prices after the grid operator warned it would need power plants to fire up in the early evening to have enough electricity to power homes and businesses within its normal safety limits.The National Energy System Operator (Neso) – which manages the energy systems in England, Scotland and Wales – said it faced a shortfall of about 1,700 megawatts (MW), roughly the equivalent of the amount of electricity needed to power about 850,000 homes.The electricity supply squeeze is expected to hand a windfall to the owners of two power plants in Hertfordshire, England, and Flintshire in north Wales, which will each be paid more than £6m to run their gas turbines between 4pm and 7pm when demand for electricity is forecast to reach its peak.German utility Uniper and a subsidiary of the Swiss commodities trading giant Vitol offered to fire up their gas plants during the evening hours in exchange for “super-high” payouts of more than 50 times the market price earlier this week, according to experts

Rachel Reeves says she has ‘iron grip’ on finances as borrowing costs surge

Rachel Reeves took the rare step of issuing a public statement for the second successive day on Wednesday, insisting she has an “iron grip” on the public finances, as the sell-off in bond markets intensified.The cost of 10-year government borrowing hit its highest level since the global financial crisis in 2008, jeopardising the chancellor’s chances of meeting her self-imposed fiscal rules.A Treasury spokesperson said: “No one should be under any doubt that meeting the fiscal rules is non-negotiable and the government will have an iron grip on the public finances.”They added that the chancellor would “leave no stone unturned in her determination to deliver economic growth and fight for working people”.Analysts have warned that by pushing up government borrowing costs, the market moves could wipe out the £9

Philippe Carden obituary

My partner Philippe Carden, who has died aged 74 of oesophageal cancer, was a well-known accountant in the field of theatre, film, television and the arts.He was passionate about all the performing arts and he combined this with a talent for making personal tax less daunting. He was much loved by his clients and always made a big impression with the graduating students at the London and Bristol drama schools with his annual lecture on “How to survive the UK tax system”.For many years he was involved with the London Bubble Theatre Company and he also invested in shows, co-writing, with Bee Huntley, Investing in West End Theatrical Productions: How to Be an Angel (1992), which is still a key reference work. He also wrote articles for the Stage and the Evening Standard