Financial news

• Supreme court judges reject Reeves’ motor finance intervention

  17-02-2025 18:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Chancellor had sought to prevent lenders caught up in commissions scandal being handed £44bn bill Rachel Reeves was dealt a fresh blow on Monday when her attempt to intervene in a high-profile supreme court case and curb a potential £44bn bill for lenders caught up in the car loan commissions scandal was rejected.Judges at the supreme court rejected the chancellor’s application, lodged last month, in which she urged them to avoid handing “windfall” compensation to b
  
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• Octopus Energy giving £2,000 to Lloyds Bank and Halifax customers

  17-02-2025 16:22 via express.co.uk
  
  The energy supplier says customers can get up to £2,000 cashback for making green upgrades at home.
  
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• Xi Jinping tells Alibaba’s Jack Ma and Chinese tech chiefs to ‘show their talent’

  17-02-2025 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Analysts say address to symposium suggests crackdown on sector may be ending in effort to tackle economic slumpBusiness live – latest updatesRevealed: Google facilitated ensorship requestsChina’s president, Xi Jinping, has told businesses to “show their talent” at a meeting of Chinese industry leaders including the Alibaba founder, Jack Ma, as he attempts to halt an economic slump in the world’s second-largest economy.Xi met Ma, who was at the centre of a crackdown
  
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• What are Ukraine’s critical minerals – and why does Trump want them?

  17-02-2025 15:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Zelenskyy has rebuffed US’s initial attempt to take control of minerals as downpayment for its aid in war with RussiaEurope live – latest updatesUkraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has rebuffed an initial attempt by the US to corner his country’s critical minerals as a downpayment for continued military and economic aid for its war with Russia.Three sources told the Reuters news agency that the US had proposed taking ownership of 50% of Ukraine’s critical mine
  
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• The US led the charge against global corruption. Now Trump is clearing the way for kleptocrats | Oliver Bullough

  17-02-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Britain used to solicit money that the US would not touch – but with oligarchs and fraudsters on the rise, it must now uphold the lawFive decades ago, the United States was in turmoil. A long and unpopular war was ending in defeat; inflation was high; and American politicians were accused of high-handed and illegal behaviour.If all this sounds remarkably similar to the last few years, that’s because it is. But the mid-1970s was different in one crucial respect: how the US responded t
  
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• Martin Lewis urges drivers to use £0 road tax trick with March loophole

  17-02-2025 14:41 via express.co.uk
  
  Drivers of low emission and EV cars can avoid the new £195 road tax charge with a March loophole, Martin Lewis said.
  
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• Households urged to check energy bills as millions paid in compensation for mistakes

  17-02-2025 14:19 via express.co.uk
  
  Incorrect bills could be costing Brits even if they have smart meters
  
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• HMRC rules set out as billions must make payments after concerns raised

  17-02-2025 14:17 via express.co.uk
  
  Billions in taxes are still not paid but taxpayers do have options other than watching their bill climb
  
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• Martin Lewis tells anyone earning over £10,000 'do not throw away a hidden pay rise'

  17-02-2025 13:39 via express.co.uk
  
  The money-saving expert was speaking on his latest podcast and explained the huge benefits of pensions and the massive benefits
  
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• Exact date customers with this meter will be ‘cut off’ with no heating or hot water

  17-02-2025 13:21 via express.co.uk
  
  If you have one style of electricity meter in your house you could find yourself left with no heating or hot water later this year.
  
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• Ofwat just proved that they hold water bill payers in contempt as judge slams watchdog

  17-02-2025 13:11 via express.co.uk
  
  The very same water regulator that is supposed to act on behalf of you and me appears to have excused itself from this brief.
  
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• Martin Lewis' simple tool that could save you £500 on home insurance

  17-02-2025 13:06 via express.co.uk
  
  Compared to five years ago, the average home insurance cost is up a staggering 80%.
  
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• Join our free WhatsApp Money community to get the latest tips and advice to your phone

  17-02-2025 11:32 via express.co.uk
  
  Stay up to date with all the latest money-saving advice, savvy tips and financial news sent directly to your phone.
  
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• UK savers urged to ‘act now’ and shake off their Isa apathy

  17-02-2025 11:30 via theguardian.com
  
  With the savings ‘season’ starting early, there are many advantageous deals out there. But for how long?The annual push to get savers to use up their tax-free allowance has begun early – but there is speculation that the cash Isa could be under threat.The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has reportedly been lobbied to ditch the tax breaks on the popular accounts, just as people are piling in their money to take advantage of them. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Six out of 10’: Iceland boss and Labour backer grades UK government

  17-02-2025 10:32 via theguardian.com
  Richard Walker laments record so far but welcomes more upbeat tone, planning reforms and move to better EU trading tiesBusiness live – latest updatesReeves warned UK inflation will fuel public sector pay claimsThe chair of the food retailer Iceland, Richard Walker, has given the Labour government only “six out of 10” for its record so far, after switching support to the party a year ago.He told the Financial Times that Labour needed to do more to help firms investing now, rathe
  
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• Southwark Council’s sewage repair delays have left us homeless

  17-02-2025 09:30 via theguardian.com
  
  A pipe in a communal waste stack burst into my leasehold flat, but it took a month for the council to address it, forcing us to move outMy three-year-old daughter and I face homelessness because mismanagement by Southwark Council has left my leasehold flat uninhabitable.A sewage pipe in a communal waste stack burst behind a panel in my kitchen back in November 2023. Southwark took over a month to address it, during which time sewage spilled into the flat, forcing us to move out. When its team fi
  
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• UK marketplace sellers face ‘second Brexit’ hit from Trump’s US import rules

  17-02-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  End of ‘de minimis’ policy for Chinese goods also expected to hit bigger fashion retailers such as Asos and BoohooMany UK-based independent sellers on marketplaces such as eBay and Amazon could suffer a significant hit to US sales from planned changes to import rules under Donald Trump, with experts comparing the impact to a second Brexit.The new rules, which mean all parcels originating or made in China and being sold into the US must pay import duty – of as much as 15% on fas
  
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• Trump policies make US ‘scary place to invest’ and risk stagflation, says Stiglitz

  17-02-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Uncertainty created by tariffs and contempt for rule of law will deter investment, says top economistForget Trump’s tariffs, the president’s bond market threat is worseDonald Trump’s tariff threats have made the US “a scary place to invest” and may unleash stagflation, the Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has said.“It risks the worst of all possible worlds: a kind of stagflation,” Stiglitz said in an interview with the Guardian. Continue rea
  
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• Reeves warned UK inflation will push public sector unions to seek higher pay rises

  17-02-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Plan for ‘reasonable’ 2.8% rises may prove insufficient, forcing chancellor to find billions in extra funding Reeves has three ways to dodge an economic crisis – all are unthinkableRachel Reeves has been warned public sector unions will demand higher pay increases to compensate for accelerating inflation, heaping pressure on the chancellor to find billions of pounds in extra funding.The government made recommendations in December for a 2.8% pay rise for teachers, NHS staff and
  
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• From the UK economy to bad haircuts: Edith Pritchett’s week in Venn diagrams – cartoon

  17-02-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
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• James Murdoch lays bare his relationship with ‘misogynist’ father amid succession fight in rare interview

  17-02-2025 06:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Rupert Murdoch’s second son reveals bitter details that set the scene for court battle for News Corp empireMore of the Murdoch family’s betrayals, leaks, “mind games”, manipulations, machinations and humiliations have been laid bare after a messy court trial that offered tantalising glimpses inside the dynasty.The American journalist McKay Coppins this weekend published a rare and wide-ranging interview with James Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch’s second-oldest son, who is
  
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• UK firms mull biggest layoffs in a decade as business confidence slumps

  17-02-2025 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Impending tax rises from autumn budget fuel collapse in sentiment and rising redundancy intentions, surveys showUK employers are preparing for the biggest redundancy round in a decade amid collapsing business confidence as firms brace for tax increases from April that Rachel Reeves announced in her autumn budget.In a fresh blow for the chancellor, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), which represents human resources professionals, said a survey of 2,000 employers showed r
  
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• Poorest UK households pay rising share of income on council tax, study finds

  17-02-2025 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Resolution Foundation report says failure to reform has ‘slowly recreated the issues that undid the poll tax’Britain’s poorest households are paying an increasing share of their income on council tax, according to new analysis that likened it to the poll tax that contributed to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher.The poorest fifth of households paid 4.8% of their income on council tax in England, Wales and Scotland and on domestic rates in Northern Ireland in the 2020-21 financia
  
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