Business

Almost 1,000 workers at Gatwick Airport, including baggage handlers and check-in staff, will stage eight days of strikes from later this month. Staff will strike in a dispute over pay, the union Unite announced, at the start of the school summer holidays. Significant disruption, delays and cancellations are “inevitable”, the union said. The workers will

Unions have won a legal challenge against a law change which allowed companies to use agency staff to fill in the roles of striking workers. The change was introduced when Kwasi Kwarteng was business secretary under Boris Johnson in July last year. Mr Justice Linden was scathing in his written judgement. Politics latest: Rishi Sunak

The UK’s national debt could hit 300% of GDP by the 2070s because of the string of major challenges still facing national governments after a “rapid succession of shocks”, according to a report for the Treasury. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility laid out how climate change, defence and the fact people were living longer

The economy contracted in May as the additional public holiday for the King’s coronation weighed on output, according to official figures. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed negative growth of 0.1% during the month, better than economists had predicted but continuing the yo-yo pattern seen throughout the last year that has left

The Bank of England says it expects the proportion of income UK households spend on mortgage payments to remain below levels seen during the financial crisis. Its latest Financial Stability Report declared that squeezed households were proving resilient in the face of challenges posed by rising living costs and interest rate hikes to tackle high

A new economic organisation, set up by Liz Truss, will launch on Wednesday, with a report claiming the average British person is £10,000 worse off than people in the US. The Growth Commission, made up of economists brought together by the former prime minister, said its work would focus on highlighting the issue of low

The pace of wage growth, already described as “unsustainable” by the governor of the Bank of England, has ticked up further, according to shock official figures. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported average weekly earnings excluding bonuses hit an annual rate of 7.3% during the three months to May. That matched the highest level

The Bank of England is reiterating its forecast that inflation will fall over the rest of the year, with governor Andrew Bailey saying it will fall “markedly”. The rate of price increases will come down due to lower energy costs, which should result in falling food bills for shoppers, Mr Bailey’s Mansion House speech is

More dates have been announced for London Underground strike action this month. The trade union for train drivers, Aslef (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen), announced it is to stage walkouts on Wednesday 26 July and Friday 28 July. Strikes had already been announced by the RMT union, representing different grades and sections of

The escalating row between Boohoo and Revolution Beauty, the AIM-listed retailer, is poised to intensify with a complaint to the junior stock market regulator. Sky News has learnt that Boohoo is drafting a letter to the AIM regulatory authorities demanding that Revolution clarifies an earlier stock exchange announcement that the online clothing retailer had obstructed

Britain’s biggest water company is this weekend corralling its shareholders to support a major capital injection as it prepares to publish delayed annual accounts. Sky News has learnt that Thames Water has secured backing from investors including Omers, the Canadian pension fund, and the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) for a commitment to provide new equity. Further

BT Group has kicked off a formal search for a successor to Philip Jansen, its chief executive, as he weighs a number of job opportunities in the US. Sky News has learnt that BT is working with the search firm Spencer Stuart on a process to identify a successor to Mr Jansen, who took on

Heads of the UK’s biggest banks have been summoned by the UK’s financial watchdog over concerns interest rates on savings are too low. Higher Bank of England interest rates have led banks to put up mortgage costs, but savings rates are not rising as fast – a situation Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said “needs resolving”.