Business

Businesses worldwide brace for extra Trump tariffs on steel imports
Posted on Saturday November 08, 2025

Commerce department expected to add about 700 more items with steel content to levy list at request of US firmsBusinesses around the world are steeling themselves for another round of Donald Trump’s tariffs, this time on goods ranging from bicycles to baking trays, as US industry embraces a call for more products to tax on import.Small, medium and large American companies have asked the US Department of Commerce to add about 700 more items to an August list of 407 products already facing extra tariffs because of their steel content, which hit items such as Ikea tables with metal nuts and bolts and German combine harvesters. Continue reading...

Revealed: The billion-pound PPE contractor with a Tory MP on site
Posted on Saturday November 08, 2025

Special report: Uniserve was paid £1.4bn for Covid contracts that included supply of £178.5m in never-used equipmentWhen Mrs Justice Cockerill handed down her judgment in the high court against PPE Medpro, the company linked to the Conservative peer Michelle Mone, for supplying unsafe personal protective equipment during the pandemic, her findings were a landmark in a five-year saga that cast the opaque world of government deal making into stark light.PPE Medpro was ordered to refund the full £122m that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) paid for unusable gowns in the summer of 2020, as Boris Johnson’s government scrambled to refill the UK’s depleted stocks. Continue reading...

How might Reeves increase income tax – and what does it mean for you?
Posted on Saturday November 08, 2025

The budget could involve a range of rises – here’s how they would stack up for different levels of incomeIn a gloomy state of the nation speech this week Rachel Reeves signalled that a rise in income tax could be on the cards in this month’s budget.Labour had promised in its election manifesto not to increase the levy (or the other two “big three” taxes – national insurance and VAT), but the chancellor appears to be preparing the ground for an almighty U-turn to fill a bigger-than-expected £30bn hole in the public finances. Continue reading...

Plant importers say border delays in Kent could drive up prices and stop deliveries from EU
Posted on Saturday November 08, 2025

Traders report long waits at Sevington inspection post and claim trees and shrubs are repeatedly being damagedImporters of plants say long delays and damage to shipments at a Kent border control post risk driving up prices and could lead to transport companies stopping deliveries across the Channel.Traders have reported long waits in recent weeks at the government’s Sevington facility off the M20 near Ashford, which was built to check goods of plant and animal origin arriving from the EU. One importer said delays were adding £200 of costs to each load. Continue reading...

Cutting home insulation funding will imperil UK’s climate goals, Reeves told
Posted on Saturday November 08, 2025

Energy firms and charities urge chancellor to avoid short-term fix that could also harm low-income householdsRachel Reeves has been told that cutting funding for home insulation at the budget would risk the UK’s climate goals and hurt low-income households in a joint intervention by energy firms, fuel poverty charities and environmental groups.In a letter to the chancellor, more than 60 groups and companies urged Reeves not to take such a damaging “short-term fix” to slash funding for more energy-efficient homes to pay for a reduction in energy bills. Continue reading...

‘Environmental catastrophe’ fears as millions of plastic beads wash up on Camber Sands
Posted on Saturday November 08, 2025

MP asks for explanation from Southern Water amid concerns the spill could have dire impact on rare sea lifeSouthern Water is investigating after millions of contaminated plastic beads washed up on Camber Sands beach, risking an “environmental catastrophe”.The biobeads could have a dire impact on marine life, the local MP has said, with fears rare sea life, including seabirds, porpoises and seals, could ingest them and die. Continue reading...

UPS and FedEx ground all MD-11 planes after deadly Louisville crash
Posted on Saturday November 08, 2025

UPS cites ‘abundance of caution’ and manufacturer’s recommendation after 14 died when wing caught fire and engine fell offThe freight companies UPS and FedEx have grounded their fleets of MD-11 aircraft days after a cargo plane crash that killed 14 people in Kentucky.The grounded MD-11s are the same type of plane involved in Tuesday’s crash at a UPS facility in Louisville. They were originally built by McDonnell Douglas until it was taken over by Boeing. Continue reading...