Business

A growing number of skilled workers from Africa and Asia are moving to Britain to plug crippling staff shortages, according to new figures that reveal the changing picture of migration. Businesses are making use of the new post-Brexit migration system to bring in IT professionals, nurses and accountants. Since January 2021, the new system has

The government has sold £1.2bn of NatWest shares, reducing its ownership of the bailed out bank by nearly 3%. The state now holds a 38.6% stake in the lender, which was at its peak 84% owned by taxpayers following the global financial crisis of 2008. It has sold more than half its shareholding and completed

England captain Leah Williamson has said it’s important sportswomen have another qualification in their locker “in case anything goes wrong”. The Lioness, who led her side to glory in the European Championships last year, is training to be an accountant, having decided to pursue it as a potential back-up career. “Originally, when I started it,

Executives including a former director of world motorsport’s governing body and the Nectar loyalty scheme founder Sir Keith Mills are in talks to raise $100m (£80m) to finance the rebirth of A1GP, the motor racing series contested by national teams from around the globe. Sky News has learnt that heavyweight names from the sporting and

Adidas has announced it will start selling some of the shoes from its defunct Yeezy partnership with Kanye West at the end of this month. The company said it will donate the proceeds to organisations fighting antisemitism and racism when it first outlined the plans last week. The German sportswear maker was left with Yeezy

The energy price cap is set to remain more than £1,000 higher than the average bill before the COVID pandemic, according to a closely-watched forecast. Ahead of the industry regulator’s determination on the price cap level due next week, energy research specialist Cornwall Insight said it saw the cap for a typical household at the

Tesco chair John Allan is to leave next month after the supermarket giant said allegations over his personal conduct “risk becoming a distraction” to the chain. The UK’s largest retailer said he would be “stepping down” from his role as chair of the board and as a director at the company’s AGM on 16 June.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife lost an average of £500,000 a day over the past year, according to The Sunday Times Rich List. The couple are estimated to be £201m poorer due a fall in the value of Akshata Murty’s stake in her father’s IT firm – but are still worth a reported

The government must act to prepare for artificial intelligence (AI) to hit the workplace “like a freight train”, the boss of one of Britain’s leading energy companies has told Sky News. Greg Jackson, founder of Octopus, says the adoption of AI across industry will ultimately improve the workplace and spawn new roles, but the startling

BT has revealed plans to significantly reduce the number of people working for the telecoms group as part of efforts to cut costs and bolster profitability. While outlining annual results, the company said it saw its “total labour resource” being reduced from 130,000 to between 75,000 and 90,000 by the end of the decade under

Britain has now missed its window of opportunity to build a battery industry, and the government, including Rishi Sunak, is largely to blame, the head of collapsed cell manufacturer Britishvolt has told Sky News. The company was feted as the jewel in Britain’s manufacturing crown – the first home-grown gigafactory, co-financed by the government and

Vauxhall’s parent company has called for the government to renegotiate its Brexit deal with the EU to correct elements that place the future of UK plants at risk. Stellantis, which also has Citroen, Fiat and Peugeot among its stable of brands, used a submission to a parliamentary committee’s inquiry on electric vehicle (EV) production to

The owner of the largest pipeline system in the North Sea has warned the future of domestic production is in doubt due to the severity of UK windfall taxes. Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is Britain’s richest man and whose Ineos business owns the Forties oil and gas pipeline, said the tax rate applied to North

Vodafone has announced a massive programme of job losses, that will impact its UK operations, in a bid to recover its financial performance. The company’s new chief executive said the telecoms firm had become uncompetitive and 11,000 roles would go over the next three years. The group employs just over 100,000 people globally. Vodafone was

Supermarket fuel prices were roughly 5p more expensive per litre in 2022 than pre-pandemic levels, an investigation by the competition watchdog has found. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said that factors beyond the invasion of Ukraine have impacted the price customers are paying at the pumps and weak competition has helped drive increases.

Britain is at risk of forgetting “how to do things for ourselves”, the home secretary will warn, as she increases pressure on Rishi Sunak to cut net migration. The home secretary will use a speech at the National Conservatism Conference today to call for the Conservatives to renew their 2019 manifesto commitment, which promised “fewer

A retirement savings platform which previously secured backing from Legal & General will this week unveil a $95m (£76m) fundraising led by a New York-based private equity investor. Sky News has learnt that Smart, which was founded in 2014, will announce the capital raise on Monday. It will be led by Aquiline Capital Partners, which

Lord Tyrie, the former chair of the competition watchdog and architect of many of Britain’s post-financial crisis banking reforms, is among the candidates vying to head Ofgem, the under-fire energy regulator. Sky News has learnt that Lord Tyrie has put his name forward to replace Professor Martin Cave, who is due to step down as

Billionaire businessman Sir James Dyson has issued fresh criticism of the prime minister, claiming his pledge to turn the UK into a science and technology superpower is a “mere political slogan”. The founder and chief engineer of the multinational technology company Dyson also complained – in a letter to The Times – that he has

Virgin Orbit has pushed back the deadline for rescue bids as the commercial satellite venture founded by Sir Richard Branson scrambles to avert bankruptcy. Sky News has learnt that the company and its advisers have told would-be buyers of the company that they must now submit final offers by May 19, several days later than