Top news
- Death of the free return - what each major brand charges
- BT share price slide continues after Sky deal
- New timeline for €7 visa to visit Europe
- Tax rise speculation as government borrowing soars
- Rents now falling in some cities
Essential reads
- Cheap Eats:Top Yorkshire chef shares Yorkshire pudding secrets
- Gold price reaches record high - here's why
- Shirt prices for each Premier League team
- Pay at every supermarket - and perks staff get
Tips and advice
- How to get money back when purchase over £100 goes wrong
- 'Should I top up my NI and could it really get me £6,000 extra?'
- Energy deals that could beat winter price rise
- All discounts you get as student or young person
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BT share price slide continues after Sky deal
BySarah Taaffe-Maguire, business reporter
The share price slide for BT continued today. It topped the leader board as the biggest price faller in the FTSE 100, with shares down 1.36%.
Yesterday, an estimated £1bn was wiped from the company's value after an internet network rival CityFibre struck a deal with broadband supplier Sky, the owner of Sky News.
It means Sky will use CityFibre's network, rather than Openreach, to offer its services starting next year.
Sky is the largest third-party broadband provider on Openreach, with around 5.7 million customers.
Citi's analysts, however, said they believed the financial impact for BT was manageable, noting that Sky would maintain its long-term relationship with BT's Openreach given the significantly larger size of its network.
CityFibre has plans to expand to eight million premises, challenging the dominance of BT's national Openreach network and Virgin Media O2's second ranked network. It is backed by Goldman Sachs and Antin Infrastructure Partners.
The oil price is this week back below $80 a barrel which should make refilling a car cheaper in about a week to 10 days' time. The benchmark oil price, a barrel of Brent crude, is $77.36, cheaper than for most of the last year.
One pound is equal to €1.1708, down from the highs of July but better than early this month. Against the dollar, sterling is strong, buying $1.3026 - the highest in more than a year.
'Lot of bad news to come' in budget - with tax rises and spending cuts
Ed Conway, our data and economics editor, has warned there is a "lot of bad news to come" as Labour try to get a grip of the UK's finances.
Earlier, we reported that government borrowing rose to its highest amount since the pandemic in July, with public sector spending on the rise.
But Conway is clear most of this pre-dates the Labour government.
"What it's showing is the state of public finances is not actually terribly good," he says.
"Having spoken to people in government, they are going to be raising taxes, they are going to be cutting spending.
"What we are going to hear about in the budget that is coming up at the end of October is frankly going to be quite miserable.
"It's going to be quite grim."
He adds: "There's going to be a lot of bad news to come, I'm afraid."
A reminder the prime minister and chancellor have vowed not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT.
Reports in the Guardian and Mirror newspapers suggest the chancellor may look to raise more from inheritance tax and capital gains tax, among other measures like not scrapping the two-child benefit cap.
Rents now falling in some cities - amid signs pressure in market is finally easing
Signs that the upward movement on rents is finally easing have been reported by Zoopla.
In research commissioned by the BBC, the property website found "the recent boom in rent rises for new lets is coming to an end".
Across the country, rents have risen by 1.6% over the last six months - way down from the 11% we saw overall in 2022 and 8% in 2023.
Zoopla expects this year's overall figure to come in at between 3-4%.
But interestingly, the picture differs across the country - with rents now falling in places such as London, Brighton, Glasgow, Nottingham and Worthing...
In London, a third of boroughs are seeing rents come down, most noticeably in Tower Hamlets, Newham and Greenwich...
Government borrowing highest since pandemic - adding to speculation of tax rises
By Sarah Taaffe-Maguire, business reporter
Government borrowing rose to the highest amount since the pandemic in July, official figures show.
Not since 2021 has there been a July with such high borrowing, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
There was a £3.1bn difference between what the government took in from things like taxes and how much was spent on public sector services - a net deficit made up for with borrowing.
Compared with the same month last year it's £1.8bn higher.
The sums are also higher than expected when looked at across a four-month period, despite being £500m below the same time in 2023.
So far the government has borrowed £51.4bn over the first four months of the 2024-25 financial year.
Independent forecasters the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) expected borrowing to be £4.7bn less and come in at £46.6bn.
Despite better-than-expected economic growth in recent weeks, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is widelyexpected to raise some taxesin her first October budget having said there is a£22bn black holein the public finances.
Today's figures are likely to add to that expectation.
Top Yorkshire chef shares Yorkshire pudding secrets - including mistake you're almost definitely making
Every Wednesday we ask Michelin chefs to pick their favourite Cheap Eats where they live and when they cook at home.This week we speak toJames Mackenzie, chef and owner of East Yorkshire's only Michelin-star restaurant - the Pipe and Glass in South Dalton.
Hi James,can you tell us your favourite places in East Yorkshire where you can get a meal for two for less than £40?
You can't beat brunch at Drewton's Farm Shop and Kitchen. Nestled in the beautiful Yorkshire Wolds, they serve a fantastic all-day breakfast using local ingredients, including their own craft sausages and Doreen's black pudding. It certainly sets you up for a busy day.
My second choice is Laveracks, a butcher/deli with shops in nearby Holme on Spalding Moor and Pocklington. They make great sausage rolls that hit the spot if I'm out and about - they're a generous size wrapped in delicious home-made pastry. The pies are chunky too, they don't scrimp on the filling and the flavours are fab. They also offer a top-quality selection of meats - everything that a great butcher should be.
What is your go-to cheap eat to cook at home when you have a night in?
You can't beat a family Sunday roast complete with all the trimmings and a sky-high Yorkshire pudding or two.
Yorkshire pudding is the first recipe that I ever made. I was about five or six, and I can remember cracking the eggs and whisking like mad, and my mum saying, "Carry on, they need more air" - but I think this was just a ploy to keep me occupied and had nothing to do with her recipe.
This recipe is simple and it uses an excessive amount of eggs to create the biggest Yorkies you've ever made.
And make sure you don't make the common mistake of seasoning your batter too early.
Make sure you let it rest before adding salt at the last minute before cooking - otherwise it affects the rise.
Ingredients (makes 10)
- Six eggs
- 300ml full-fat milk
- 260g plain flour
- Goose or duck fat or beef dripping, or rapeseed oil if preferred
- Salt and freshly ground white pepper
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4;
- Place the eggs and milk into a mixing bowl and whisk together, sieve the flour in and mix with a hand blender until you've got a smooth batter. Leave to stand for at least 10 minutes;
- In a 12-hole baking tray place a tablespoon of fat into each mould and put in the oven until smoking hot;
- Season the batter immediately before you pour it into the smoking hot tray - this will stop the salt breaking down the egg and your puddings will rise really well;
- Fill up 10 moulds nearly full around the edge of the tray, leaving two moulds in the middle free to allow the heat to circulate evenly;
- Bake for 35 minutes and don't be tempted to open the oven door earlier or they will collapse.
We've spoken to lots of top chefs - check out their cheap eats from around the country here...
The death of the free return - each major store's policy revealed
Over half of fashion retailers now charge customers for postal returns, new research shows.
The consumer choice website Which? found that 12 out of the UK's 20 biggest online retailers no longer offer free postal or courier returns.
PrettyLittleThing, H&M and Boohoo are among the stores charging the lowest return fee at £1.99 while MandM Direct charges customers between £2.99-£3.99.
Also among the retailers Which? looked at were JD Sports, Matalan, New Look, Next, River Island, Sports Direct, TK Maxx and Zara.
When Which? examined the pages for Zara, River Island and New Look it found the stores outlined their fees on product listing pages, but many of the other retailers did not explicitly state during the checkout process that customers have to pay for returns.
And apart from Sports Direct - which only accepts online returns via post - all of the retailers in Which?'s research that have physical shops do offer free in-store returns.
Gurpreet Chokar, Which? consumer law expert, said that it was becoming "increasingly common" for customers to foot the bill if they couldn't return their item to a physical shop as many online retailers were now shifting away from free online returns.
"While some shoppers will be able to return items at physical stores without any extra charges, retailers must ensure that any return fees are clear upfront so that customers can make an informed decision before they place their order," Ms Chokar said.
What are your rights?
Regulations state that consumers have a right to return an item they have purchased online.
The product doesnot have to be in its original packaging, but a company is entitled to ask for some form of proof of purchase.
Companies are not allowed to charge you for items that were placed in your online shopping basket as a result of a pre-ticked box.
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, consumers also do not have to pay for returns if their item is faulty or not as described.
First £1 featuring King | Workers to get 'right to switch off' | More firms going bust
The first £1 coins featuring King Charles have entered circulation, with collectors encouraged to look out for the historic addition to the nation's change.
Nearly three million of the new designs will be making their way into pockets and tills across the country this week, via Post Offices and banks throughout the UK.
The £1 coin has a pair of British bees on the "tails" side, in honour of the King's passion for conservation and the natural world, and Charles' official coin effigy on the obverse, or "heads".
The other designs, which will be introduced in line with demand, are the 1p showing a hazel dormouse, the 2p red squirrel, the 5p oak tree leaf, 10p capercaillie grouse, 20p puffin, and the £2 with the national flowers - rose, daffodil, thistle and shamrock.
Giving workers the "right to switch off" is key to productivity and could boost economic growth, Downing Street has said.
Labour has promised to give employees the right to ignore work-related calls and emails out of hours, so homes do not become "24/7 offices".
Ministers are looking at models in other countries where there is already a right to disconnect, such as Ireland and Belgium.
The prime minister's spokesperson said the plan was about making sure "we're not inadvertently blurring the lines between work and home life".
The plans were not a "one size fits all" and would recognise companies vary and people have different roles, she added.
The number of firms in England and Wales going bust last month rose by 16% year-on-year, according to official figures.
Commentators said the 2,191 company insolvencies showed how many businesseswere still recovering from the impact of high inflation and borrowing costs, despite growing optimism about the UK's economic outlook.
The figure was 7% down on June's total, but insolvency levels remain much higher than those seen during both thepandemic and in the years following the 2008/09 financial crisis, officials said.
Rebecca Dacre, a partner at advisory firm Forvis Mazars, said the data was "a strong reminder that many businesses are still a long way off from recovery".
BT loses £1bn in value after Sky strikes deal with network rival
By Sarah Taaffe-Maguire, business reporter
BT's share price has fallen, wiping off an estimated £1bn from the company's value.
One share now costs £134.45, a low last seen 10 days ago.
It comes after an internet network rival CityFibre struck a deal with broadband supplier Sky.
This means that Sky will now use CityFibre's network to offer its services starting next year.
It's a hit to BT as Sky customers are hosted on BT's Openreach network. Under the plan, Sky aims to connect so-called "hard-to-reach areas".
CityFibre reaches 3.8 million homes and aims to expand and reach "at least" 8 million premises in the coming years, it said.
"This partnership with Sky is a huge vote of confidence in our business and has cemented CityFibre's position as the UK's third digital infrastructure platform," said company chief executive Greg Mesch.
Formerly British Telecoms, BT is worth roughly £14.44bn, based on the number of shares issued and the share price.
The head of financial analysis at investment platform AJ Bell Danni Hewson said the CityFibre detail may not be that significant.
"BT shares came under pressure on fears of an enhanced competitive threat for its Openreach broadband operation amid chatter Sky might start partnering with CityFibre in 2025.
"However, CityFibre's modest scale and focus on rural areas suggest it shouldn't be a huge issue."
Sky is the owner of Sky News.
Britons travelling to Europe to be charged €7 visa-waiver charge from next year
UK citizens will need to pay a €7 visa-waiver charge to travel to Europe from next year after the EU revealed its timeline for the introduction of new entry requirements for some visitors.
The additional charge, which is similar to the US ESTA, is part of a series of new border checks and entry requirements the EU is bringing in.
They'll apply when entering the Schengen area, which includes 27 EU member states, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
The waiver will last for three years or until your passport expires.
Its official title is the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), and its implementation will follow the introduction of the EU Entry/Exit System (EES). The latter will require people to have their fingerprints registered and their pictures taken on arrival to airports.
Addressing the rollout, EU home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson said the EES will enter into operations on 10 November while the ETIAS will follow shortly after that in 2025 - likely May.
However, it is thought there could be a six-month grace period before the visas become compulsory - taking it to November next year.
Gold price reaches record high - here's what's going on
By Daniel Binns, business reporter
The price of gold has soared to a record high of more than $2,522 (£1,938) per ounce today.
It comes after months of the precious metal steadily rising in value.
Many factors are thought to have played a part, but analysts believe the latest leap is largely down to the weaker US dollar and growing expectations that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next month.
Lower rates tend to make a country - and its currency - less attractive to investors, because they end up getting lower returns on bonds, shares and other investments.
There are also general worries about the status of the US economy, amid rumblings it could enter a recession this year or next - although some commentators have downplayed the likelihood of this.
But it is not just the US that is on the cusp of reducing the cost of borrowing.
The European Central Bank and the Bank of England both recently cut interest rates - and are expected to do so again this autumn - which may also be off-putting to some investors.
What has all this got to do with gold?
It's largely because of its perceived status as a "safe haven" investment.
Gold is seen as solid and dependable - both literally and in its value as a commodity.
It has been prized and sought after since ancient times - and its valuable status seems certain to continue long into the future.
So when things seem uncertain - and when interest rates are being seemingly cut everywhere - putting your money in gold may seem like a good bet (or so the thinking goes - of course, many would argue there is no such thing as a sure bet in the financial markets).
This "safe haven" status also helps explain why the price of gold may have been steadily rising in recent months, as fears have grown over an escalation of the wars in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine.