Hotel Chocolat has become the latest company to pledge to repay millions of pounds of furlough money after a strong performance this year. The luxury chocolatiers yesterday promised to giving back £3.1 million from the coronavirus job retention scheme as it

Greggs has said that profits will be “materially higher” than expected and could return to pre-pandemic levels this year thanks to robust sales since shops reopened. In the latest indication that the UK economy is recovering strongly, the bakery and café

Britain’s economy will recover rapidly from the Covid-19 crisis but risks being hit by rising regional inequality and destitution for years to come, a leading think tank has warned. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research yesterday upgraded its growth

The government was last night trying to find buyers for more than £1.1 billion worth of NatWest shares after ordering the sale of a 5 per cent stake in the bank that it rescued 13 years ago. About 580 million shares

Regulators will be able to take down unsafe products listed on eBay without consulting it under rules being developed by the online retailer. Officials including those at the Office for Product Safety and Standards and Ofcom, the media regulator, will be

The government will pledge today to put “rocket fuel” under its levelling-up agenda with a Queen’s Speech aimed at the “forgotten” 50 per cent who do not go to university. The prime minister will announce a right to government-funded training for

Boris Johnson last night signalled an end to “government edicts” on Covid and told people to start using their common sense after England recorded no deaths from the virus for the first time since last summer. The prime minister confirmed that