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Price rises have seen the biggest jump since records began in 1997 as the economy continued to reopen. Official figures show that the increase in the cost of living, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index, hit 3.2% in the year to August. Higher prices in restaurants and for recreation and food were behind the spike, up from 2% the previous month. The cost of living rose less rapidly in July because of lower clothing and footwear prices. However, the Office for National Statistics (...

The UK has a brand new cheapest supermarket, it has been announced, and it's not Aldi or ASDA. Lidl has been named the UK's cheapest - pushing rival Aldi from the top spot. The German discounter was the best-value grocer in August, coming up top against all of the Big Four supermarkets as well as fellow rival Aldi. With the kids home full time, shoppers would have paid £24.11 for a basket of 23 essential items at Lidl, that’s 43p less than Aldi and £9 less than...

People who have lost thousands of pounds in the post-Grenfell fire safety crisis have asked for urgent help amid spiralling insurance and service costs. Deborah Polverino, from Cardiff, saw her annual service charge rise from £3,000 to nearly £7,800 after her building failed fire safety tests. Campaigners warned people could go bankrupt and lose their homes. The Welsh government said it was "working hard to develop funding options". A spokesman said the "complex nature" o...

LONDON, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Britain needs to ease taxes on banks and make it easier to hire staff from abroad, its financial and professional services lobby said in a blueprint to help London unseat New York as the world's top international financial center within five years. The strategy paper on Tuesday from TheCityUK reiterated some ideas already aired in government-backed reports and elsewhere in recent months as the City of London looks to recoup ground lost following Britain's de...

This is a very significant tax rise, with little precedent outside of a Budget. It doesn't just break a manifesto promise, it drives a JCB through it, with £11.4bn a year in extra taxes that were the subject of a guarantee that they would not go up. The March Budget of this year was already the most significant tax-raising Budget since 1993. But a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic recession and associated long-lasting damage to the NHS do give some rationale for thinking about how a...

It is already the UK’s largest mortgage lender, and now Lloyds Banking Group aims to become one of its biggest private landlords, with a target of buying 50,000 homes in the next 10 years. Lloyds is the latest big name on the high street to move into the property market: last month it emerged that the retailer John Lewis was considering plans to build 10,000 rental homes over the next decade. According to accountancy firm Blick Rothenberg, “everyone wants to become a landlord&rdqu...

From today, there's a new kid on the block when it comes to London's railways. Sort of. After all, it's using existing stations, existing railway lines and existing systems. But nevertheless, those hoping to save a few pounds will be excited to hear that a new train company has launched offering low priced tickets to travel more than 400 miles between London and Edinburgh. It's actually the brainchild of FirstGroup, which has run train services in and out of the capital for...

The new E10 fuel may now be available at a petrol pump near you. Great news for the environment, but is it good for your motor? E10 at the fuel pump The new fuel – known as E10 – aims to cut CO2 emissions by over 750,000 tonnes per year. This is equal to taking 350,000 cars off the road. Cleaner petrol is part of the plan to reach the carbon-neutral goal by 2050. But the new fuel may not be compatible with older models and could potentially cause damage. So what is E...