‘Not an attractive place to shop’: how Poundland lost its appeal to shoppers

Budget retailer had a pre-tax loss of more than £51m last year and is struggling to lure back customers amid stiff competition from rivals

“It’s not actually that cheap any more. It’s kind of lost its appeal because everything is not a pound.”

Samantha, a shopper outside Poundland’s Luton retail park outlet who is heading off to B&M to find some better deals, sums up the feelings of many of her fellow bargain hunters and a central problem facing the new owner of the budget retailer.

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Sweet dreams: dessert parlours help to revive UK’s high streets

Market thought to be worth more than £500m as diners seek cheaper alternatives to the pub or a meal out

Dessert cafes and ice-cream parlours are hoping to play a role in a revival of UK high streets and the night-time economy, as people seek an alternative to going to the pub or an expensive meal out.

Their number has soared by almost 700 in the UK in the past decade, according to analysts at Green Street, formerly the Local Data Company, with outlets in places from Aberdeen to Plymouth.

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UK food shops report ‘massive’ rise in pensioner shoplifting

Kingdom Services boss says retailers seeing ‘different sort of shoplifter’ with more theft by people ‘who just can’t afford food’

Food retailers have seen a “massive” increase in pensioner shoplifters over the last year, according to a leading store security firm, amid the rising cost of living.

John Nussbaum, director of service for retail at Kingdom Services Group, has said his staff were seeing a “different sort of shoplifter now” as the cost of living “pushes people to something they’ve never done before”.

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Gen Z and young millennials battling ‘negative wealth’ as debt burden grows

Young people whose debts outweigh their assets are at risk of experiencing blighted earnings, and even poorer health

Gen Z and young millennials are battling a “negative wealth” problem due to growing debt burdens that limit their life chances, according to a new analysis from the Fairness Foundation.

The thinktank says negative wealth, where debts outweigh assets, is linked to lower wages and worse health in later life, and that ministers should reintroduce the Child Trust Fund to give young people a greater stake in society.

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Starmer dismisses claims he’s been ‘played’ by Trump, and says future trade deal could lessen impact of tariffs – UK politics live

Starmer said that a future trade deal with the US might lead to the UK getting some exemptions from the tariffs

Richard Hughes, chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, is giving evidence to the Treasury committee. There is a live feed here.

Hughes started by telling the committee that he wrote to the chancellor earlier this year to say that, when his five-year term ends later this year, he would like to have a second term in office.

We are of course negotiating an economic deal which will, I hope … mitigate the tariffs.

The US is our closest ally. Our defence, our security, our intelligence are bound up in a way that no two other countries are.

So it’s obviously in our national interest to have a close working relationship with the US, which we’ve had for decades, and I want to ensure we have for decades to come.

We are obviously working with the sectors most impacted at pace on that.

Nobody wants to see a trade war but I have to act in the national interests.

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Major UK investors join push for retail giants to pay workers ‘real living wage’

Axa and Scottish Widows back ShareAction campaign for chains such as Next to pay at least £12.60 an hour

Major investors including Axa and Scottish Widows are backing shareholder resolutions pressing retailers Next, Marks & Spencer and JD Sports to increase pay for thousands of workers.

More than 100 individuals and eight institutional investors, which manage over £1tn in assets, are backing an effort to encourage companies to pay a “real living wage”, which is designed to ensure workers can cover necessary household costs.

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Labour mayoral candidate on race to stop Reform – and ‘Doge Lincolnshire’

Jason Stockwood, ex-chair of Grimsby Town FC, has plan for keeping rival Andrea Jenkyns from implementing US-style cuts

Labour can beat Reform UK by focusing relentlessly on the cost of living, the party’s mayoral candidate for Greater Lincolnshire, who is taking on the Conservative defector Andrea Jenkyns, has said.

Jason Stockwood, the former chair of Grimsby Town football club, is standing for Labour in the most high-profile mayoral race of the local elections.

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Energy network owners have made £3.9bn from higher bills, says report

Citizens Advice believes Ofgem made flawed interest rate calculation for companies in Great Britain

The companies behind Great Britain’s gas pipes and power lines have pocketed a windfall of nearly £4bn from household bills during the energy and cost crisis, according to a report.

The analysis, by Citizens Advice, argued that energy network owners were able to make the “excess profits” over the past four years after the industry regulator misjudged their costs.

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Government under pressure on economy as British households anticipate worsening finances

CBI says businesses plan to cut jobs and raise prices while debt charity says millions are ‘facing worries’

The government is under growing pressure to get momentum back into the economy amid warnings that businesses plan to cut jobs and raise prices, while millions of families believe their finances will worsen this year.

Before a major speech this week by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, designed to restate Labour’s commitment to improving the economy, the CBI said private sector firms were urgently assessing their budgets to offset measures announced in last October’s budget.

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One in six UK workers skipping meals to make ends meet, says TUC

Trade unions body finds 17% have skipped meal in past three months, and as many as 10% do so most days

As many as one in six workers in Britain are skipping meals to make ends meet as households remain under pressure from the higher cost of groceries, energy and other essentials.

Highlighting the impact of the cost of living crisis on working households, figures from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) showed 17% of full- or part-time workers had skipped a meal to reduce their spending in the past three months.

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Give working parents help with childcare and commuting costs, UK thinktank says

Child poverty plan must address the 70% of families with at least one parent in work, Resolution Foundation says

Labour must offer extra support to working parents, including with childcare and commuting, if it is to fulfil its promise of cutting child poverty, the Resolution Foundation thinktank has argued.

The government’s manifesto promised an “ambitious strategy” on child poverty, and ministers have said they will publish a 10-year plan in the spring.

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Boxing Day footfall down on UK high streets despite discounts

Data may reflect shift in behaviour influenced by cost of living crisis or front-loading of spending

Fewer consumers made the journey to high streets and shopping centres in search of Boxing Day discounts this year.

Footfall across UK retailers was down 8.9% as of 3pm on Thursday, compared with Boxing Day in 2023, according to data from MRI Software.

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Energy bills, mortgages, food: will cost of living surge again under Labour?

The government claims to be fixing the economy but households may face more pressure in the months ahead

Labour swept to power in the wake of a cost of living crisis that hit households hard, with the price of food and energy rocketing alongside the impact of Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget on mortgage rates.

At 2.3%, inflation is nowhere the 10% peak after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but it is creeping up, and could hit 3% in 2025, say forecasters.

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E.ON must pay £14.5m to prepayment customers after billing failures

Ofgem says nearly 250,000 people will each receive average of £144 in compensation and refunds

The energy regulator has ordered power supplier E.ON Next to pay £14.5m in compensation to nearly 250,000 prepayment customers, after an investigation found “unacceptable” failures to pay credit they had on accounts or final bill payments they were owed.

Ofgem found that the customers were affected over an 18-month period from early 2021 to late last year by an error in E.ON Next’s billing system. About 100,000 of the affected accounts were also in credit.

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UK’s inflation jump dashes hope of interest rate cut in December | Heather Stewart

Rate cut unlikely until 2025 as energy prices blamed for stronger-than-expected inflation of 2.3%

Any lingering hope that the Bank of England might deliver a pre-Christmas interest rate cut next month appears to have evaporated, after official data showed inflation jumping to 2.3% in October.

The CPI measure had been expected to tick up, after dipping to 1.7% in September, but 2.3% was stronger than expected.

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Reeves’s long-term spending figures almost as unrealistic as Tories’ were, IFS says – UK politics live

Institute for Fiscal Studies says budget ‘looks like the same silly games’ as seen under the Conservatives

Rachel Reeves is now being interview on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

She is being interviewed by Ed Balls, the former Labour shadow chancellor who is now a TV presenter. He asks her to confirm that workers will end up losing out because of the employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) increase.

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Rachel Reeves will tax businesses to plug £9bn black hole in NHS

The chancellor is set to announce a revenue-raising budget designed to reset Britain’s public finances

Rachel Reeves is set to use one of the most pivotal budgets of recent times to call on businesses to pay more tax to help restore the NHS, amid warnings that the health service has been left with a £9bn hole in its finances.

The chancellor is expected to stake her reputation on a tax-­raising budget designed as a reset of the public finances. She has already had to deal with cabinet skirmishes over funding unveiled alongside the statement. However, Reeves is understood to believe that the public will accept a multibillion-pound hike in business taxes if it is linked to repairing the health system’s finances.

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UK ‘risks repeat of surging energy bills’ amid continued reliance on gas

Energy crisis panel warns country is ‘dangerously unprepared’ and must shift away from gas quickly

Britain is at risk of experiencing a repeat of the sharp increase in energy costs which has fuelled the continuing cost of living crisis because it relies too heavily on gas, according to an expert panel of industry leaders.

The Energy Crisis Commission has warned that the UK is still “dangerously underprepared” for another crisis because it continues to rely on gas for its power plants and home heating.

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Pension pot amount needed for ‘basic’ retirement rises 60% in three years

Research shows ‘alarming’ rise in essential living costs during retirement, with low-paid workers worst affected

The average pension pot needed for a “basic” retirement has risen by almost 60% in three years, according to research that highlights how the UK cost of living crisis has left many workers fearing they will never be able to retire.

The study from the Resolution Foundation thinktank and the Living Wage Foundation found that a number of price rises across housing, energy, food and transport had helped “significantly” increase the cost of securing an adequate income in retirement.

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Branded UK school uniforms cost more than double high-street prices, analysis reveals

The Children’s Society urges schools and government to ensure ‘undue financial strain’ is not placed on families

Parents are routinely paying more than double the price for branded school uniforms compared with similar items offered by supermarkets and high-street stores, an analysis by the Observer reveals.

Despite government guidance to reduce costs, the analysis shows that parents who are required by state schools to buy clothing featuring official school logos are still paying significantly more than for unbranded blazers, jumpers, ties and sports kit.

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