Business and Economics

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A report says cutting huge salaries would not hurt the economy as analysis reveals top CEOs earn on average £4.6m per annum. The groundbreaking study by top headhunters has shown that Britain’s chief executives are grossly overpaid, and there would be little impact on the economy if their salaries were cut, which disproves the fear of a “brain drain,” if pay were to be slashed. The report by the London School of Economics report bring...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor More economic gloom as housebuilding activity plunged to lowest level in almost three years. The depressing figures follow on from news in the manufacturing sector, reeling from poor global conditions and the looming EU referendum. Tuesday’s manufacturing index showed it had slipped to its worst month in almost three years in February. The housebuilding data comes from Markit/CIPS construction purchasing managers’ index growth in the building sector which sank to a 10 month low in...

Super fast growth companies know as 'gazelles' are expected to contribute £38 billion to the UK economy in exports by 2020, according to new research. The report finds London's medium-sized businesses are set for a growth spurt over the next few years up to 2020 - increasing their contribution to GVA from £62 billion in 2015 to £76 billion in 2020. This is largely due to an exciting group of super fast growth companies knows as ‘gazelles', which are companies that have...

When it comes to social media, the vast majority of us love to tweet. According to the latest data from Statistic Brain Research Institute, Twitter currently has 645,750,000 registered accounts and 289,000,000 active users. Looking specifically at the UK, Statista calculates the number of active daily Twitter users to be 15.8 million in 2016 and within the next two years that figure will grow to more than 17 million. Essentially, what's clear to anyone with their finger even remotely on the tech...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor The North of England is still the least economically active in the country, a study has shown. Towns and cities in this area are not keeping up with national trends and now have worse social and economic conditions than previously. Dundee, in Scotland, aside, the bottom ten places are all based in the North of England, making the Chancellor’s promise of a northern powerhouse seem a fantasy. The table, created by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation,...

By Dean Hochlaf New Zealand MP, Winston Peters has thrown his voice into the great EU referendum debate, by suggesting Britain leaves the EU, and “heal a rift” with the nations of the Commonwealth that emerged when Britain joined the EEC. He has even gone as far as suggesting a Commonwealth free trade area, which has been enthusiastically picked up by the UKIP Commonwealth spokesman. The concept of a Commonwealth free trade area pops up every now and then as...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Shockingly MPs have overturned a Lords decision to stop cuts to the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) meaning disabled people will now be £30 a week worse off. It is hoped this cut would help people back into work, but it has even left some Tory backbenchers uneasy. The Government had previously been beaten by the Lords, over the reduction of the allowance for people in the work related activity group (WRAG), because they are...

The 'short term loan' is amongst the most slandered terms in the financial world, but there is no doubting that responsible lenders have an important role to play in the credit market. New research has revealed the importance of borrowing from an accredited lender when it comes to short-term credit, with a third of people saying that government regulation will make the industry more trustworthy. More than a quarter of the respondents said they are more likely to borrow money if the lender is...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor It looks like the Chancellor’s much heralded “Northern Powerhouse,” is not quite going according to plan, which may come as not much of a surprise to people living there. Osborne will be saddened to hear that more start-ups were launched in a single London postcode than in every city and town in Yorkshire. The capital’s Silicon Roundabout, the UK’s tech hub, created 10,280 start-ups in 2014-15. Conversely, last year Yorkshire and Humberside saw 9,562 start-ups,...