The government has pushed back a deadline for the launch of post-Brexit product safety standards by allowing companies to follow EU rules until 2023, in the latest climbdown amid concerns over the economy. Businesses will have an extra year to start using the new UKCA mark, which is planned to replace the EU’s CE mark...
Reusing and repairing household goods, from washing machines to phones, and recycling throwaway consumer items such as plastic bottles, could create hundreds of thousands of green jobs across the UK, a thinktank has found. The UK creates thousands of tonnes of unnecessary waste each year, some of which is still exported, because of a failure to value...
Thousands of leaseholders living in dangerous blocks will not be protected by the latest government attempt to tackle the spiralling cost of the post-Grenfell fire safety crisis, it has emerged, as ministers publish legislation allowing developers to pass on costs to residents. The housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, on Monday introduced a bill extending leaseholders’ rights to...
The nation’s online shopping habit is causing a cardboard shortage as empty delivery boxes are hoarded in homes or stuck in council recycling bins. UK households have amassed 135m cardboard boxes during the pandemic, keeping valuable raw material out of the recycling chain and pushing up packaging prices, according to the packaging specialist DS Smith....
Caravan parks have recorded a boom in demand as lockdown measures are relaxed, providing an unlikely source of economic growth as overseas travel remains largely off-limits. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show activity in the UK’s accommodation and food services sector grew by 68.6% in April, with the biggest driver being caravan parks...
The government is cutting the funding it gives to councils in England and Wales to help struggling tenants by more than a fifth, with critics warning the move will drive up homelessness following the recent end of the Covid evictions ban and the end of the furlough scheme in September. Discretionary housing payments (DHPs) provide...
An ad campaign telling the public that “it’s time to buy” bitcoin has been banned after the advertising watchdog ruled that it was irresponsible and misleading. The high-profile campaign, which has featured heavily across the London underground and the capital’s bus network since December, ran with the strapline “If you’re seeing bitcoin on the underground,...
The rail industry will be simplified but still substantially privatised as a rebranded Great British Railways, the government has pledged after publishing its long-awaited overhaul on Thursday. A white paper places control of rail infrastructure and services under the new arm’s-length public body, with franchises replaced by contracts that will incentivise private firms on punctuality and efficiency...
A loophole in HSBC’s pledge to phase out financing for coal by 2040 will allow the bank to support companies with plans to build more than 70 new coal plants, which could cause an estimated 18,700 deaths from air pollution a year, according to a report. The bank’s asset management arm, which is not included...
Sales and profits soared at the online fashion retailer Boohoo during the coronavirus pandemic as it benefited from the boom in online shopping and being able to trade throughout successive lockdowns, unlike its high street rivals. Demand from younger consumers for its inexpensive activewear, loungewear and tops while working from home helped Boohoo’s sales climb by 41%...