Marketing Newscast

(Edited 11 March 2025)

300,000 small businesses are expected to lay off workers because of the Government’s Budget tax hikes on businesses, according to research from digital lender Iwoca. The firm bases its predictions on a survey of 500 business owners, also finding that 31% intend to scale back pay rises, and 27% plan to stall staff promotions. In addition to the £25bn rise in employer national insurance contributions (NICs) businesses face from 1^st April, businesses are also said to be dismayed and anxious about promised new employment rights legislation making it more difficult and expensive to hire, and fire, workers. Meanwhile, BDO’s employment index, which surveys over 4,000 companies covering a range of different industries and business functions, has dropped to lows not seen since the 2008 financial crash; and a report by KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation has concluded that businesses are cancelling hiring plans and preparing for layoffs, saying too that this is because of planned rises in the minimum wage and the employer NICs hike. Salaries are also rising at the slowest pace for four years, the report found, with demand for staff suffering “substantial declines” in February, and demand for permanent roles falling for the 18th month in a row in almost all sectors.

There are now a record 17,000 shoplifting incidents in Britain every day, and they cost corner shops £316m last year, according to the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS). In total, 6.2m thefts were recorded in 2024, up from 5.6m in 2023. Stores also faced more than 59,000 incidents of violence and 1.2m incidents of verbal abuse. ACS CEO James Lowman said: “The levels of theft, abuse and violence experienced by retailers over the last year makes for shocking reading, but it will not surprise our members who are living it on a daily basis. Criminals targeting local shops without fear of reproach cannot be allowed to continue.”

The ZEV (zero-emission-vehicle) mandate may be relaxed, the Government has indicated, with Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds telling The Times at the weekend that a “substantial change of policy” had been agreed after Nissan claimed the mandate threatened the future of its Sunderland manufacturing plant. The ZEV forces car manufacturers to hit annual sales targets for electric cars (EVs) or face fines, with 80% of sales mandated at present to be of EVs by 2030. “We will do everything we can to make sure Nissan has that secure long-term future in the UK, making sure the business and regulatory environment reflects that,” Reynolds said.

The Treasury is also said to be looking to block a proposal from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to apply VAT to investment funds. According to a report in the Financial Times on Friday, HMRC was keen to remove VAT exemptions for third-party fund management operations, but it is understood that financiers who met City Minister Emma Reynolds last week warned against the proposals. Arguing it would result in a £147m hit to the sector, most of which would be passed onto investors, deterring them from investing more money into the UK.

A fire is still burning in the North Sea after the US-registered oil tanker Stena Immaculate, which was carrying jet fuel for the US military, collided with the Portuguese-flagged Solonga cargo ship off the coast of East Yorkshire. The Solonga was carrying carrying 15 containers of the toxic chemical sodium cyanide. One crew member on the Solonga is unaccounted for and the search has been called off after "an extensive search", HM Coastguard said. 36 people were rescued. A Government source told The Telegraph that early investigations did not point to foul play but it could not be ruled out at this stage. The prime minister’s official spokesperson previously said it was an “extremely concerning situation”.

US economic growth forecasts have been downgraded because of fears President Donald Trump’s trade wars will put the global economy into recession. According to Goldman Sachs, the US economy is now expected to grow by just 1.7% this year, down from a previous forecast of 2.4%. Meanwhile, Wall Street tumbled yesterday: the S&P 500 lost 2.7%, to end at 5,614.99 points; the Nasdaq lost 4% - its biggest one-day drop since September 2022 - to 17,470.21; and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.1%, closing at 41,911.09. The sell off was fuelled by Trump’s refusal to rule out a US recession and saying there would be “a period of transition”. Notably, shares in Elon Musk’s Tesla sank 15.2%, to $222.82, the lowest they have traded since late October, with analysts saying the falling price is linked to a political backlash against Musk for his support for the President.

Meanwhile, Musk’s social media platform X was offline for several hours yesterday. Musk blamed a “massive cyberattack” by a hacker with “a lot of resources,” and suggested the attack had originated from Ukraine. “We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources. Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved,” he added.

Musk’s plans to roll out self-driving cars to the UK have been thwarted by Department for Transport (DfT) officials, according to documents seen by The Telegraph. Minutes from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) – the body that decides new safety rules for vehicles – show that DfT officials raised concerns about plans to approve wide-ranging driver assistance systems that would have allowed vehicles to make manoeuvres such as lane changes, junction turns and stopping and starting at traffic lights while motorists had their hands off the wheel.

Asda is selling off its car parks, The Telegraph reports, saying the ailing supermarket chain has kicked off a process to offload almost 10 acres of car parking space and nearby fields at five of its supermarkets to raise funds. Property sources told the newspaper the deals could hand Asda a £5m cash boost.

Barclays is reportedly close to finalising a £650m deal to offload control of its UK payments business to the Canadian investment giant Brookfield Asset Management. According to Sky News, the transaction will initially see Brookfield acquire 10% of the UK bank's merchant acquiring division, then a further 80% after three years, leaving Barclays as a 10% shareholder.

Lloyd's of London is predicting a $2.3bn (£1.8bn) net loss to the insurance market from the Californian wildfires but says it is still too early to give an accurate prediction.

Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney has been named the next Canadian prime minister after winning the Liberal party leadership vote by a landslide 85.9%, beating Justin Trudeau, who has been in office for nine years. Carney was the 120th governor of the Bank of England from 2013–2020, the first non-Brit to lead the central bank in its 300-year plus history. After his election, he hit out at President Trump’s “unjustified tariffs” and “attacks” on Canadian families, workers and businesses. He also attacked Trump’s talk of making Canada the 51st US state, saying: “We have made this the greatest country in the world and now our neighbours want to take us. No way.” He added: “America is not Canada. Canada will never ever be part of America in any way, shape or form.” Carney is expected to lead his party in the Canada’s next general election, which could be called within weeks.