New data shows just 9.7% of transport and storage businesses expect to raise prices in September – the lowest of any major UK sector, and down sharply from 15.8% in August. Manufacturers and retailers, by contrast, are far more likely to be pushing prices up, says the delivery expert Parcelhero.
For a while, there was a little hope that the worst of the heating-oil crisis might be behind us. Perhaps oil prices would settle.
There is one number that is beginning to dominate the argument about John Swinney's plans for reforming Scotland's public services. 20,000.
The Highlands May Be Cooler, But Our Food Bills Aren’t: Britain Faces a New Food Price Shock For years, climate change has often seemed like somebody else's problem. We watched television pictures of heatwaves in southern Europe, wildfires in California and droughts in Africa and thought that Britain, sitting in the North Atlantic with its cool, wet climate, was somehow protected.
Highland Council has an ambitious plan in fact it's very ambitious. Over the next 20 years it wants to invest around £2.1 billion in schools, roads, transport, community facilities, offices, depots and other infrastructure across the Highlands.
Tuesday was an unusually important day in British politics. In London, Prime Minister Andy Burnham made his first major statement to the House of Commons since taking office, setting out the direction in which he intends to take the United Kingdom.
For a while it looked as though the great mortgage squeeze might finally be coming to an end. Interest rates had fallen from their peak.
There is a rather uncomfortable question waiting for Andy Burnham and Chancellor John Healey as they prepare for the October Budget. Where exactly is the money going to come from? The new Government has arrived in Downing Street promising change, better public services, more investment, greater regional equality and action on the cost of living.
Employers in certain sectors will have been concerned to read reports from the UK government that the costs of promised reforms to “zero hours contracts” under the Employment Rights Act 2025 may be anything up to £2.9 billion. The changes, due to be implemented in early 2027, are designed to redress what are seen as “one-sided” working arrangements under which workers bear all the financial risk of fluctuations in demand for their labour.
Scotland has spent years being told that renewable energy will transform its economy. Now another industry has arrived that wants an enormous amount of it.
Denmark and the UK both wear the badge of universal healthcare with pride. Nobody is turned away, nobody is handed a bill on the way out.
It is tempting to think of another rise in the oil price as simply another unwelcome addition to the cost of filling the car or heating the house. For many people, particularly in rural Scotland, that is already serious enough.
John Swinney has made economic growth one of the central themes of his new programme for government. That is hardly surprising.
Businesses reminded to prepare for Vaping Duty and Stamps Scheme. Businesses are reminded to prepare for Vaping Products Duty and the Vaping Duty Stamps Scheme which start on 1 October 2026.
There is a financial story developing which could eventually affect the interest rate on your mortgage, the cost of a business loan, the Government's ability to spend money and even what happens at the next Budget. It is not particularly easy to understand.
Digital ID Is Dead. Or Is It? The Government May Have Cancelled the Scheme, But the Problem Hasn't Gone Away The Government may have cancelled its plans for a single digital identity, but the problem it was trying to solve has not disappeared.
There is a growing problem sitting quietly underneath Britain's cost-of-living debate. People need more money.
There is a major change being discussed in Westminster that could eventually affect the way millions of households in Scotland watch television, yet I suspect very few people in Caithness have heard much about it. It is not another change to the television licence.
There is a rather uncomfortable economic question emerging from the war with Iran. How much pain can the United States inflict on Iran before some of that pain starts coming back home? There is no doubt that the economic pressure on Iran is severe.
ScotRail has reached an important milestone in plans to introduce a new suburban train fleet, with the procurement now progressing to the Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) stage. The move to ITN represents the next formal step in the structured procurement process.