The UK trade deficit widened sharply in December following a spike in gas prices

Former chief Brexit negotiator David Frost has urged the Government to “fully and enthusiastically embrace the advantages of Brexit,” following newspaper reports of a plot to undermine the agreement. Referring to a “secret” cross-party gathering on foreign affairs held at the Ditchley Park retreat in Oxfordshire last week as “a further piece of evidence that many in our political and business establishment want to unravel the deals we did to exit the EU in 2020 and to stay shadowing the EU instead,” Lord Frost told the Daily Mail: “That’s why so many of those responsible for Theresa May’s failed backstop deal were there, while I and those who actually delivered the Brexit agreements were not.”  Frost continued: “Brexit doesn’t need ‘fixing’. It needs this Conservative Government, elected with a huge mandate on a Brexit programme, to fully and enthusiastically embrace its advantages, instead of leaving the field to those who never wanted it in the first place. I and millions of others want the Government to get on with that instead of raising b, deterring investment and pushing public spending to its highest level for 70 years.” Yesterday’s Observer reported originally that Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove – who co-led the Vote Leave campaign in 2016 – was in attendance for the discussions, alongside senior members of Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet. However, attendees played down the significant of the meeting. A Labour source said: “This was a bog standard Ditchley Park conference. Their events are always cross-party”. Another source familiar with the event told Sky News it was a “quite dull conference” on foreign affairs.

BBC Chairman Richard Sharp made "significant errors of judgement" in failing to declare his involvement in facilitating a loan for the then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson shortly before he was appointed to the role, the Commons’ Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee said in a report released on Sunday. "Such a significant error of judgment meant we were not in the full possession of the facts when we were required to rule on his suitability for the role of BBC Chair," acting committee Chair Damian Green said. The report added: “There can be no question that Sharp’s decision not to divulge his involvement in the loan guarantee denied this committee the opportunity to fulfil its scrutiny role,” and suggested Sharp should consider the impact his omissions would have on trust in him, the BBC and the public appointments process. The Labour Party’s Lisa Nandy said in a BBC interview yesterday that Sharp's position was "increasingly untenable," but a spokesperson for the man himself said: "Mr Sharp appreciates that there was information that the committee felt that it should have been made aware of in his pre-appointment hearing. He regrets this and apologises." Sharp, an ex-JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs banker, who is a friend and former advisor to the then-prime minister, facilitated an introduction for Johnson’s distant cousin, businessman Sam Blyth, who reportedly suggested acting as a loan guarantor to his relative in 2020. Sharp insists however that he was not involved in making a loan or in arranging a guarantee or any financing. Blyth went on to lend the former prime minister up to £800,000, according to media reports.

The UK trade deficit widened sharply in December following a spike in gas prices, the Office for National Statistics said on Friday. The value of goods imported grew by £1.6bn, or 2.9% month-on-month, in December. Goods imports from European Union states rose by £1bn or 3.8%, while those from non-EU countries increased £0.5bn or 1.9%. Meanwhile, the value of goods exported decreased by £0.8bn or 2.3% month-on-month in December, primarily due to a 7.4% fall in exports to non-EU countries. Exports to the EU rose 3.1%. As a result, the total trade in goods balance was £23.6bn in December. In the fourth quarter, excluding precious metals the deficit widened to a record £64bn.

Energy firms are facing more than £2bn in potential compensation claims from millions of organisations and businesses over allegations they inflated customers' bills by paying secret commissions to brokers. Law firm Harcus Parker has written to British Gas in the first stage of what it plans to be a group litigation to reclaim the undisclosed commission payments. Similar letters will also be sent to other suppliers including E.ON and SSE. Those affected include small businesses as well as care homes, schools and charities, the Sunday Times reported yesterday. Energy regulator Ofgem is said to be working with the Government to regulate brokers that arrange gas and electricity contracts for small and medium-sized businesses. A British gas spokesman said: 'We offer business customers competitive prices if they come to us directly, and we have complied with the regulation regarding transparency disclosures at all times.'

512 pubs and bars collapsed into administration in 2022, an 83% increase on the previous year, according to accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young. The huge increase was attributed to rising costs – in particular the burgeoning costs of energy - and falling sales in the sector, as well as rail strikes. UHY partner Peter Kubik said: “Following an extended period of lost revenues during the pandemic, the cost of living crisis has been the final nail in the coffin for many”.

A Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) survey suggests that 55% of recruiters planned to lift base or variable pay this year as they struggle to hire and retain staff in Britain's tight labour market, and by an amount that is the highest in at least 11 years, however the anticipated average 5% pay deal will still fall well below the rate of inflation.

Despite a 7.5% downturn in the wider professional services sector, legal sector revenues increased 6% from November to December 2022, to heights of £4bn, figures from the Office for National Statistics show.

Start-up Tech Nation has reportedly lined up a host of potential bidders for its assets before a 14^th February deadline following the government’s decision to hand its £12m grant funding to Barclays bank, City A.M. says. Tech Nation, which runs start-up accelerators and a visa programme for the Home Office, was set up to champion the British technology sector by David Cameron when he was prime minister. Meanwhile, Barclays now finds itself at loggerheads with the industry body: according to Sky News, the bank is insisting it should not have to take on 48 Tech Nation staff members under TUPE regulations, which are designed to protect workers when their employer is taken over.  In a statement, a Barclays spokesperson said: "Discussions with Tech Nation are still ongoing, so it would not be appropriate for us to comment in detail at this time”.

Sky News has also learnt that NatWest bank, which will report its results for 2022 next week, has signed off plans to pay out more than £350m in bonuses to staff. The Government still has a 45% stake in NatWest, dating from the 2008 financial crisis when it bailed the bank out, but neither the Treasury nor UK Government Investments, which manages the public stake in NatWest,  have a formal veto over the bonus proposals

According to documents seen by the Daily Mail, Royal Mail is considering ending Saturday deliveries to save as much as £250m, significantly higher than previous estimates of £125m-£225m made by regulator Ofcom in 2020. The move could slash the company's projected annual losses for this year, which are expected to be between £350m to £450m, by more than half, the newspaper said. Royal Mail is currently legally required to deliver letters to every address in the UK six days a week under what is known as the Universal Service Obligation (USO), but has been pushing for this to be cut to five days as the number of posted letters has fallen.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has recommended its members accept a new pay offer of a 7% rise backdated to last July, and another 5% increase from 1^st July this year, as it represents a "significant shift" from a previous offer of just 2%.

More than 5.4m people travelled through London’s Heathrow airport this January, marking the busiest start to the year since 2020, City A.M. reports. The airport also saw customer satisfaction return to pre-Covid levels as 98% of travellers using Heathrow waited less than 10 minutes to pass through security.

Over-50s specialist insurer Saga confirmed on Friday that it is in exclusive discussions with Open Insurance Technologies over the potential sale of its underwriting business, Acromas Insurance Company limited (AICL). In a brief statement responding to media speculation, Saga said: "Discussions are ongoing and there can be no certainty that any transaction will occur. Any disposal of AICL would require regulatory and shareholder approvals."

11% more robots were ordered by companies located in the USA, Canada and Mexico last year, according to data compiled by the Association for Advancing Automation, an industry group also known as A3. It total, the three countries ordered just over 44,100 robots in 2022, at a cost of some $2.38bn (£1.97bn), an 18% cost increase for 2022. The "labor (sic) shortage doesn't seem to be letting up," Jeff Burnstein, president of A3 told Reuters. Many companies, scrambling to find workers amid the lowest U.S. unemployment rate since 1969, see automation as a quick fix, the news agency says.