UK business confidence weakened and hiring fell at end of 2025, surveys find
UK business confidence weakened sharply at the end of 2025 and hiring fell amid rising costs and uncertainty about the economic outlook, according to key business surveys,Contrasting with the prime minister’s optimistic new year message that the country was about to start feeling richer again, the jobs market weakened, with full-time and temporary appointments falling in December, according to a study by the accountants KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC),Jon Holt, the group chief executive of KPMG, said: “The jobs market at the end of 2025 was still signalling caution,After a long stretch of rising cost pressures and higher global economic uncertainty, many firms continue to pause hiring and are flexing where they can by using temporary staff,“As we head into the new year, this restraint is likely to remain in the near term.
”Meanwhile, UK business confidence weakened sharply at the end of 2025, according to the latest business trends report from BDO, with the accountancy firm’s “optimism index” falling to its lowest level in nearly five years.Scott Knight, the head of growth at BDO, said: “Business costs are rising and turnover expectations are falling; it’s no wonder that optimism is on the floor.Decisive action like further interest rate deductions and a clear roadmap of what’s ahead is critical if they’re to grow and invest.”Keir Starmer kicked off 2026 with a series of briefings about how Britons would soon notice an improving economy, with claims his government had succeeded in bringing down living costs because of cuts to energy bills and interest rates as well as the end of the two-child benefit cap.There was also mixed news for Downing Street from a third economic survey, showing that Britain’s manufacturers believe the introduction of the government’s industrial strategy last year will boost their growth prospects in 2026.
A majority of manufacturers believe the opportunities for their business to succeed outweigh the risks this year, according to an annual survey from the sector’s trade body Make UK and the accounting group PwC.However, Make UK said the survey also signalled that the significant increases in business costs, especially on employment and energy, were threatening to reach “a tipping point whereby investment plans will be cancelled or shifted overseas”.Stephen Phipson, the chief executive of Make UK, said manufacturers could only thrive “in the most favourable business environment”.He said: “Despite the commitment to an industrial strategy, not only is growth anaemic but the warning lights are now flashing red on the UK as a competitive place to manufacture and invest.The government promised significant change; now is the time to deliver it.
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3,000 jobs at risk unless MoD signs helicopter order, sources say
The UK’s last military helicopter factory must land a long-awaited order from the Ministry of Defence within the coming weeks to secure about 3,000 manufacturing jobs, industry sources suggest.Skilled workers at Leonardo Helicopters – the Italian owner of the former Westland factory in Yeovil, Somerset – fear the company will follow through on threats to close the facility at the end of March, if the UK military fails to place an order for new helicopters by that time.Leonardo was the only bidder for the UK’s £1bn “new medium helicopter” contract that was launched in February 2024, but delays in awarding the deal seem to have put the future of the factory at risk.The bid’s “best and final offer” expires in March. One source close to the process suggested the company needed to be told it had been awarded the deal by January if it was to meet the contract’s various deadlines
Are a record number of mom and pops going bankrupt? Kinda but not really
Are mom-and-pop stores going bankrupt at historically high levels? That would seem to be the impression you’d get from recent news reports referencing data released from Epiq Bankruptcy Analytics, a provider of legal services that specializes in bankruptcy services.Uh-oh! Some have seen this as proof that Donald Trump’s policies are bankrupting Main Street. Well, no, not quite.It is true that, according Epiq’s data, there were 2,221 filings for bankruptcy protection under a special provision for small businesses of the bankruptcy code – subchapter V – that was created for this purpose back in 2019. And it is true that the number of filings increased last year
Behind the Somali daycare panic is a mother-and-son duo angling to be top Maga influencers
YouTube influencer Nick Shirley, whose viral video alleging fraud by daycare centers servicing Minneapolis’s Somali American community came days ahead of the Trump administration’s declaration of a national funding freeze, has for years published conspiracy-minded takes on hot-button rightwing issues.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.He also has close ties to the White House, Republicans, and to representatives of an earlier generation of rightwing partisan “ambush journalists” such as James O’Keefe
Elon Musk’s X threatened with UK ban over wave of indecent AI images
Elon Musk’s X has been ordered by the UK government to tackle a wave of indecent AI images or face a de facto ban, as an expert said the platform was no longer a “safe space” for women.The media watchdog, Ofcom, confirmed it would accelerate an investigation into X as a backlash grew against the site, which has hosted a deluge of images depicting partially stripped women and children.X announced a restriction on creating images via the Grok AI tool on Friday morning in response to the global outcry. A post on the platform said the ability to generate and edit images would now be “limited to paying subscribers”. Those who pay have to provide personal details, meaning they could be identified if the function was misused
David hat-trick dismantles Stormers to send Harlequins into Champions Cup last 16
Harlequins back? Or is this latest outrageous twist in the story of their inconsistency a case of same old, same old? First, it needs to be acknowledged that this was a comprehensive dismantling of a side who had not lost a game this season. This was hardly the Stormers’ first team, but an unbeaten squad is an unbeaten squad. God knows, they are beaten now.The notion that Harlequins are one of the Premiership’s whipping boys was made to look absurd as they strutted the turf of the Stoop with supreme confidence and aplomb. Try after try followed, a hat-trick for Nick David with consecutive tries either side of half-time
Ashes calamity has trashed McCullum’s credibility. It’s time to call on Alec Stewart | Mark Ramprakash
The curtain came down on the Ashes in Sydney with England again being outplayed in the basics of the game. But it is one thing to have a weak team, and another to have a talented one that just looks muddled.I was very optimistic going into the series because England had a quality group of players, many of them in their 20s – in my opinion their peak years – who had played a lot of international cricket together, come through a tough series against India, and appeared to have matured their approach, adding nuance and adaptability, evolving from their old one-size-fits-all swagger. Well, high expectations can be dangerous because if things don’t work out the disappointment is all the more profound.So I look at the wreckage of this series and all those high hopes and ask myself, did this management group – Rob Key, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes – give the England squad the best chance of success? They all seem to be bullish that they can carry on and of the three it is hard to argue that Stokes should not: he’s the obvious leader in the group and there are not many other candidates
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