UK could face gaps on supermarket shelves by summer if Iran war continues

The UK could face some gaps on supermarket shelves this summer if disruption caused by the Iran war continues, with shortages of carbon dioxide potentially hitting supplies of chicken, pork and fizzy drinks.Government ministers are drawing up contingency plans for a “reasonable worst-case scenario” if the key shipping lane of the strait of Hormuz does not reopen, disrupting supplies of the CO2 required by the food industry.Officials from departments including No 10, the Treasury and the Ministry of Defence have run a planning operation named Exercise Turnstone to rehearse various scenarios of how British industry could be affected by a long closure of the strait.The planning exercise run by the government’s Cobra emergency committee, details of which were first reported by the Times, was based on multiple disruptive events happening at once, including the strait still being closed in June, a lack of a permanent peace deal between the US and Iran, and a mechanical failure at one of the UK’s key CO2 plants.The business secretary said on Thursday that the public should be “reassured” by the fact ministers were making contingency plans for possible repercussions from the war, adding that supplies of CO2 were “not a concern” for the UK economy

EasyJet warns of impact on profits as Iran war hits bookings and fuel prices

The budget airline easyJet has warned the impact of the Iran war on bookings and oil prices will hit its profits, having driven up fuel costs by £25m in the last month alone.It said it expected to report an increased pre-tax loss of £540-£560m for the six months to March, up from £394m in the first half of 2024-25. The carrier typically makes its money in the second half of the year which includes the peak summer period.The airline said it remained confident in its fuel supply. While it has hedged 70% of its needs for the rest of the financial year to September, it said that each $100 (£74) movement in the spot price jet of fuel per metric tonne was adding £40m in costs for its unhedged supply – and currently the price is about $800 higher than before the conflict started

UK economy showed surprise 0.5% growth before Iran war

UK GDP expanded by a stronger than expected 0.5% in February, official figures show, suggesting the economy was gaining momentum before the onset of war in the Middle East dashed hopes of recovery.The jump, reported by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), was significantly bigger than the 0.1% forecast by economists. January’s flatlining figure was also revised up, to 0

Drax claimed record £999m in subsidies for burning trees in 2025, thinktank says

The owner of the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire received record subsidies of almost £1bn for burning trees to generate electricity in 2025, a climate thinktank has calculated.The company was paid £999m last year for generating about 4.5% of Great Britain’s electricity from its biomass plant, costing each household £13 a year, according to analysts at Ember.The power plant was able to claim £2.7m a day from energy bills in part by increasing its power generation by about 2% from the year before – but mostly due to the rising payouts from a legacy renewables support scheme

Reeves gives more energy bill support to businesses as Iran war pushes up costs

Rachel Reeves has announced an expansion of support for the most energy-intensive UK businesses, as they face soaring bills as a result of the Middle East conflict.The chancellor said the long-promised British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) would be expanded to cover 10,000 companies, up from the 7,000 originally announced.The scheme, which the government says will cut companies’ bills by up to 25%, will not come into operation until next year, although in a significant concession Reeves said support would then be backdated to this month.The announcement was welcomed by business groups, but some criticised the fact the money would not arrive until next April, urging Reeves to bring support forward as they face a looming crisis as a result of the ongoing closure of the strait of Hormuz.Speaking in Washington, where she is attending the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this week, the chancellor said: “This government has the right plan for the economy: backing British industry, cutting electricity costs and building a stronger, more resilient future

Shares in Allbirds surge after maker of wool sneakers announces pivot to AI

Allbirds, the maker of minimalist wool sneakers beloved by Silicon Valley, announced on Wednesday that it is leaving shoes behind and pivoting to artificial intelligence. The new focus and rebrand as “NewBird AI” sent the company’s stock up 582% as of mid-day during a flurry of trading.The surging stock price and new direction is a bizarre, rapid turnaround for a company that had fallen into disrepair in recent years. Once valued at $4bn, Allbirds’ shares had lost 99% of their worth since 2021 and earlier this month the company announced plans for a $39m sale to brand management firm American Exchange Company.Allbirds’ declaration that it will concentrate on acquiring graphics processing units to help support AI compute stands out as one of the most baffling pivots of the AI boom, a period in which many companies have tried to shoehorn in AI to appeal to investors and the market