Chancellor Rachel Reeves has told the BBC's Political Thinking with Nick Robinson podcast she will not let her critics "get me down". Her comments come at the end of a fortnight in which the pound has plummeted against the US dollar; the cost of UK government borrowing rose to a 30-year high; and the economy was shown to have stagnated for the past three months. A host of businesses have also raged against the extensive tax hikes she introduced in her October Budget, hikes they say will push up prices and force them to abandon recruitment and investment plans. However, Reeves sought to deflect blame for the crisis, saying the rise in borrowing costs was "not a British phenomenon" and insisted she had "got what it takes to deliver for people in this country" and the ideas to "turn things around". She defended her tax hikes to pay for £70bn in additional government spending as "the right decisions in the national interest" saying she wished she had arrived in the job and been told "'the money's coming in'... then I could have made different decisions. But in the circumstances that I inherited, I judged that I had to make sure the sums added up." Asked if her decisions had damaged business confidence, Reeves asked: "What was the alternative? "All decisions have consequences but imagine the alternative. Imagine that I hadn't addressed that problem and now when financial markets look at the UK, they would be saying 'this is a government that is not real about the situation that it faces, it is spending more money than it is bringing in. It's having to borrow more and more'". Asked about the criticism she has faced, Reeves said: "I haven't taken it personally. Some people don't want me to succeed. Some people don't want this government to succeed." "That's fair enough. That's their prerogative,” she added, “but I'm not going to let them get me down. I'm not going to let them stop me from doing what this government has got a mandate to do, and that is to grow the economy."

New City minister Emma Reynolds is under fire because of her past work with trade body TheCityUK, which involved lobbying on behalf of Chinese businesses as part of a campaign to persuade the then-government not to impose tougher rules on those doing business with the Communist country. Journalists had raised questions about whether Reynolds would recuse herself from matters involving China in her new role, but Bloomberg has been told by the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson Dave Pares that: “The requisite discussions have now been held with the minister, in consultation with the permanent secretary, and it has been determined there is no need for any recusal, nor any changes to her portfolio”. “A former job is not an ongoing financial interest,” Pares added. “The minister has confirmed that she stepped down from her previous role on becoming an MP and entering government. More broadly, as per the ministerial code, any relevant interests have been duly declared and managed appropriately.” Reynolds took over on Tuesday from Tulip Siddiq, who resigned amid allegations she is involved in an embezzlement scandal linked to her aunt, the ousted former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Hargreaves Lansdown founder Peter Hargreaves has told LBC radio he believes the current Labour Government has “universally the worst cabinet of all time” and that it will “wreck the economy” over the course of a full term. “What frightens me is the damage that the current government will do if in power for a full term,” the former major Conservative party donor said. “They have gone off half-cocked without any thought of the ramifications of their shooting from the hip. I cannot see any competence anywhere”. Hargreaves also suggested he could back Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, or whichever “right-wing party that might oust [Labour],” saying the Conservatives had a “socialist leaning under Cameron, May and Johnson. Not sure where Sunak fitted – he was just firefighting the terrible legacy created by the governments since 2000.” Peter Hargreaves set up the FTSE 100 investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown from his bedroom in 1986 and grew it into a £5bn business with roughly 2m customers. He retired from the firm in 2015, and is now chairman of the Blue Whale Growth Fund.

Next CEO Lord Woolfson has also criticised the Government for the tax changes announced in the Budget, which he says could make it "harder for people to enter the workforce". The retail boss and Conservative Peer told the BBC that a rise in Employer National Insurance Contributions will hit the retail sector in particular and means "the axe has fallen particularly hard" on entry-level jobs, “National Living Wage jobs, and that's where the pain is going to be felt the most." He called on the government to stagger the tax changes over time, rather than introduce them in April this year, otherwise jobs or hours would have to be cut. Next's wage bill is set to rise by £70m, an increase Wolfson said would lead inevitably to a cut in the number of employee hours worked, either through fewer workers or fewer hours per employee. The tax hike is not just a worry for retailers, but a concern for the economy as a whole, he added. "It's very difficult to see how such a big increase in the cost of entry-level work is going to result in anything other than a reduction in the number of opportunities available." Next received 13 applications for every Christmas job vacancy this year – up 50% on last year.

Retail sales fell by 0.3% in December, a shock to the retail analysts who expected Christmas spending to deliver 0.4% growth. November’s retail sales growth was also revised down by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to just 0.1% from 0.2%. Overall, December’s figures signalled growth of 3.6% across the whole of 2024 which, compared with pre-Covid lockdown sales, shows a retail sales’ dip of 2.5% annually. “Falls in supermarkets were partly offset by a rise in non-food stores, such as clothing retailers, which rebounded from falls in recent months,” the ONS said. The official statistics body also noted that sales fell within specialist food shops, such as bakers and butchers, and alcohol and tobacco stores, leading food sales to fall 1.9% in December, the lowest level since April 2013.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is considering a formal proposal to increase Britain’s £100 contactless spending limit in response to a Christmas Eve letter from Sir Keir Starmer, chancellor Rachel Reeves and business secretary Jonathan Reynolds to find ways to increase economic growth. Such a move, if it happens, is likely to prove controversial among retailers and consumer debt groups, Sky News notes.

Which? has unveiled the results of its annual energy satisfaction survey and is recommending only three electricity and gas suppliers - Octopus Energy, Utility Warehouse and 100Green. The lowest scores in the survey of 11,984 households, based on customer service, ease of communication, accuracy of payments, clarity of statements and value for money, were given to Ovo Energy and Scottish Power jointly.

The future of Pizza Hut in the UK has been secured after a two-month process to identify new investors for the business, which had been left scrambling to secure funding in the wake of Rachel Reeves's October budget. It has been sold out of administration to the brand's main partner in Denmark and Sweden, investment firm Directional Capital. Sources told Sky that only one Pizza Hut restaurant would close as part of the deal, which will save 3,000 jobs.

BP is reducing its global workforce by 4,7000 and axing 3,000 contractor roles, the FTSE 100 British oil giant confirmed yesterday, while warning its fourth-quarter results would be hit by weaker oil and gas production. BP currently employees around 90,000 people globally, and approximately 14,000 in the UK. The firm did not say where the job cuts would be made, although it is not thought the 6,000 people working at BP's UK petrol and service stations will be affected. In an email sent to staff, seen and reported by PA Media and Reuters, CEO Murray Auchincloss wrote: "We have got more we need to do through this year, next year and beyond, but we are making strong progress as we position BP to grow as a simpler, more focused, higher-value company. I understand and recognise the uncertainty this brings for everyone whose job may be at risk, and also the effect it can have on colleagues and teams”.

Money transfer company CAB Payments is also axing a fifth of its staff to save cash, saying a stronger US dollar and political uncertainty has hit demand for cross border payments. The London-listed firm is also looking to automate more of its business through the use of artificial intelligence. CEO Neeraj Kapur said: "We can do more with less".

Another rocket launched by Elon Musk’s SpaceX blew up during a test flight yesterday or, as the company put it, suffered another ‘rapid unscheduled disassembly’. Just minutes after lift-off, the 400ft Starship’s six engines appeared to shut down one-by-one, and contact was lost eight-and-a-half minutes into the flight. The new and upgraded model was making its debut flight, and was supposed to soar across the Gulf of Mexico from Texas on a near loop around the world similar to previous test flights, but video footage posted by Musk on his social media platform X shows orange balls of light streaking across the sky over the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. ‘Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!’ Musk said. His failure comes a day after Blue Origin, the space company founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, launched its giant New Glenn rocket into orbit for the first time, successfully. Musk has ambitious plans to establish a human colony on Mars, envisioning sending the Starship rocket on trips there, which could take about nine months each way.

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