Income growth under the Conservative Government has been the “worst in generations”, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has said. If living standards had risen act the same pack as before they came to power in 2010, the average Briton would be almost £5,000 richer, the IFS report claims, blaming the 70+ year high tax burden for much of the squeeze. A single person with no children had an average disposable income of £21,537 in 2022-23, compared with £20,339 in 2009-10, when adjusted for inflation. However, the IFS said this figure would be £4,961 higher at £26,498 if incomes had grown by the pre-recession average. Those earning the most have been hardest hit, the IFS said, as a combination of lower wage growth and higher taxes mean income growth for this cohort was just 1.5% in the last 13 years. The Report, funded by the Abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, noted that under the Tories, overall, UK wages climbed by just 6% between 2007 and 2019, while wages in the US and Germany climbed 12% and 16% respectively. Mubin Haq, CEO of Abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, said: “The danger is that stagnation becomes the new normal. This is in no one’s interests and stunts too many futures and too many lives. Key to any future government will be a renewed drive to tackling hardship and improving living standards.” Tom Waters of the IFS said: “Poor income growth has been an unfortunate feature of economic life in the UK over the last 15 years. And it has been slow growth for essentially everyone; rich and poor, old and young.“ “The UK has fallen from being one of the fastest growers prior to the Great Recession, to one of the weakest performers,” he added, calling for reforms to taxes, planning and education to help boost productivity.

Business confidence is the highest it has been since November 2015, before the EU referendum and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to the closely-watched Lloyds’ Business Barometer. The survey showed an eight point increase in May to 50%, suggesting firms are increasingly optimistic about the state of the economy. Firms’ own trading prospects also rose, by nine points to 54%. The survey was conducted during the first two weeks of May, coinciding with increased GDP figures and a a dramatic drop in inflation.

The Competition and Markets Authority has announced a probe into the proposed £2.9bn acquisition of Virgin Money by Nationwide Building Society, inviting initial comments from interested parties before making a decision on whether to kick off a more in-depth ‘phase 2’ investigation on 26th July. Nationwide is currently the country's third-largest mortgage provider, while Virgin Money is the UK's sixth-largest retail bank by assets with around 6.6m customers.

Baillie Gifford (BG) has been ended its sponsorship of the Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF), after facing the same kind of row that just days ago led to it being dropped by the Hay Festival. A coordinated campaign has been launched against the Scottish asset manager because of its investments in fossil fuels and companies alleged to benefit from Israel’s occupation of Palestine. The matter started in August last year, when environmental activist Greta Thunberg pulled out of the EIBF, accusing BG of “greenwashing,” and this year, 700 authors and publishers, including Sally Rooney and Naomi Klein, signed a letter demanding the sponsor be dropped. Jenny Niven,CEO of Edinburgh International Book Festival, said: “It is with great regret that our board of trustees and Baillie Gifford have collectively agreed to end our partnership”. “The pressure on our team has simply become intolerable,” she added. “Undermining the long-term future of charitable organisations such as book festivals is not the right way to bring about change”. Festival Chairman Allan Little said “Our team cannot be expected to deliver a safe and sustainable festival this August under the constant threat of disruption from activists”. It was a pragmatic decision, he said, and warned: “Funding for the arts is now in a perilous position and we should all be clear that without the support of our partners and donors, the future of festivals like ours – and all of the benefits these events bring to authors and readers alike – is in jeopardy.” David Greig, the artistic director of Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre, called the boycott “irresponsible, entitled and childish”, not least because the boycott’s terms were so broad that “there is no organisation that I can think of in Scotland who would be clean enough for this open letter”. BG too has fought back against criticism, saying only 2% of its investment is in fossil fuel companies, compared to 5% invested in companies dedicated to renewable energy. Nick Thomas, partner at Baillie Gifford condemned the activists’ “anonymous campaign of coercion and misinformation,” saying he holds them “squarely responsible for the inhibiting effect their action will have on funding for the arts in this country”. “The assertion that we have significant amounts of money in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is offensively misleading. Baillie Gifford is a large investor in several multinational technology companies, including Amazon, NVIDIA, and Meta. Demanding divestment from these global companies, used by millions of people around the world, is unreasonable and serves no purpose,” he said, adding tat BG remains “committed to contributing positively to our community through philanthropic support."

Rolls Royce has landed a multimillion-pound contract to supply two of its MT30 engines for propulsion machines which will be fitted in Japan’s two proposed Aegis system equipped vessels (ASEVs), or warships. The destroyers are interned to help defend Japan from ballistic missiles carrying either conventional or nuclear warheads. The engines are already used by Japan’s Mogami-class of stealth frigates, the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers and Type 26 frigates, and the US Navy’s Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers and Freedom-class littoral combat ships, The Telegraph says.

Ryanair has won a a long-running battle with Italian online travel agent (OTA) eDreams. eDreams sued the airline for preventing it from selling tickets to its flights, arguing Ryanair’s policy to only sell flights direct to customers posed a danger to competition, but the Italian regulator AGCM ruled otherwise. Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said the watchdog had seen through eDreams’ “false claims”. O’Leary has been at war with what he calls “pirate” OTAs for several years, arguing they dupe customers into paying higher prices for fares by adding hidden markups on fares, baggage and seats, as well as charging high commission fees to airlines. Ryanair has, however, signed distribution pacts with five online firms as well as tour operator TUI since the row began, after a boycott of Ryanair flights by some OTAs caused considerable losses and rather forced his hand.

Flutter Entertainment, the gambling giant which owns Sky Betting & Gaming, Paddy Power, and Betfair among other outlets, has confirmed its primary listing is now in the United States, not London. The move has led CFO Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson to stand down with immediate effect. The FTSE 100 firm said he wished to remain in the UK rather than spend considerable time in New York. He is replaced by Rob Coldrake, currently finance director of Flutter International.

Petrofac, the Jersey-based energy services group whose share listing on the London Stock Exchange has been suspended since the beginning of this month has finally released its delayed annual results for 2023. They show a net loss of more than half a billion dollars following a "challenging year". This is despite revenue coming in broadly unchanged at $2.5bn. The firm has been attempting to restructure debt, having missed a bond payment due on 15 May, for which bondholders provided forbearance until 30 June.

NatWest: The government has sold a £1.24bn stake to the bank, NatWest announced this morning. The off-market purchase involved more than 392m shares at a sale price of 316.2p each, Thursday's closing price. The deal reduces Government Investments Limited's remaining stake in the bank from 25.98% to 22.5%. The proposed retail sale of the Government’s remaining shares was suspended last week when the July 4th General Election was announced.

Frasers Group, the retail conglomerate owned by Mike Ashley, ’has upped its stake in Hugo Boss to 1.74m shares of common stock, representing 2.47% of Hugo Boss's total share capital, or 9.80m shares via the sale of derivatives known as put options, representing a 13.92% stake, sharecast news reports.