Six of the 11 cars tested by Thatcham were labelled 'poor' due to the lack of built-in measures to prevent gangs from hacking their keyless systems. Suzuki's Jimny was rated 'unacceptable'.

Shoppers ‘ignore Brexit’, while record employment levels contribute to £1bn deficit cut Philip Hammond has received a twin boost after the latest official figures showed consumers ignoring the threat of a no-deal Brexit to

The FTSE 100 closed up 64.30 points at 7355.31 and the pound was at $1.31 against the dollar.

Clerical error gives board until 9 May to convince shareholders to back turnaround plan

Consumers 'numb to daily swings in the political debate', with little evidence that uncertainty is affecting demand for clothing, says chief executive and prominent Brexiteer Lord Simon Wolfson said

Customers' to keep 1.5% of purchase price as housebuilder aims to restore reputation that has been dogged by complaints of poor build quality

Year on year figure up by 25%, and firms must reimburse victims, says UK Finance Scammers stole £1.2bn from UK bank customers in 2018, according to

Industry group and union body join forces to demand Theresa May changes approach Britain’s foremost trade union body and industry lobby group have joined forces to demand

Bank of England says the outlook will depend "significantly on the nature and timing of EU withdrawal".

The retailer even claimed there may be "modest" price reductions thanks to the government's emergency tariff plan that may be illegal under WTO rules

Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee maintains borrowing costs, and warns that further cliff-edge Brexit deadlines could hurt economy

The consumer prices index measure of inflation rose fractionally in February to 1.9 per cent, offical data has showed, which is still below the 2 per cent target set for the Bank.

Major toilet tissue producer Wepa has accelerated plans to charter ships to prepare for no-deal.

UK retail sales rose 0.4% in February, although food stores recorded big drop, says ONS

One of the warmest winter months on record boosted spending, while Brexit stockpiling may have had 'modest' effect

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as the Bank of England sets UK interest rates

Contracts will state that 1.5% of property value can be held back until problems resolved One of Britain’s biggest housebuilders has responded to criticism about the quality of its homes by allowing homebuyers to withhold an average of £3,600 per home until all faults are fixed. Persimmon has come under fire for paying out

It's called the Senturion Key S177 Full Meteorite and is the most expensive car key of all time. Just 177 will be made with a retail price that matches the average fee paid for a UK home so far in 2019.

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as the Bank of England sets UK interest rates

Annual pre-tax profits slump by more than a quarter

Profits at retail chain’s stores slump by more than a fifth but online arm reports growth

The consumer prices index measure of inflation rose fractionally in February to 1.9 per cent, offical data has showed, which is still below the 2 per cent target set for the Bank.

As a zero-hours contractor I had to take days off for carpet fitting appointments that were missed

Scotland’s largest private landowners want to reverse years of land mismanagement, says adviser The Danish billionaires who are now Scotland’s largest private landowners are trying to restore the Highlands for generations to come, one of their closest advisers has said.

Report finds highly qualified, non-British graduates do not take jobs from local residents International students who stay and work in the UK after graduation contribute £3.2bn in extra tax revenues, research has revealed. The first major report into the boost overseas students give the economy found non-UK graduates do not take jobs from local residents, because they largely obtain work in highly qualified areas such as economics or science, or in sectors that suffer acute shortages, such as teaching and nursing.

What happens when a forklift goes through your Picasso? By Andrew Dickson Early one morning last summer, I stood inside a museum in Antwerp and watched as a painting was hung on the wall. When I walked in, the gallery was empty. To one side, there was a crate about a metre square. Royal blue, it was unmarked apart from a code number and a yellow stencilled sign reading “Lato da Aprire / Open this Side”. Although its home is nominally Florence, the painting inside was a seasoned traveller: it had arrived the night before from Sicily, by road and under armed guard. The box looked entirely unremarkable. That was the point, I was told. Abruptly, there was a commotion: the curator of the exhibition, a visiting curator, a translator, an expert in Renaissance art, plus a clutch of hangers-on, burst through the doors. Two art handlers wearing gloves and sober expressions strode over to a table; on it, pliers, tape measures, and an electric screwdriver had been placed with a precision that would not have been out of place in an operating theatre.

Unemployment figures are at a historic low but there are also bleaker parallels with the 1970s Britain’s recent jobs record has been remarkable. The economy is chugging along but the last time

Revenue from Spotify, Amazon and Apple rises as CD sales continue to fall Music streaming services generated more than half of the income earned by record labels in the UK last year, as CD sales continue to plummet. Subscription streaming platforms operated by Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Music, made revenues of £468m in the UK last year, 54% of the £865.5m total income for the recorded music industry. It is the first time that subscription streaming revenues, which grew at 35% year-on-year in 2018, have accounted for more than half of total recorded music revenues for labels.

Man who won earlier workers’ rights case against firm is not entitled to £74,000, court rules A heating engineer who won a

Contract shatters idea that sponsoring women’s sport is the cheap option that makes your brand look good Gamechanger can be a little overused, but in the case of Barclays’ eight-figure sponsorship deal over three years of the FA Women’s Super League that is literally what it is.

US central bank leaves borrowing costs on hold, cuts growth forecasts, and says rates probably won’t rise this year

HSBC and Lloyds are showing the way, but it’s still one rule for bosses and another for staff At HSBC and Lloyds in the past week, we’ve been treated to a rare sight: boards deciding not to defend the indefensible on executive pay. The issue has been executive pensions, territory in which large companies have spouted more self-serving nonsense than in almost any other area of boardroom rewards. If the mini-capitulations by the two banks prompt a wider rethink, bring it on. Current pension practice, as it applies to executives, has become an exercise in pulling wool over eyes.

Rising food and alcohol prices have pushed the cost of living in Britain up, as the housing slowdown gathers pace

The FTSE 100 closed down 32.99 points at 7291.01 and the pound was at $1.32 against the dollar. Theresa May has asked the EU to delay Brexit until June 30.

The Swedish carmaker says the cameras will detect early signs of intoxication Volvo will introduce cameras in its new cars to watch out for drink driving ina bid to cut down on deaths on the road. The cameras will be one of multiple sensors which will measure if a driver is showing signs of intoxication, Volvo said on Wednesday.

Indian authorities claim billionaire jeweller was involved in £1.3bn bank fraud The diamond tycoon Nirav Modi, whose jewels once adorned stars from Bollywood to Hollywood, has been remanded in custody in London, more than a year after Indian authorities alleged he was involved in a £1.3bn bank fraud. A judge ordered Modi to be held at the end of a hearing at Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday. District Justice Marie Mallon said there was a risk the billionaire merchant would fail to appear for future hearings because of his access to large sums of money that could help him evade the courts and his “keenness to do so”.

Glyphosate was a significant factor in causing a man's tumour, a US jury found, in only the second of more than 11,000 lawsuits Bayer faces over the widely used chemical

The high-speed rail network may never be built any further north than Birmingham. It is utterly nonsensicalYesterday, on the day a

The vehicles will be produced at the car manufacturer’s Burnaston plant in Derbyshire Toyota is to build a new hybrid electric vehicle in the UK for Suzuki, which is good news for an industry weighed down by Brexit fears. The new hybrid will be based on the Corolla model and made at Toyota’s Burnaston plant in Derbyshire, with engines supplied by the company’s Deeside factory in north Wales.

Consumer prices up 1.9%, official data shows

A federal jury in California found the chemical was a substantial factor in the cancer developed by a 70-year-old man although the company, owned by Bayer, will appeal and says it expects to win

UK is predicted to suffer first fall in prices since 2011 towards the end of this year House prices grew at the slowest rate since 2013 in January, according to official figures that signalled the UK was heading later this year for the first fall in property values since the financial crash. Average house prices in the UK increased by 1.7% in the year to January 2019, down

Tech company has been fined total of €8.24bn by EU commission over past two years Google has been fined €1.49bn (£1.28bn) by the European commission for abusing its monopoly in online advertising. The latest fine takes the total the company has been fined by the EU competition commission to €8.24bn over the past two years, for abusing its power in markets, ranging from shopping search to mobile phone operating systems.

Japanese carmaker will produce a new Suzuki model at the site in Derbyshire which employs around 2,600 people

Has Google got its head in the cloud, or can its sheer size help it succeed where many have failed in building a hardware-free future for gamers? Google’s

UK prices rose by 1.9% in February, nudged higher by duty on wine and higher food bills.

Protest’s organisers say bank invested more $30bn in 15 fossil fuel projects from 2012-17 A UK-wide campaign is being launched to persuade one of the country’s biggest high street banks to stop investing billions of pounds in the fossil fuel industry. Activists from the Labour-supporting Momentum group will team up with the environmental group

There are already more Daves and Steves than women at the top of Britain's biggest companies. Unless Kingfisher hires amother woman, Laury's departure means there'll be more Peters too

US technology firm stifled competition by restricting rivals' ads from displaying online, says European Commission

Rising food and alcohol prices have pushed the cost of living in Britain up, as the housing slowdown gathers pace

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, including a new report on the cost of living in Britain

Decision comes as profits fall at the DIY retail group behind B&Q and Screwfix brands Kingfisher, the struggling DIY retail group, said its chief executive, Véronique Laury, is to leave the company after 16 years as it announced a fall in annual profits. The firm behind the B&Q and Screwfix brands in the UK said it would immediately launch a search for a replacement for Laury, whose leaving date has yet to be decided.

Despite calls to 'take back control' the economic reality is that tariffs will be determined by the 'bound rates' that the UK already has in place under the WTO and, ultimately, no tariff regime will make up for loss of access to the EU market

Games can offer a window on to other jobs as well as other worlds. Three players explain how their favourite games guided working life choices Back in 2016, the current Manchester United boss

The outgoing National Audit Office chief says every wasted £1bn could pay for millions of visits to A&E and ambulance callouts I still get angry – and that is the word for it, angry – 10 years into the role, when I see badly-thought-through programmes and wasted public money,” says outgoing watchdog chief Sir Amyas Morse. “And the reason I’m angry is because the citizen ends up picking up the tab. They are the ones who end up suffering.” For almost a decade, as comptroller and auditor general – the head of the National Audit Office – it’s been Morse’s statutory duty to keep an eagle eye on the spending of central government departments, holding ministers and civil servants to account for cost overruns, project mismanagement and profligacy with taxpayers’ money.

The company moved the berth of our cruise ship to a port 30km away from the city

The acquisition of Rupert Murdoch’s film and TV studio business will boost Disney as it enters the TV streaming market Disney has closed its $71bn (£54bn)

Scientists and campaigners warn that factories in coastal villages are wreaking environmental and economic havoc Before the arrival of fishmeal factories in the Gambia, Musa Duboe would catch red snapper and barracuda to be sold at the local market. But his income had begun to dwindle due to depleted stocks. Then in 2016 the Chinese-owned fishmeal plant Golden Lead began operating out of the coastal town of Gunjur, increasing demand for fish to export for overseas aquaculture.

As a software engineer, I know extremist content can be curbed. After Christchurch, it’s more urgent than ever Like so many, I was shocked to the core by the recent

Ofwat, Ofgem, Ofcom and the Financial Conduct Authority must demonstrate that they are dealing with 'serious difficulties' consumers face