Author: SKYNEWS

Katie Bickerstaffe, the joint chief executive of Marks & Spencer (M&S), is to leave the company after just two years in the role.Sky News can exclusively reveal that Ms Bickerstaffe is to leave M&S this year, handing over the sole reins to Stuart Machin. Ms Bickerstaffe is leaving to focus on a portfolio career and has lined up a role as a non-executive director of Kingfisher, the DIY retailer which owns B&Q, a source close to it said on Wednesday evening.Announcements are likely from both companies in the coming days.She will depart M&S with the company in the best shape…

At his studio on the outskirts of east London, Ghetts is working on new music.Given his latest album, On Purpose, With Purpose, was introduced to the world just a few days before we meet it seems unusual, but when the ideas don’t stop there is no time for rest. Ghetts describes his working days “as pretty much Groundhog Day”, with a gym workout at 9.30am then straight to the studio. But this is his sanctuary. “It’s like therapy almost. I’m happy when I’m here.”One of the UK’s most influential rap artists, Ghetts, real name Justin Clarke, was a teenager when…

The chancellor has confirmed a 2p cut to national insurance and increased child benefit thresholds.In the budget, Jeremy Hunt said “permanent cuts in taxation” were possible because of the progress made in bringing down inflation – with forecasts suggesting it will fall to the target level of 2% within months. More parents will be paid child benefit after the £60,000 threshold, beyond which no payment is currently made, will be extended to £80,000 from next month.Budget live: No rabbit out of the hat on income tax from chancellorAt present if one parent earns £50,000 a year child benefit payments are…

Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV is to be taken off air in a move to online-only, two years on from its launch.An announcement was made to staff on Tuesday, with president of broadcasting Scott Taunton saying it would happen “from early summer”. It comes a few weeks after presenter Piers Morgan announced his departure to focus on his YouTube channel.His show, Piers Morgan Uncensored, had been shown at 8pm on the channel, but ratings had been lacklustre.The presenter said that daily, fixed TV schedules had been “an increasingly unnecessary straitjacket”. In a briefing sent to staff on the TalkTV move, seen by…

National insurance has been cut by a further 2p, so workers will pay 8% of their earnings between £12,570 and £50,270, instead of the 12% it was before Autumn.But tax thresholds – the amount you are allowed to earn before you start paying tax (and national insurance) and before you start paying the higher rate of tax – will remain frozen.Follow live reaction to Budget 2024This means people end up paying more tax than they otherwise would, when their pay rises with inflation but the thresholds don’t keep up. That phenomenon is known as “fiscal drag” and it’s often called…

Dan Wootton has left GB News to launch his own media brand, the presenter has announced.He said in a statement on X: “I have left GB News to launch my own independent platform Dan Wootton Outspoken which will feature a brand new daily news and opinion show from later this year that will NOT be regulated by the Ofcommunist censors. “Free speech in Britain is in peril!”The 40-year-old also described Ofcom as “a muzzle that bows to the woke mob” and called for the regulator to be “summoned in by this supposedly Conservative government to be reined in”.Wootton’s time on…

Nigel Farage, the former UKIP leader, has fired a fresh salvo at the chancellor’s plans to offload a chunk of the government’s stake in NatWest Group to the public as he declared his debanking row with the lender “far from over”.Speaking to Sky News during Jeremy Hunt’s Budget speech in the House of Commons, Mr Farage said NatWest’s attempts to “cover… up” its reasons for closing his Coutts accounts last year had undermined investor and customer trust in it. “For a retail NatWest share sale to work – as outlined by Jeremy Hunt in the Budget – investors must have…

If you’ve failed in your quest of walking 10,000 steps a day – researchers have some good news for you.A new study has found every extra step above 2,200 a day lowers the risk of heart disease and early death. The researchers found walking up to 10,000 steps a day reduces these risks, regardless of how much of the remaining time is spent sitting.The lowest risk of early death was among people who took 9,000 to 10,500 steps a day.When it came to avoiding stroke and heart attack, the lowest risks were in people managing around 9,700 steps a day.…

Dame Helen Mirren and Kylie Minogue are among eight women honoured with their own Barbie likenesses ahead of International Women’s Day. Actress Dame Helen, the 78-year-old star of The Queen, Elizabeth I, Gosford Park, Calendar Girls, the TV series Prime Suspect and the narrator of the Barbie movie, has been chosen as a UK Barbie role model by the toy’s maker Mattel. She said she was “absolutely blown away” by the news.”It’s a very special thing and something I can add to my list of my favourite achievements – becoming a Dame of the British Empire, having an Oscar, having…

The Coventry Building Society has enlisted the Wall Street behemoth JP Morgan to strengthen its proposed takeover of the Co-operative Bank.Sky News has learnt that the Coventry has drafted in JP Morgan to work alongside KPMG on the deal, nearly three months after entering exclusive talks to buy its rival high street lender. The appointment comes as an exclusivity period to negotiate the terms of the deal continues, ahead of its planned expiry at the end of this month.The Coventry’s bid for the Co-operative Bank would effectively remutualise the latter and create a financial services powerhouse with sclose to £90bn…