Planning rules will be ripped up to make it easier to build new nuclear reactors and create thousands of highly skilled jobs, the government has announced. The reforms are the latest in a series of proposals designed to "get Britain building" to help grow the economy, after powers for environmental quangos to delay infrastructure projects

Demand for electric vehicles accelerated in January, with fully battery-powered cars outperforming an overall contraction in the car market that the industry blames on declining business and consumer confidence. Battery EVs (BEVs) accounted for 21% of almost 140,000 new car registrations in January, the highest-ever share for the month and a year-on-year increase of 41.6%.

Ewan Venters, the former Fortnum & Mason chief, is joining the board of Paul Smith Ltd, the design company best-known for its striped fashion garments. Sky News understands that Mr Venters, who recently stepped down as the boss of global contemporary art gallery Hauser & Wirth, has agreed to become a non-executive of Paul Smith

Tesco has expressed interest in acquiring more than 100 Crown Post Offices whose future has been placed under review as the state-owned company explores shifting them to a franchise model. Sky News has learnt that Nigel Railton, the Post Office chairman, told a group of MPs this week that Britain's biggest retailer had informed it

US imports racked up a record monthly high in December as companies rushed to secure products in advance of trade tariffs imposed by Donald Trump. Official figures showed a 3.5% leap in imports compared to the previous month as the clock ticked down to Mr Trump 's return to the White House on 20 January.

Britain could do a slimmed down trade deal with the United States within months, the last politician to oversee negotiations with Donald Trump's administration over a UK-US agreement has told Sky News. Last night Sky News revealed that leading members of the Trump administration believe a trade deal with the UK could be sealed in

The shake-up of official employment data, used to help set interest rates and other crucial public policy, could see members of the public obliged to complete the survey to help bolster accuracy. The country's top number cruncher, Sir Ian Diamond, told a committee of MPs that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) was still exploring

The Treasury Select Committee has sent a formal notice to HM Revenue & Customs demanding answers to critical questions about how it has been enforcing trade sanctions on Russia, following a Sky News investigation into the government department. Last month Sky News reported that while HMRC had issued six fines in relation to sanction-breaking since

The owner of CurrentBody, a brand of beauty technology used by celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Serena Williams, is plotting a £350m flotation that could deliver a boost to the flagging London stock market. Sky News has learnt that The Beauty Tech Group, which is run by co-founder and chief executive Laurence Newman, is

Millions of people face council tax hikes over normal thresholds after the government allowed six areas to boost rates above the usual 5%. More than two million people will be hit by increases of between 5 and 10%. Windsor and Maidenhead Council wanted to increase council tax by 25% but the plan was blocked -