03/01/2018 Creating a countrywide ‘major road network’ (E)  5,000 miles of the busiest and most economically important local authority ‘A’ roads will be incorporated in a new Major Road Network (MRN) that can draw on the National Roads Fund *

 Economic news 2nd January 2018 UK fails to match global business optimism Global business optimism has reached a record high but sentiment among UK companies has fallen in the last year, according to a survey by Grant Thornton. The firm’s

Fraud investigation into insolvency firm abandoned. 2nd January 2018. Officials have dropped a criminal investigation into a firm of insolvency practitioners accused of a multimillion-pound fee fraud. Sheffield-based P&A Partnership had been accused of cheating creditors of scores of businesses

Small firms charged 20% interest by big banks. 02/01/2018. New research reveals that high street banks are charging some business customers more than 20% in interest, despite receiving billions in taxpayer support to ramp up lending. The financial information start-up

Warning issued over late payments. 2nd January 2018. Mike Cherry, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, has accused late payers of holding Britain’s small firms to ransom, suggesting this covers £18bn in payments, and has warned that the issue