Supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury's and the Co-op went to the Court of Appeal after a ruling last year upheld a decision in 2013 that ATMs built into the front of a shop or petrol station should have a separate business rates bill.

The price of oil, as measured by its US benchmark, has entered bear market territory - in other words, a fall of 20% or more from its peak - in barely a month.

The price of oil, as measured by its US benchmark, has entered bear market territory - in other words, a fall of 20% or more from its peak - in barely a month.

Sky News has learnt that BT has appointed Lazard, the investment bank, to undertake an auction of the business, which owns 33,000 predominantly BT and Openreach-branded vehicles.

The economy is growing at the fastest rate since the end of 2016.

The warning was issued by the authors of a report which found store openings continued to lag the pace of closures in a period that saw several household names disappear and others seek emergency rescue deals to stay afloat.

SSE, whose deal with Germany's Innogy - owner of NPower - would have created the second-biggest energy supplier behind Centrica-owned British Gas, said the "proposed combination would be delayed beyond Q1 of 2019".

As was widely expected, the central bank decided not to raise interest on Thursday, keeping its benchmark overnight lending rate in the current range of 2% to 2.25%.

MPs on the environment audit committee have written to Amazon, Asos, Boohoo, PrettyLittleThing and Misguided amid concerns cheap clothing is being discarded causing mountains of waste.

Last week, Google employees at offices around the world staged a walkout over the treatment of women at the company after sexual misconduct claims were made against several senior figures.