A sharper than expected fall in High Street sales in November is likely to be followed by an "especially slow" Christmas shopping period, says to the CBI.

A group of leading figures from the UK car industry will ask ministers for government assistance at a meeting later today.

This month's 1.5% cut in interest rates appears to have slowed the plunge in UK house prices, with the cost of a property down by just 0.4% in November.

State-owned lender Northern Rock has ignored government calls for banks to drop mortgage rates in line with the base rate by raising the cost of some of its fixed-rate deals.

China has slashed its interest rates by the most in 11 years in an effort to limit the global economic downturn's impact on its growth.

European countries will pump ?200bn (£170bn) into the region's economy as part of an EU recovery plan to battle through the recession.

Tesco, John Lewis and J Sainsbury today announced they would be introducing the 2.5% reduction in VAT announced by the chancellor in his pre-Budget statement ahead of its scheduled introduction on Monday.

Britain's economy shrank for the first time since 1992 during the third quarter, official figures confirmed today.

The UK faces a recession lasting well into next year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in a report today.

The Bank of England is ready to take action to deal with falling inflation, governor Mervyn King has said.

Mortgage lending for new houses by the UK's biggest banks has more than halved over the past year, new figures from the British Banking Association (BBA) show.

No-frills airline Ryanair has condemned the UK Government's increase in air passenger duty warning it will now enter into discussions with regional airports about the future viability of passenger traffic and growth in light of the increased tax.

Government borrowing will rise to £78bn this year and £118bn next year, Chancellor Alistair Darling said as he unveiled £20bn package of stimulus measures designed to prevent the UK suffering a long recession.

Government borrowing will rise to £78bn this year and £118bn next year, Chancellor Alistair Darling said as he unveiled a package of stimulus measures designed to prevent the UK suffering a long recession.

People earning more than £150,000 a year may have to pay 45% in income tax if Labour wins the next election.

Mortgage lenders reported a sharp rise in properties being repossessed over the past three months, with the number of buy-to-let mortgages in arrears also on the increase.

Britain's public finances deteriorated further in October as the economic slow-down continued to impact the flow of tax revenues to the Treasury.