Any night owls trying to browse the M&S website overnight would have been sorely disappointed. As of 6:20am this morning, visitors were still being greeted by a static landing page that simply read: “Sorry you can’t browse the site currently. We’re making some updates and will be back soon.” For now, the site seems up and running, though online orders are still paused. It’s not clear how long the outage ultimately lasted. When contacted this morning, M&S’ press office refused to say whether this was part of regular maintenance or linked to ongoing disruption from last month’s devastating cyber attack. M&S also refused to confirm whether customers should expect more website outages - cyber attack related or otherwise - in the coming weeks. M&S has been left with some empty shelves and been forced to halt online orders on its website after the hack on Easter weekend. The attack targeted customer personal data, which could have included names, email addresses, postal addresses and dates of birth. The company said on Wednesday that the attack had been caused by “human error”, and could end up costing the first around £300m. CEO chief executive Stuart Machin has said general disruption could last until July. The tax take from inheritance tax also rose last month. Figures from HMRC show that inheritance tax receipts rose by £97m year-on-year in April to around £800m. Shaun Moore, tax and financial planning expert at Quilter, predicts this upward trend will continue: With property prices remaining high and nil-rate bands still frozen until 2030, more families are being caught by IHT, many without realising until it’s too late. Upcoming changes to business and agricultural relief from 2026, and the inclusion of unused pensions in estates from 2027, mean this trend is unlikely to reverse any time soon. For those who are worried about IHT, gifting remains the best defence against it, but this should be weighed against your own needs. It’s not all bad news for Rachel Reeves, though. The Office for National Statistics has revised down its estimate for borrowing in the last financial year, to £148.3bn. That’s £3.7bn less than the initial estimate, but still £11bn more than had been forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Today’s borrowing figures are “disappointing”, and highlight the Chancellor’s lack of wiggle room, says Ruth Gregory, deputy chief UK economist at Capital Economics. Gregory told clients: April’s public finances figures showed that despite the boost from the rise in employers’ National Insurance Contributions (NICs), the fiscal year got off to a poor start. This raises the chances that if the Chancellor wishes to stick to her fiscal rules, more tax hikes in the Autumn Budget will be required. Here’s a chart showing the details of today’s public finances: Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the eurozone. It’s a new financial year, but the same old story for the UK government, as borrowing rises faster than expected. The latest public finance figures, just released, show that the UK borrowed £20.2bn in April. That’s £1bn more than in April 2024 and the fourth-highest April borrowing since monthly records began in 1993. City economists had forecast a deficit of around £18bn, so the new financial year has not gott off to a great start for Rachel Reeves, at a time when the chancellor is under pressure to raise taxes to avoid cuts to welfare payments. The public finances report shows that central government’s current receipts rose by £5.1bn year-on-year, due to increased tax receipts – including £1.7 billion in Income Tax, £500m in Value Added Tax (VAT), £500m in tobacco duty, £400m in stamp duty (on land and property), and £200m in Corporation Tax receipts. However, spending rose too – central government’s current expenditure increased by £4.2bn, as pay rises and inflation pushed up the cost of goods and services, and some benefits increased in line with inflation. ONS deputy director for public sector finances Rob Doody says: “At £1 billion higher than the same time last year, this April’s borrowing was the fourth highest for the start of the financial year since monthly records began more than 30 years ago. “Receipts were up on last April, thanks partly to the higher rate of National Insurance contributions. However, this was outweighed by greater spending, due to rising public services’ running costs and increases in many benefits and state pensions.” Happily, though, the interest payable on central government debt fell by £500m to £9.0bn, due to lower payments on inflation-linked bonds. The agenda 7am BST: UK public finances for April 9am BST: Eurozone ‘flash’ PMI report for May 9am BST: IFO survey of eurozone business confidence 9.30am BST: UK ‘flash’ PMI report for May 11am BST: CBI industrial trends 1.30pm BST: US weekly jobless claims 1.30pm
Author: Graeme Wearden