Behind closed doors at the fund's Washington headquarters, Mr Osborne challenged Olivier Blanchard, IMF chief economist, about the Frenchman's comments that Britain was �playing with fire� over its austerity drive, setting up a battle over the impending IMF ...

Speaking after he delivered the annual British Retail Consortium lecture, Tim Steiner said the reaction of Waitrose to Ocado's tie-up with Morrisons has been a �joke�.

File photo dated 21/07/11 of an SSE Training Centre in Perth as energy group SSE today said it will increase tariffs by 9% on average in a move impacting around 5 million electricity customers and 3.4 million gas customers.

The boss of Britain's biggest building society says a government scheme could make it even harder for first-time buyers to bag a home.

Britvic is to close its factory in Chelmsford, the city where the company was founded in the 19th Century, as part of plans to cut hundreds of jobs.