Money blog: Nando's launches a ketchup - so we compared all brands. Which is best value - and which has more water than tomatoes? (2024)

Virgin and Clyesdale Bank have announced a slight drop in their standard variable rate mortgage rates - in what could be seen as a precursor to a base rate cut in a few weeks' time.

From today, their SVR stands at 9.24% - down from 9.49%.

Barclays and Halifax have also announced they are dropping selected fixed- rate deals from tomorrow - continuing a trend we have seen in recent weeks.

Cowboy builders face a crackdown on trader recommendation websites under new guidelines proposed by the industry watchdog.

The Competition and Markets Authority says the web pages must tackle fake reviews and vet the tradespeople they advertise after "worrying evidence" emerged.

The regulator has published a first draft of its advice following concerns over websites that fail to sanction rogue traders, offer a complaints process, or monitor traders while making misleading claims about their trustworthiness.

Plusnet customers will from today see their mid-contract price changes expressed as "pounds and pence" rather than percentages in a bid by the internet provider to make information clearer for customers.

Price comparison service Uswitch has praised the move which gives "greater clarity" to consumers.

"The new model provides certainty when it comes to the cost of your contract and makes it easier for customers to manage their finances," the Uswitch telecoms expertErnest Doku said.

The new model, which applies to new and existing customers who take out contracts after today, will see mid-contract charges at a flat rate for all customers - a yearly increase of £3 per month.

People with coeliac disease are paying up to 35% more for their weekly shop, research has found, with some even eating gluten to avoid paying higher costs despite the potential impact on their health.

A new report by Coeliac UK has found that 77% of people with the disease struggle to afford gluten-free products from supermarkets.

Seven in 10 people said shopping gluten free "adversely affects their quality of life" due to the cost and availability of the food on supermarket shelves and online.

Around 4% are choosing to eat gluten despite the risk to their health because of concerns around the cost of gluten-free food, while 27% would eat products with "may contain" for the same reason.

The research by Coeliac UK revealed that loaves of bread are 4.5 times more expensive on average, while pasta and plain flour are twice as pricey when made gluten free.

If you're thinking of stocking up on Sainsbury's snacks and drinks for Sunday's big game, you'd better do it ahead of time.

Like rival Tesco, the supermarket has announced it is closing convenience stores and petrol stations early across England so staff can tune into the Euros final.

More than a thousand branches will be closing at 7.30pm on Sunday, rather than 10pm or 11pm.

"We want to give our colleagues the chance to tune in live and cheer on England with friends and family. The atmosphere in stores is electric after last night's win," said Clodagh Moriarty, chief retail and technology officer.

Supermarket hours are unaffected as they usually close before the 8pm kick-off.

Any online grocery orders which have already been booked will be honoured.

All branches will reopen at their usual time on Monday.

Earlier this week, business presenter Ian King answered questions from Money blog readers about what the new Labour government means for their personal finances.

One question related to the two-child cap on child benefit - which Labour have at times suggested they're ideologically opposed to, but won't commit to changing because of the cost.

Responding to a question about whether taxes could be raised for oil and gas companies to pay for scrapping the cap, King said: "The Resolution Foundation has estimated that the two-child benefit cap will save the government £2.5bn during the current financial year - which would rise to £3.6bn if applied to all families claiming universal credit.

"Labour is committed to raising the levy on North Sea oil and gas producers from the current 75% to 78% - and has earmarked the money raised will go towards funding its wider plans for energy and, in particular, decarbonisation.

"It would be ill-advised to raise taxes further. The decisions it has made have already had an impact on investment in the North Sea, as I report here.

"And don't forget, the cap is not just about saving money. It's also about avoiding awkward newspaper headlines and stories about big families being paid a small fortune in benefits of the kind that embarrassed the last Labour government and angered so many of its traditional working-class supporters in particular."

You can read all 21 of King's answers here...

A "nationwide issue" has been affecting card payments.

Many social media users were reporting being unable to pay for their shopping in supermarkets this morning.

More than 600 people were flagging issues with Visa on Down Detector as of 9.45am, while over 100 had problems with Mastercard payments as of 10am.

A sign in one Sainsbury's store was requesting customers pay for their shopping in cash.

The supermarket said on social media it had been aware of a "nationwide issue" with card payments.

Vanessa Meehan, in Twickenham, said: "I've just been turned away at Sainsbury's as they can't accept card payments. Petrol station also coned off. The car is running on fumes and I need to get supplies."

A Sainsbury's spokesperson told Sky News at 11am that contactless payments had resumed after being "briefly unavailable for a few minutes this morning".

They said this was caused by an issue with its third-party payment provider.

"We're accepting all payments as usual and continue to monitor the situation. We're sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused," the supermarket said.

Asda also confirmed its payment systems were back up and running following temporary issues with Visa.

A Visa spokesperson confirmed to Sky News it had been aware cardholders were experiencing issues when making payments.

"While Visa's systems areoperating normally, we are working with our partners to investigate," they added.

Mastercard said it was "aware of some payment transaction issues at select merchants in the UK" and was working to gather more information.

"There is no current indication that these issues are related to our network," a spokesperson said.

The UK's biggest supermarket chain has told customers its Express stores across England will close at 7.30pm instead of the usual 10pm or 11pm on Sunday - after England reached the Euro 2024 final.

It said the decision had been taken to allow its staff to get home or to the pub in time for kick-off at 8pm.

Employees who do not want to watch the match will be paid as normal, it said.

Stores will be open as normal the following morning.

England are playing Spain in the final - and will have the chance to become the first England men's team to win a major tournament since the World Cup in 1966.

By James Sillars, business reporter

Faltering expectations for imminent interest rate cuts are playing out in financial markets today.

The pound is at a four-month high versus the dollar at $1.28.

That has been largely put down to remarks by Bank of England rate-setter Huw Pill, the Bank's chief economist, that the timing of the UK's first rate cut was an "open question".

He spoke up just 24 hours after another member of the monetary policy committee ruled out personal support for a reduction on 1 August.

Jonathan Haskel said too many stubborn inflationary pressures remained.

As such, financial markets now see only a 50/50 chance of a rate reduction to 5% from 5.25% at the next Bank meeting.

The chance of a cut had stood at 60% at the start of the week.

The pound has lifted as higher interest rates are generally supportive of a domestic currency.

Elsewhere, the FTSE 100 has opened to a flat calm - up just a couple of points at 8,000.

A big focus for investors this morning was the interim decision by water regulator Ofwat on what suppliers could charge their customers over the next five years.

To give you some idea of the reaction, shares in United Utilities and Severn Trent opened up by around 2%. Those of Pennon, the company behind South West Water, were up by more than 6%.

Water companies in England and Wales have been told they will not be allowed to impose the hikes to bills they have demanded, the industry regulator has said in an interim verdict on their business plans for the next five years.

Ofwat declared that it was minded to slash, by a third, the combined increases that the 16 companies had submitted.

It left the average bill, the watchdog said, set to rise by £19 a year or 21% over the period.

Read our report here...

Meanwhile, more compensation, possible refunds and new customer panels have been announced as part of the government's "initial steps" towards ending what it describes as the crisis in the water sector.

You can read this story here...

The appearance of finer weather helped the economy recover some lost ground in May, according to official figures that were better than expected.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) recorded gross domestic product growth of 0.4% in the month, compared with its earlier determination ofzero growth during April.

A poll of economists by Reuters had pointed to a 0.2% increase for monthly gross domestic product in May.

On a quarterly basis, the UK's interest rate-driven recession of the second half of 2023 ended at the start of this year as theBank of Englandended its rate hiking cycle which was designed to cool inflation by choking demand in the economy.

Read our full story here...