Helia Ebrahimi , Economics Correspondent

The tech giant Google has been fined a record £3.9 billion by the European Commission for breaching anti-trust rules. It follows an investigation into claims that it made smartphone manufactures pre-install Google’s search engine and Chrome browser on Android devices, exploiting its already dominant market share at the expense of smaller developers. Google has denied…

Amid the on-going chaos of Brexit, the government received some grim projections today about the long-term health of the public finances. The Office for Budget Responsibility said the outlook for the national debt was “unsustainable” and a series of tax rises could be needed to bring it back under control.  Our Economics Correspondent Helia Ebrahimi…

They voted for Brexit, but are apparently going to be hardest hit when we leave the EU. New research by the think tank, the IPPR, claims that households in Brexit-voting areas will see the steepest fall in income and an increase in the cost of living. We report from the Shropshire town of Telford, identified…

Britain is set to miss its own targets to cut carbon emissions – according to the official body that monitors government progress on fighting climate change

Death by a thousand cuts – that’s what the UK car industry warned could be its fate if it doesn’t get clear government guidance on post-Brexit trading. Today, motor industry bosses said investment has already slumped as the chance of a “no deal” EU departure remains on the table. They also have to deal with…

Exactly eight years ago, George Osborne unveiled an emergency budget that aimed to slash the then mammoth government deficit. Thus the policy of austerity was born, and it has shaped much of this country’s social and political life ever since. But with the Prime Minister announcing more cash for the NHS this week, many Conservatives…

The company behind PC World, Currys and Carphone Warehouse has apologised after revealing that hackers have stolen millions of credit card details from the company, though it says there’s no evidence so far of fraud. It’s the latest, and one of the largest, examples of big companies losing our data, and raises questions about whether…

Ashington in Northumberland was once a thriving mining town, but the thousands of jobs there have long gone – leaving a population struggling to find decent work and stay connected with the wider region and the country as a whole.

The UK economy has grown at its weakest level for six years, up by just point one percent in the first quarter of the year. Downing Street said it was “clearly disappointing”, but insisted the fundamentals of the economy remained strong, while some experts blamed the winter weather. But with construction falling sharply, as well…

They know us better than we know ourselves: that’s the impression you might get from the Facebook data harvesting scandal. And while the crisis has dented the social media giant’s reputation, it has vowed to clean up its act when it comes to users’ personal details. But some of the controls Facebook has brought in…

Wages are growing faster than prices for the first time in just over a year.  It marks the end of the squeeze on real incomes that has hobbled the economy, squeezed the consumer and brought misery to much of the high street.  So is the economy now in the clear?

We are not afraid of a trade war. That was the tough response from China to the lastest threat of tariffs issued last night by President Trump. He’s told his officials to identify tariffs on another $100bn of Chinese imports, on top of the $50bn of imports he’s already got in his sights.  

Thousands of firms up and down the country are routinely paying their female staff far less than men: unsurprising, perhaps – but the sheer extent of the gender pay gap is now starkly revealed ahead of tonight’s deadline for firms to declare their figures. From the results submitted so far – men across Britain are…

So what impact will this have on the simmering trade war? Beijing’s announcement of steep import duties on US products like pork, wine and fruit will affect goods worth more than three billion dollars- as China vowed it would protect its interests. Our economics correspondent Helia Ebrahimi reports.

The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn appears to have deleted his personal Facebook account as the row about anti-Semitism in the party escalated again. It’s just days since he was accused of belonging to several Facebook groups where some members had posted anti-Semitic content. Our correspondent Helia Ebrahimi is brings us the latest.