Workers will not be told by ministers that they should return to their offices when the final phase of lockdown restrictions are expected to be lifted next month, government sources have told the Guardian.

In a significant change of approach from last summer, the government is minded to let companies make their own decisions – a strategy that could lead to conflict and confusion among staff.

Boris Johnson was accused of rushing too quickly to get quiet city centres back to pre-pandemic levels when restrictions were lifted last July.

His former closest adviser, Dominic Cummings, said last month that the prime minister’s “main concern” was prioritising helping the economy recover quickly at the expense of Covid cases rising again.

But Johnson is said to favour a more cautious approach in the run-up to the final stage of his roadmap out of lockdown for England, pushed back from 21 June to 19 July.

Current guidance that tells people to work from...

Hurrah, Deliveroo’s float flop didn’t kill the appetite for tech listings in London. Actually, the gloomy theory always looked far-fetched. Investors are capable of distinguishing between a loss-making fast food delivery firm in a highly competitive field and Wise, formerly TransferWise, a profitable Shoreditch-based operation that is already a threat to big banks’ price-gouging practices in the cross-border money transfer game.

Wise’s arrival is different in another way. The innovation – or new feature for the London market, at least – is a “direct listing” model. In short, the company is not raising new capital so there are no new shares to be marketed and then priced. Willing sellers among existing shareholders will simply be given the chance to meet willing buyers, thereby creating a market.

It’s all very straightforward and, from the point of view of current shareholders, one advantage is transparent price discovery in a hard-to-value stock. Wise’s last...

EasyJet launched 12 new domestic UK flying routes on Thursday, a decision criticised by green campaigners as likely to increase greenhouse gas emissions.

The airline said the routes, which will include Birmingham to Newquay for £22.99 – less than 200 miles – as well as Liverpool to Bournemouth at £22.99 and Manchester to Edinburgh at £30.00, as well as to Belfast and the Channel Islands, were in response to passenger demand following restrictions on travel during the Covid-19 pandemic. Some of the new routes were served by other airlines, including Stobart Air, which recently went bust.

Most of them are viable by train, but rail operators charge far higher prices. The government is to make reductions in air passenger duty on domestic flights, which will make flying even cheaper compared with train journeys.

The UK government’s stance is in sharp contrast with France, which is banning flights where a train journey is available that takes less than 2.5...

The number of UK adults who hold cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin has risen to an estimated 2.3 million, despite warnings from regulators and the head of the Bank of England that people should be prepared to lose all their money.

Research by the Financial Conduct Authority also revealed that almost 20% of buyers said they were driven by a fear of missing out, while one in seven were going into the red to finance their cryptocurrency purchases.

The median holding has risen from £260 a year ago to £300, though the highest holding reported by a respondent was £7m. Meanwhile, the typical profile of investors was “largely male, over 35 and [in the] AB social grade”, said the FCA.

Amid evidence that a new breed of mainly younger DIY investors are putting their money into the likes of bitcoin, ethereum and Ripple, the FCA conducted detailed research in January which concluded that cryptocurrencies “appear to have become more normalised”, with fewer of those...

Ministers have been accused of suppressing access to higher levels of sick pay for those isolating with Covid during the third wave.

In a move critics have branded “disgusting” and said may have cost lives, the Treasury reportedly pushed back on attempts by some government workers to raise awareness of how employers could ensure higher wages for their isolating staff under the furlough scheme rather than claiming statutory sick pay. The former guarantees employees 80% of their wages up to £2,500 every month, while the latter is capped at £96.35 per week.

Downing Street has not denied the report.

According to Politico, a series of leaked emails between civil servants sent during the first two months of 2021 show concerns were raised that the Treasury was “reluctant” to explicitly explain to companies that the potentially much-more-generous furlough scheme could be used to temporarily cover self-isolation.

“This is a live issue being worked...

AstraZeneca can charge a higher price for its Covid-19 vaccine in dozens of poor countries once the pharmaceutical company decides the pandemic has ended, according to a copy of its contract with Oxford University seen by the Guardian.

The British-Swedish drug firm has promised to provide the vaccine at a not-for-profit price to the developing world in perpetuity, but a review of a redacted version of its contract with Oxford University, obtained by the lobby group Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), found that the promise excludes many low-income and lower-middle-income countries.

Among those left off the list are 34 countries classified by Unicef and the WHO as being in need of vaccine support, including Sri Lanka, Angola, Timor-Leste, Honduras, Zimbabwe and the Philippines, which could all be charged a higher price once AstraZeneca declares the Covid-19 pandemic has ended.

In contrast to its pharmaceutical competitors, AstraZeneca has...

Whisky makers are raising a glass after the UK and US agreed to suspend retaliatory tariffs on goods including Scottish malts for five years, in the de-escalation of a transatlantic trade dispute stretching back almost two decades.

Liz Truss, the UK international trade secretary, said a “historic deal” had been reached with Washington to ensure tariffs, which affected UK exports to the US worth £550m, remain suspended.

It comes after the Biden administration agreed a similar settlement with the EU on Tuesday, as governments on both sides of the Atlantic take greater steps to resolve tensions over subsidies for the aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing.

The 17-year dispute, the longest-running in the history of the World Trade Organization, had led to damaging tit-for-tat tariffs levied on products on both sides due to disagreements over support for large civil aircraft production.

British goods that had been targeted by tariffs – border taxes...

Halfords has warned of on-going shortages of bikes around the world as it almost tripled profits after a surge in cycle sales during the pandemic.

The bikes and motoring retailer said pretax profits rose 184% to £64.5m in the year to 2 April, as total sales rose almost 14% to £1.3bn.

Growth was led by a 54% rise in sales of cycling products at established stores as the nation turned to two wheels for leisure and to socially distanced alternatives to public transport. Sales of e-bikes and electric scooters were particularly strong – up 94%.

Graham Stapleton, the chief executive said: “Supply was, and remains, a challenge, but where necessary, we quickly adapted specifications and componentry to mitigate bottlenecks in production and worked with new suppliers to achieve a steady intake of bikes throughout the year.”

The cycling performance offset a 12% fall in motoring products at Halfords stores as the number of cars on the road fell by a quarter...

Labour has called on the government to clarify its position on office working, after suggestions that it is considering legislation to make working from home a “default” right.

Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s deputy leader, criticised the lack of clarity on plans for office-based workers, and called for stronger rights for staff “so that workers are not pressured or blackmailed back into unsafe workplaces”.

The owner of Premier Inn hotels has reported strong demand at UK tourist spots as Britons holiday domestically, but hotels at airports and in central London continue to struggle.

Whitbread, which also owns restaurant brands including Beefeater and Brewers Fayre, has suffered a torrid year of enforced closures, but said on Thursday that it had seen “encouraging trends” since 17 May, when Covid rules in England were eased to allow hotels to reopen.

UK hotel sales were 73% of their pre-pandemic level between reopening and 14 June as domestic tourism boomed after months of lockdown. Holiday locations with Premier Inn hotels include Skegness, Scarborough, Brighton, Cornwall, south Wales, the Lake District and the Highlands.

That gave glimmers of hope after what the chain had previously described as “one of the most challenging years” in its 279-year history. The company lost £1bn in the year to the end of February. It announced up to 6,000 redundancies in...

Following a deluge of bombshell news about Donald Trump-related criminal investigations in New York, including the Manhattan district attorney’s convening of a special grand jury, more details have emerged that might suggest intensifying legal woes for one of the former president’s business lieutenants.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that the Manhattan district attorney’s office has apparently “entered the final stages of a criminal tax investigation” of Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer.

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.

The markets are edgy this morning after the US Federal Reserve surprised investors by indicating that interest rates will rise from record lows sooner than expected, as the US recovery gather speed.

The Fed’s new projections, released after its latest policy meeting yesterday, indicate at least two rate increases are expected in 2023 - previously a majority of officials had seen them on hold until 2024.

The Fed also began the process of “talking-about-talking-about” how it might end its bond-buying programme, a sign it is moving a little closer towards exiting its crisis-era stimulus measures.

MPs have accused financier Lex Greensill of acting suspiciously and being disrespectful towards parliament by refusing to appear in front of an inquiry into the steel industry and one of Greensill Capital largest borrowers, Liberty Steel.

The business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) committee claimed Greensill had failed to give legitimate reasons for rebuffing multiple requests to answer live questions in front of parliamentarians at the end of the month.

The committee has insisted that he is required to attend, regardless of his concerns that he would not be able to speak about Liberty Steel, and would be barred from divulging information that could compromise a Serious Fraud Office investigation into Liberty’s parent company, GFG Alliance, owned by billionaire steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta.

“You will appreciate the significant public and parliamentary interest in this matter, and why the committee’s legitimate desire to hear from you is...

Funeral directors across the UK must publish clear price lists and will be banned from paying hospitals and care homes for referrals under new measures to help bereaved families.

The legally enforceable rules are being brought in after an investigation by the competition watchdog found UK consumers were typically being overcharged by at least £400 – and possibly a lot more – when they paid for a funeral.

Average UK funeral costs have risen by 39% in the past decade, according to SunLife’s latest Cost of Dying report, reaching £9,263.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation, whose findings were published last summer, found that some funeral directors were providing “unacceptably low levels of care of the deceased”.

It found that the two largest firms in the sector, Co-op and Dignity, were often significantly more expensive than many of the small, typically family-owned businesses that operate the majority of branches in the UK.

France midfielder Paul Pogba became the latest footballer to take issue with Euro 2020’s official beverages after removing a bottle of Heineken beer that had been placed in front of him at a news conference on Tuesday.

Pogba, a practising Muslim, moved the bottle of Heineken’s non-alcoholic 0.0 brand when he sat down to speak to the media after he was named ‘Man of the Match’ in France’s 1-0 win over Germany.

It came a day after Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo removed two bottles of Coca-Cola at a news conference and held up a bottle of water, saying “Agua” – Portuguese for water.

It is the latest instance of unexpected focus on the sponsors of the tournament. Ahead of the France-Germany match a protester from environmental group Greenpeace parachuted into the stadium to protest against Volkswagen as a tournament sponsor, and demand that the German manufacturer stop the sale of petrol and diesel cars.

Scrutiny of sponsors is a regular feature of big...

The UK government has held talks with six manufacturers about building “gigafactory” electric car battery plants as part of its efforts to improve the prospects of the British automotive industry.

The US carmaker Ford and the Korean electronics conglomerates LG and Samsung are among the companies that have had early-stage discussions with the government or local authorities, it is understood.

They add to talks over possible investment by the Japanese carmaker Nissan, as well as two efforts by smaller startups, InoBat and Britishvolt. The talks were first reported by the Financial Times.

Politicians including the prime minister, Boris Johnson, as well as automotive industry insiders, are hopeful the UK can protect jobs in the sector by securing investment from private companies in “gigafactories” – the name dreamed up by the Tesla boss, Elon Musk, for very large battery factories.

Estimates from the Faraday Institution, a government-backed body,...

Sony has acquired the UK’s largest independent podcast producer, Somethin’ Else, which makes David Tennant’s interview series and The Sun King, David Dimbleby’s deep dive into the life of Rupert Murdoch

Home to artists from Beyoncé and AC/DC to Dolly Parton, Sony is using the acquisition to spearhead the launch of a new global podcast division.

“Our new global podcast division is key to our plans for a fast-paced expansion in the market, diversifying our creative abilities and providing a home for exciting content that will benefit millions of podcast lovers around the world,” said Dennis Kooker, the president of global digital business and US sales at Sony Music Entertainment, the Sony subsidiary that struck the deal.

Companies ranging from Spotify and Amazon to Apple have been snapping up now increasingly scarce prime podcast producers and platforms to cash in on a boom in audio listening and diversify away from a reliance on music...

Like most 35-year-olds, Douglas Wood says the fact he has gone entirely cashless means his wallet rarely, if ever, gets an outing and now sits next to his bed gathering dust.

The product manager who lives in Hammersmith, west London, says he has used cash only twice in the past year – both times to pay for a £6 haircut, and only then because the barber insisted on being paid in cash.

“I have my bank cards registered to my iPhone via an app called Curve and use the phone to pay for absolutely everything. My wallet never leaves my bedside table these days. If it wasn’t the need to get a post-lockdown haircut, I would not have touched any money at all over the last 18 months.”

Six climate activists and two environmental NGOs have taken Norway to the European court of human rights (ECHR), arguing the Nordic country’s plans to drill for oil in the Arctic are harming young people’s futures.

The activists, Greenpeace and Young Friends of the Earth want the court to rule that Oslo’s 2016 decision to grant 10 Barents Sea oil exploration licences violated article 112 of Norway’s constitution, which guarantees the right to a healthy environment.

“The environmentalists argue that, by allowing new oil drilling in the midst of a climate crisis, Norway is in breach of fundamental human rights,” the campaigners said in a statement announcing their appeal to the ECHR.

Inflation is on the march. After the easing of lockdown in May, Britain has raced from economic bust to boom, with the rate of consumer price inflation hitting 2.1% – above expectations and breaching the Bank of England’s 2% target rate.

Driven by the rising cost of petrol, clothing and recreation in the month indoor hospitality reopened, the latest snapshot will fuel concern that the cost of living is spiralling out of control. But it must also be taken with a pinch of salt.

Inflation is measured using a basket of goods and services and taking the 12-month price change. Behind the headline rate are price movements heavily influenced by May 2020, when Covid-19 crippled the world economy.

Motor fuels were the biggest driver of the latest inflationary burst, rising by an eye-watering 17.9%. But wild price swings were to be expected. The Office for National Statistics notes average petrol prices stood at 127.2p a litre in May, compared with 106.2p a year...

The UK has moved a big step closer to becoming a cashless society after official data showed that the number of payments made using notes and coins fell by 35% in 2020. Cash was only used for one in six payments, compared with a decade ago when it accounted for more than half of the total.

Changes in spending habits have been dramatically accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic, and 13.7 million people lived a largely cashless life last year – almost double the 7.4 million figure in 2019.

Banking body UK Finance, which issued the figures, said it was too early to say whether these were permanent changes in payments behaviour. Some of this reflected the fact that many places where people commonly use cash, such as pubs and cafes, were shut for chunks of last year, while the lockdowns prompted a surge in the numbers shopping online. On top of that, some consumers have been avoiding touching banknotes and coins because of Covid transmission...

UK inflation jumped to 2.1% in May, breaching the Bank of England’s target for the first time in two years and stoking fears that the easing of pandemic restrictions since March will lead to a sustained rise in the cost of living.

The price of fuel was one of the main drivers of May’s increase, soaring by almost 20% from last year to push the rate of inflation up from 1.5% in April.

The increase is ahead of a forecast of 1.8%, and means the consumer price index has now overshot the national 2% target.

On the high street, the cost of clothing, meals and pub and restaurant drinks also helped drive up prices, with online sales of computer games a contributing factor, said the Office for National Statistics.

Some economists have voiced fears that inflation will continue to escalate as consumers spend an estimated £160bn of savings accumulated over the last 16 months. Shortages of raw materials such as timber, and manufacturing components, including...

An outbreak of Covid-19 in southern China has combined with the rapid reopening of the world economy and a shortage of shipping containers to cause a surge in transport costs that could fuel inflation and cause shortages of goods across the globe.

China reported 21 new coronavirus cases in the mainland on Wednesday with 15 of them in the vital industrial province of Guangdong where restrictions have been in place for several weeks to contain an outbreak linked to the Delta variant first detected in India.

There are now 150 cases of the variant, mostly in Guangzhou city, and the lockdown has caused the city’s massive port to be severely disrupted. A separate outbreak in neighbouring Shenzhen – not believed to be the Delta variant – has also added to the problem. The ports are the third and fifth largest in the world and shipping costs have spiked as a result.

Transporting a 12.2-metre (40ft) steel container by sea from Shanghai to Rotterdam now costs a...

In his classic book, The Logic of Collective Action, the late great Mancur Olson explained that the hardest policies to implement are those with diffuse benefits and concentrated costs. Olson’s argument was straightforward: individuals bearing the costs will vigorously oppose the policy, while the beneficiaries will free ride, preferring that someone else take up the cudgels.

Olson’s insight applies to the single most pressing policy challenge facing humanity today, namely the climate crisis. The starting point for addressing it, economists agree, is a tax on carbon. The resulting reduction in emissions would deliver benefits to virtually everyone on the planet. But specific segments of society – Olson’s concentrated interests – will bear a disproportionate share of the costs and mobilise in opposition.

A case in point are the French gilets jaunes (“yellow vests”). Like any mass movement, the gilets jaunes had multiple grievances. But their most animating...