Poppy Gustafsson, who has led the company since 2016, left with immediate effect on Friday morning, ahead of the completion of the takeover by Thoma Bravo. She will be succeeded by Jill Popelka, Darktrace’s current chief operating officer.

Popelka joined the firm earlier this year following senior leadership roles at businesses including Accenture, Snap and SAP SuccessFactors.

The takeover is expected to complete this year, with the company hoping to clear its final European regulatory hurdle at the end of this month.

Gustafsson said: “Darktrace has been a huge part of my life and my identity for over a decade and I am immensely proud of everything we have achieved in that time. This challenge has required tremendous personal and professional commitment from me.

“With the acquisition of Darktrace by Thoma Bravo nearing its completion and with us having identified an excellent successor in Jill, now is the right time to hand over.”

Gustafsson, 42, holds a 0.59 per cent stake in Darktrace, which is valued at around £25 million. She will be appointed as a non-executive director once the takeover is complete.

Gustafsson was part of the team of mathematicians and intelligence experts who founded Darktrace in 2013 and brought its AI-powered cybersecurity solutions to market. Mike Lynch, the British technology entrepreneur who died when his superyacht Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily last month, was one of the early backers.

Gustafsson was regarded as Lynch’s protégé, having worked in the finance department of Autonomy, the technology company he founded and sold to Hewlett Packard for $11 billion in 2011. Lynch, who was accused of fraud and conspiracy for allegedly scheming to inflate the value of the company ahead of the sale, was acquitted of all 15 charges by a San Francisco jury in June.

Darktrace is one of the UK’s leading technology businesses: it went public on the London Stock Exchange in 2021 and is currently in the FTSE 100.

When it agreed to be taken private by Thoma Bravo in April, the deal was seen as a further blow to the London stock market. Critics regarded it as fresh evidence of a failure by investors to properly value its technology companies.

Popelka said: “Poppy and the team have built something very special. The potential of Darktrace is enormous — our technology has never been more critical to organisations around the world and our AI-native capabilities position us at the forefront of the ever-changing cybersecurity market.”

Thoma Bravo, a Chicago-based buy-out firm that specialises in technology investing, bid at $7.75 a share (620p), a 20 per cent premium to its undisturbed value. The shares closed largely flat at 583¼p.

Andrew Almeida, partner at Thoma Bravo, said: “We are fully supportive of Poppy and the board’s succession plan. Jill is the perfect leader to build on Poppy’s tremendous legacy at Darktrace as it embarks on this next phase of its life.”

The passionate advocate for British technlogy

Poppy Gustafsson’s resignation as the chief executive of Darktrace marks the end of an eight-year tenure as head of one of Britain’s biggest technology companies (Lauren Almeida writes).

Gustafsson, 42, who grew up in Cambridgeshire, where her father ran an agricultural sales business and her mother was a journalist for Farmers Weekly, went on to study maths at the University of Sheffield.

She qualified as an accountant at Deloitte, before working at Amadeus, a venture capital firm. Yet it was her third job that changed the course of her career, joining Autonomy — the company founded and later sold to Hewlett-Packard by Mike Lynch — as its corporate controller in 2009.

Lynch, the entrepreneur who died when his superyacht sank last month, and several other former Autonomy bosses founded Invoke Capital in 2012. Darktrace was formed the following year, with Invoke providing much of its seed funding. The company brought in ex-Autonomy staff into some of its top positions, including Gustafsson as chief financial officer. She became its chief executive in 2020.

Gustafsson, who was appointed an OBE in 2019, guided the company through its London listing in 2021 and its £4.3 billion take-private deal with Thoma Bravo, the American private equity firm, this year. Darktrace had a volatile life on the stock market, with some questioning its links to Lynch and the $11 billion sale of Autonomy.

While Gustafsson has said she will stay on as a non-executive director, she suggested that her stint as chief executive had taken a personal toll. She wrote on LinkedIn that it was the “best job in the world”, but that her resignation was due to a “culmination of the effort and personal commitment” she had “poured into this business over the last 11 years”.

She has been an ardent advocate for Britain’s technology sector. She wrote in The Times this year that the FTSE 100 index was under-represented areas such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology.

“While it was a Brit who invented the world wide web, the world-leading companies of the internet age were built in Silicon Valley,” she said. “Britain can be a leader in this revolution if we are willing to believe, and better invest, in ourselves.”

Gustafsson, a mother of two, has also been a strong advocate for women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Rachel Reeves makes the case for an active and strategic state, willing to intervene in the economy to an extent not seen for decades. But she is also at pains to make clear that a Labour government will work in partnership with the private sector.

That is sensible. But here is the challenge. Too often the relationship between the public sector and the private sector does not work well.

• Labour urged to inject £27bn to kick-start growth

Negotiations are dysfunctional, with mutual misunderstandings, political and fiscal short-termism, and a lack of innovative thinking. Short-term, transactional agreements result, leaving both sides dissatisfied and underinvested in fixing problems that then arise. Opportunities for both public service innovation and private sector growth are missed.

Understandably, the public sector is focused on achieving the best value for taxpayers. This often, however, translates into an excessive focus on headline price. Government negotiators often lack delegated authority to pursue wider sources of value or the incentives to seek broader deals that are likely to have more sticking power.

The private sector, meanwhile, often misunderstands the institutional and political constraints on government. It thinks in terms of lobbying, not negotiating; focusing on evidencing the case for its favoured solutions rather than thinking creatively about options that could better serve the public interest. This results in missed opportunities for a broader discussion and relationship that might deliver better outcomes for all.

As a minister, I saw too many examples where the relationship simply did not work. When parts of the probation service were privatised, the agreement between the government and the service providers failed both sides. A more constructive negotiation at the outset, with greater clarity about what the parties were trying to achieve, and what true value looks like, might have prevented many of the difficulties.

There are exceptions that prove the rule: true public-private partnerships, negotiated to be mutually beneficial and sustainable. The recent medicines deal between the government and pharmaceutical industry showed long-term strategic thinking and creativity, delivering a positive deal for both the taxpayer and the industry.

• Big pharma backs £400m fund to fast-track drug trials

The government agreed to move over time to internationally competitive terms for innovative medicines, accepting that otherwise they would neither be researched here nor consistently available to NHS patients. As quid pro quo, the industry agreed to co-invest in the NHS’s clinical trial infrastructure, while accepting much tougher commercial terms for older medicines.

The need for such deals looks greater by the day. Partnership with pharmacies, to take workload off overstretched GPs and strengthen communities. Incentives to make long-term investments in decarbonisation in our water and sewage infrastructure. A framework for private investment in public services that learns the lessons of PFI.

There is, therefore, a challenge for both government and the private sector. Each needs to explore how, through constructive and creative negotiation, they can maximise value for all parties by developing and investing in relationships that stand the test of time.

This requires an appreciation of where the other side is coming from and a recognition that getting the deal over the line is necessary but not sufficient. Sustainability and mutual benefit must not be sacrificed upon the altar of political expediency and unrealistic time deadlines because, together, we all bear the costs of subpar deal-making.

It is in the interests of the government, business and the public to ensure that these negotiating relationships work. Get that right and the benefits for all sides will be immense.

David Gauke is chair of negotient LLP and a former MP, minister and lord high chancellor of Great Britain

Shares in Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns the Truth Social platform, fell more than 6 per cent to below $17 on Wednesday.

After making its Nasdaq trading debut, the shares rose to as high of $66.22 in late March, giving the company a market value of about $11 billion.

The market valuation of the company has since fallen to $3.4 billion, wiping billions of dollars off the value of the former president’s stake in the firm.

Trump launched Truth Social, his own social media app, in 2021, “to stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech” after being banned from Twitter and Facebook over the attack on the US Capitol on January 6.

Trump has since returned to X, as it is now known, after the social media site was bought by Elon Musk, the self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist”.

The latest drop in the shares of Trump Media & Technology Group comes weeks before the end of a lock-up agreement which prevents the former president from selling shares in the company.

The shares surged after a failed assassination attempt on the former president at a campaign rally in western Pennsylvania in July. Days later, Trump was confirmed as the Republican presidential candidate.

However, the shares have since lost momentum. The value of the shares are seen by some investors as a proxy of political support for Trump in the US presidential race.

Last month, the company reported revenues of about $836,000 in the three months to the end of June, down 30 per cent from $1.2 million in the same quarter last year.

Net losses shrank to $16.4 million from $22.8 million.

Figures commissioned by Foreign Investors for Britain, a lobby group, found the Treasury could lose up to £900 million a year from the scrapping of tax relief for non-doms, or raise up to £1.1 billion if fewer individuals choose to leave the country by the end of the decade.

Oxford Economics, the consultancy which provided the figures, said the fiscal impact of reforms introduced by the last government were “highly uncertain”. Its calculated tax gain was lower than the £3 billion-a-year revenue gain calculated by the Office for Budget Responsibility in March.

The report warned that scrapping the non-dom regime would have a “significantly larger” impact than changes made in 2017. The non-dom population could fall by a third in the most severe scenario, leading to an estimated £600 million tax gain in the first year of the changes in 2025-2026, which would become a £900 million annual loss for the exchequer by the end of the decade.

From April 6 next year, Britain will scrap preferential tax treatment for wealthy foreigners who are not tax-domiciled in the country, a system that excludes foreign-earned income from UK taxes. The Labour government has said it will also subject foreign non-dom assets that are held in trusts to inheritance tax as part of a new residency-based tax system.

The report surveyed 73 non-doms and more than 40 tax advisers who represent more than 950 non-dom clients. Sixty-three per cent said they planned to leave the UK within two years if the reforms were implemented and 98 per cent said they would “emigrate from the UK sooner” if the regime was scrapped.

Under the changes, non-doms coming to the UK after next April will not have to pay taxes on their foreign income for the first four years. Existing non-doms will be subject to transitional tax treatment for two years.

The survey respondents have invested an average total of £118 million in the UK and contributed £5.8 million to philanthropic causes, Oxford Economics said. There were an estimated 83,800 registered non-doms in the tax year ending 2023, a figure that has been rising since the pandemic, with the tax revenues they generate annually up to £8.9 billion, the highest in six years, according to figures from HMRC.

Estimates of the potential tax gains or losses from the changes to the non-dom regime are subject to huge uncertainty. Oxford Economics said its surveyed sample size was “not representative of the wider non-dom population”.

Under an alternative scenario where non-doms take a longer time to leave the UK, the tax changes will raise £1.3 billion in the next fiscal year, falling to £1.1 billion by 2029-2030. “The fiscal impact of the policy deteriorates over the remainder of the forecast period as elevated emigration rates in the near term and reduced immigration over the longer term reduce the size of the population significantly,” the report said.

According to a Bank survey of company decision-makers carried out in August, inflation is set to hit 2.6 per cent in a year, up from its present rate of 2.2 per cent. In July, firms had expected the rate in the year ahead to climb to 2.5 per cent.

Even in three years’ time, the rate of prices growth is tipped to be well above the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target at 2.7 per cent, the decision-maker panel research found.

Members of the central bank’s monetary policy committee, which sets the base rate of interest every six weeks or so, watch the survey closely to detect inflation, wage and employment trends. Persistently higher inflation expectations could feed into evidence that convinces a majority of MPC members to vote to keep interest rates on hold at the panel’s next meeting on September 19.

Central banks try to rein in higher inflation expectations when prices increase to prevent businesses and workers from continuously lifting prices and demanding higher wages, respectively. While interest rate rises are largely ineffective at taming inflation driven by external supply shocks, such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, they can dampen expectations for future prices growth.

Over the next year, companies anticipate scaling back pay settlements, although they are expected to remain high. Over the past 12 months, businesses on average lifted salaries by 5.7 per cent, while over the next 12 months they plan to raise them by an average of 4.1 per cent.

Similarly, businesses also intend to ease the degree of prices growth. Last month decision-makers said that they planned to raise prices on average by 3.4 per cent over the next year, down from an expectation of 3.7 per cent in the previous month.

“We see enough signals to expect wages growth and inflation to linger above target consistent rates for longer than the MPC expects,” Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, a consultancy, said. “We look for the MPC to cut interest rates again in November and February and then pause for six months as disinflation proceeds only gradually.”

Such a pace of loosening would disappoint financial markets, which expect one or two more cuts this year and for rates to drop to about3.5 per cent by the end next year. The MPC narrowly voted in favour of loosening borrowing costs by 25 basis points to 5 per cent at its last meeting on August 1. It was the first interest rate cut since March 2020.

Tomasz Wieladek, chief European economist at T Rowe Price, an investment firm, said: “The fact that CPI inflation expectations are sticky will keep the Bank of England cautious. The Bank will cut at quarterly pace in the next six to twelve months, a much slower pace than markets price today.”

Difficulties in finding staff receded last month, with 42 per cent of respondents telling the Bank that recruitment processes were about normal compared with 36 per cent in the previous month. In October 2021, only 11 per cent of firms said recruitment was normal.

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has introduced means-testing so that this winter only those over state pension age who get pension credit or other benefits will get the payments, which are worth £200 to £300.

An estimated ten million pensioners will no longer be eligible and about 30,000 will miss out because they exceed the pension credit threshold by a few pounds a week, according to Policy in Practice, an organisation that aims to improve the welfare system using technology. Some 130,000 pensioners will miss out because they are £500 a year (£9.62 a week) over the threshold.

• Winter fuel payments debate: MPs to vote on cuts — follow live

“Tying the winter fuel payment to pension credit will mean far too many older people in financial hardship fall through the cracks,” said Morgan Vine from the charity Independent Age. “We are urging the government to delay its plans.”

To get pension credit, your weekly income must be below £218.15 if you are single, or £332.95 if you have a partner. Making winter fuel payments means-tested will save £1.4 billion this year and £1.5 billion next year as part of the government’s efforts to tackle a £22 billion black hole in the public finances.

A government spokesperson said: “Given the dire state of the public finances we have inherited, it’s right that we target support to those who need it most. Over a million pensioners will continue to receive the winter fuel payment, while many others will also benefit from the £150 warm home discount from October to help with their energy bills.”

We meet those who face tough decisions this winter without the support.

‘I’m losing the payment because of £2.85 a week’ — Rob Trewhella, 68, Penzance

Rob Trewhella gets £221 a week (£884 a month) from his state pension so is £2.85 a week over the pension credit limit. He lives alone and says this is not enough to pay the bills, so he works part-time as a taxi driver.

His essential bills come to £1,009 a month and his main expense is rent. He pays £675 a month for a one-bedroom flat in Penzance, Cornwall. Trewhella, 68, earns about £800 a month, usually working 7am to 10am, but will sometimes work from 7pm to 11pm. He says he enjoys it, but knows it will not be an option for much longer as he gets older.

“Even if I wasn’t working, I still wouldn’t qualify for pension credit,” he said. “I’d be living on fresh air if I didn’t have my income from taxi driving.

“I find it incredible that the government has taken money away from people who can’t afford it, or can’t replenish their savings. It appears that the austerity measures Labour is planning on bringing in are worse than George Osborne’s.”

• Can you keep your winter fuel payment? Here’s who is eligible

‘I will go to community centres to get a hot meal’ — Eileen Sharkey, 70, Co Tyrone

Eileen Sharkey misses out on pension credit, and therefore the winter fuel payment, by £3.05 a week. The 70-year-old lives alone in Strabane, Co Tyrone, after her husband died 13 years ago.

She got her first job aged 14 and worked as a cleaner for most of her live, except from when she took time off to raise her four children. She expects to have to make drastic cutbacks this winter so that her £221.20 a week state pension will stretch far enough. “I depended on the winter fuel payment,” she said.

“I’ll probably have one hot meal a day and go to bed early so I can turn off the lights and heating. I think I may need to go to community centres to get a hot meal.”

• The four biggest pension regrets — and how to avoid them

‘I won’t be able to afford to use the cooker’ — Paula Beer, 75, Bridgend

Paula Beer has a reasonable pension so she doesn’t get any of the qualifying benefits for a winter fuel payment. Her income is £158.85 a week above the threshold for pension credit, but she does have considerable housing costs because she doesn’t own her own home.

She is planning to reduce her hot meals and heating because she is worried about being able to afford her energy bills this winter. Beer, 75, lives alone in Bridgend, south Wales, on an income of £1,508 a month — £753 of which is from her state pension and the rest from two civil service pensions.

She pays £700 a month rent and £100 a month to pay off a £2,500 credit card bill she racked up last year because she couldn’t afford her tenancy deposit and moving costs. This leaves her with £127 of disposable income each month after essential bills.

“I’m already on the breadline,” she said. “Every year the winter fuel payment gets me through the winter, and now it’s suddenly been swiped away. I won’t be able to afford using the oven so I’ll microwave everything or eat cold food. I’m going to have to heat one room in the house, which will be my lounge.”

Every week Beer attends a music night at her local community centre, but higher energy bills mean that she won’t be able to afford the petrol to get there, or the £2 orange juice and lemonade she buys each time. “I’ve worked a lifetime and I’ve been very careful to make provisions for my retirement,” she said. “Now I’m being forced to live in one room just to afford heat.”

The pension credit threshold is far below what the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association estimates is needed for a minimum standard of living in retirement. It says a single person needs £14,400 a year, equivalent to £276.16 a week, for a minimum standard of living, excluding housing costs. For a couple, it is £22,400 a year, equivalent to £429.59 a week.

• Too rich for winter fuel allowance, but too poor to heat our home

‘I’ll have to take on more work’ — Linda Southall, 66, Cardiff

Linda Southall plans to work more shifts at a care home to afford her energy bills this winter. Southall, 66, from Rhoose, near Cardiff, gets £860 a month from her state pension, £98 a month from a civil service pension, and £45 a month pension from her job at a phone company.

This gives her £1,003 a month in total, equivalent to a weekly income of £250.75 — £32.60 over the qualifying weekly income threshold for pension credit.

She lives alone and her pension falls short of covering her bills, which come to more than £1,085 a month. “All I talk about is making ends meet, and I’m trying my hardest to get out of debt. It’s a real struggle,” she said.

Southall took up part-time work at a care home six months ago to top up her income, working three night shifts a week for £11.50 an hour. She is now taking on an extra six-hour shift every week to compensate for missing out on her £200 winter fuel payment and to cover the energy bills which are set to rise next month.

“I couldn’t cope with taking on any more than that because the work is so physical,” she said. “I work in a unit where people have dementia. I’m absolutely shocked. The government is discriminating against the very poorest.”

How do you get the winter fuel payment?

• Winter fuel payments are worth between £200 and £300, depending on where you live and who you live with. They are tax-free and paid in November or December.• You are eligible if you were born before September 23, 1958, and claim pension credit, universal credit, income-related employment and support allowance,jobseeker’s allowance or income support.• To get pension credit, your weekly income must be below £218.15 if you are single, or £332.95 if you have a partner.• Claim through the gov.uk website, or by phoning 0800 99 1234. You can apply up to four months before you hit state pension age.

The Big Four accountancy firm’s 26,000 staff previously were expected to attend the office two to three days a week.

“Face-to-face working is hugely important to a people business like ours and the new policy tips the balance of our working week into being located alongside clients and colleagues,” Laura Hinton, managing partner at PwC, said.

• Young staff least likely to work from home

“This feels right for our business and right for our people, given our focus on client service, coaching and learning and development. At the same time, we continue to offer flexibility through hybrid working.”

The move comes as a growing number of employers seek to increase office attendance. Hybrid working boomed after the pandemic and led to a seismic shift in how businesses operated, with many adopting flexible working patterns to retain staff and attract new recruits.

During this time, PwC said it had no intention of downsizing its offices, which span 15 cities in the UK, despite staff working from home.

This year EY, a rival firm, began monitoring how often its staff attended the office by tracking anonymised swipe-card entry data, while other large companies such as Lloyds Bank, JP Morgan, HSBC and Citigroup have tightened their flexible working policies recently.

Deloitte, another rival, made cutbacks during the pandemic amid an increase of home workers, closing offices in Gatwick, Liverpool, Nottingham and Southampton. However, this year it took on extra office space in central London. The firm had sharply reduced its British office space in response to the shift to hybrid working and has told staff that they can decide themselves when to work from home.Kevin Ellis, the former chairman of PwC UK, has been outspoken about office working. “The idea of being trapped in a room with a screen doesn’t fill me with any excitement,” he said in March. Ellis was a vocal supporter of staff spending more time in the office, suggesting that increased office presence for younger staff could help to boost their careers.

PwC’s decision follows the announcement that it will cut its popular summer perk of early finishes on Fridays, reducing the benefit from eight weeks last year to six weeks this year, down from a dozen in 2022.

⬤ Country Garden said that PwC had agreed to resign as its auditor as the property developer became the latest Chinese company to sever ties with the firm. Country Garden said it had appointed the Hong Kong-based Zhonghui Anda CPA as its new auditor, at least until the conclusion of its next annual general meeting. PwC has been in focus over its role in auditing China Evergrande Group, which was accused of a $78 billion fraud, triggering a client exodus, cost-cutting and job losses.

There remains an enduring uncertainty about the true state of the world’s largest economy. Is the US on the brink of a recession? Or is it enjoying a benign “soft landing” after two years of raging inflation? Like the race for the White House, the question divides financial markets and economists down the middle.

Both camps have compelling data at their disposal. For the pessimists, the American labour market is in the throes of a prolonged slowdown, with the lowest rate of private sector employment in four years and steadily rising unemployment. For the optimists, the jobs market is being powered by a growing workforce, helped by rising migration, and strong consumer spending, with an economic growth rate of 3 per cent that remains the envy of the rich world.

This month’s latest jobs report has done little to bridge the divide. On one hand, the 142,000 rise in payrolls in August was lower than had been forecast and downward revisions wiped off another 86,000 jobs from estimates made in June and July, supporting the case for a big interest rate cut worth half a percentage point this month.

On the other, the unemployment rate fell to 4.2 per cent, partially reversing the jump that sent tremors through global stock markets last month, when the figure rose from 4.1 per cent to 4.3 per cent. It’s little surprise that traders remain evenly split on the chances of a quarter or a half-point interest rate cut after the August jobs report.

Yet the absence of definitive evidence of a jobs-led recession means that the US Federal Reserve “has every incentive to adopt a gradual approach” to cutting interest rates, according to Christophe Boucher, chief investment officer at ABN Amro. “A 50-basis-point cut would imply that the Fed is behind the curve and would add uncertainty to the markets.”

History can be helpful to illuminate whether the US economy is on the brink of a downturn now. In the 13 American recessions since the Second World War, the trouble started when the monthly payrolls figure first turned negative, figures from Deutsche Bank suggest.

Today, although employment is slowing, the labour market is still generating a healthy number of jobs. However, Bill Dudley, a former head of the New York Federal Reserve, argues that this is no reason for complacency. A central bank should not wait for a sharp drop in jobs before it starts cutting interest rates, he said, and there was still a 50 per cent chance of a recession hitting in the next 12 months.

“Just as the Fed was behind the curve in raising interest rates in this cycle, the Fed is now behind the curve in lowering rates to move closer to a neutral policy stance,” he said. “It’s been very hard for the Fed to intervene quickly enough on signs of economic weakness to prevent a fully fledged economic downturn. The only time that the Fed achieved a soft landing in the last 40 years or so was in the mid-1990s.”

Fed policy will play a big role in determining the growth outlook for the jobs market and the broader economy in a key election year, one in which economists and investors are also grappling with potential fiscal and trade policy shifts under a new administration after November.

Both presidential candidates have started to lay out their tax and spending plans, with Trump saying this week that he would introduce a lower 15 per cent corporate tax rate for companies that “solely” made their products in America. He also has promised to extend tax cuts worth $4 trillion for the wealthiest households and businesses, which he introduced in his first term and are due to expire next year.

Harris has said that she will raise the US corporate tax rate from the present 21 per cent to 28 per cent as part of a broader move to target large corporations. This week she said that she also would raise capital gains tax on long-term assets above $1 million a year to 33 per cent, lower than the 44.6 per cent promised by President Biden.

The biggest policy shift proposed by either candidate is Trump’s vow to impose a 60 per cent tariff on all Chinese goods entering the US and a 10 per cent to 20 per cent tariff on all other of America’s trading partners. The protectionist measure would result in a $2,600 after-tax income loss for the average middle-class American household, according to the Peterson Institute, with the largest financial losses suffered by the poorest Americans. The richest 1 per cent of households stand to be the main beneficiaries of Trump’s economic plan, with an average 0.9 per cent boost to their net income from the proposed tax cut extensions, the think tank has claimed.

Jan Hatzius, the chief economist at Goldman Sachs, said a Trump government would result in a hit to economic growth in 2025 of 0.5 percentage points, while Harris’s economic plan would have a “slight boost to GDP growth on average” next year.

“If Trump wins in a sweep or with a divided government, the hit to growth from tariffs and tighter immigration policy would outweigh the positive fiscal impulse,” he said. “If Democrats sweep, new spending and expanded middle-income tax credits would slightly more than offset lower investment due to higher corporate tax rates, resulting in a very slight boost to GDP growth on average over 2025-26. If Harris wins with a divided government, the effects of policy changes would be small and net neutral.”

One key economic issue that both candidates have ignored is the record federal deficit, which is running at 6.3 per cent this year and is unlikely to shrink significantly, given that neither party is promising significant fiscal consolidation under the next administration. For now, debt markets have not honed in on the risks of more fiscal slippage and an ever-widening deficit, with economists warning that the public finances could morph into a serious financial stability risk.

Consumer prices growth in August was weaker than economists had expected, with prices in China rising by 0.6 per cent year-on-year. Factory gate prices, measured by the producer prices index, were down by 1.8 per cent from the previous year.

Meanwhile, analysts at Barclays, after spending two weeks travelling across China meeting industry experts, have concluded that weakness in the sector is structural, not cyclical, and will remain “weaker for longer”.

The retail figures and Barclays’ caution weighed heavily on Burberry, shares of which have fallen by almost 60 per cent this year. They lost another 29½p, or 4.9 per cent, to 575p, their lowest since the financial crisis in 2009. The Asia Pacific region accounts for almost half of the 150-year-old brand’s revenue.

Last month Burberry replaced Jonathan Akeroyd, 57, as its chief executive only two years into his tenure, and will be ejected from the FTSE 100 later this month. Joshua Schulman, 53, who has a track record in high-end and aspirational luxury at Coach and Jimmy Choo, has been brought in to lead a turnaround.

Burberry was not alone in struggling as the new week got under way. Shares in Kering, the luxury goods powerhouse behind Gucci, Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent, fell €5.95, or 2.5 per cent, to €230.30 in Paris. The Barclays team warned that “Gucci’s recovery story could be delayed” as China’s economic environment deteriorates further and with other Kering brands unlikely to offset that weakness. In Frankfurt, shares in Hugo Boss, the German retailer, closed down by €1.68, or 4.7 per cent, at €33.85.

Barclays’ analysts expect China’s luxury goods sector to grow by about 4 per cent in 2025, down from an earlier forecast of 7 per cent.

Small companies can “easily exploit weaknesses in government systems”, according to a new report on tax evasion in the retail industry from the National Audit Office.

HM Revenue & Customs estimated that overall, £5.5 billion was lost to deliberate tax evasion in the 2022-23 financial year, and 81 per cent of this was caused by small businesses.

The overall tax gap — the difference between tax owed and paid, including errors — has been reduced from 7.4 per cent in 2006 to 4.8 per cent last year. However, the share of the gap attributed to small business has increased over the past five years, from 44 per cent in 2018-19 to 60 per cent in 2022-23.

HMRC does not have a “specific strategy” to tackle the problem so “lacks a focus on its performance in this area”, the report warned.

The tax authority has placed too little emphasis on “widespread forms of tax evasion” in retail, the watchdog said, including abuses of the insolvency process by folding companies to avoid paying tax debts before immediately starting a new company.

This alone is estimated to cost HMRC more than £500 million in the 2022-23 financial year, yet the Insolvency Service disqualified only seven directors for the practice between 2018 and this year, out of a total of 6,274 disqualified directors.

The spending watchdog also cited “electronic sales suppression” as a big source of tax losses. This is where till systems are manipulated to hide or reduce true revenues, including via software specifically designed for this purpose. HMRC says it has powers to tackle this, and businesses involved in “making, supplying or promoting” such tools face fines of up to £50,000.

The report said HMRC had some success in tackling VAT evasion by making online marketplaces liable for VAT on sales by overseas retailers on their platforms, bringing in an additional £1.5 billion a year.

However, the audit office warned that there were still “significant gaps” in checks and overseas companies were still falsely presenting themselves as British-based to evade VAT.

The ease with which companies can be set up in the UK from anywhere in the world leaves the country “vulnerable to tax evasion from fraudulent businesses”. Stricter registration rules are being implemented to tackle this.

The report said HMRC has “not yet used all the powers it has secured to tackle evasion in retail”.

Gareth Davies, head of the spending watchdog, said: “Although tax evasion has been growing among small businesses, HMRC has so far lacked an effective response.

“Its assessment of risks has given too little emphasis to widely used methods of evasion. It has also failed to use new powers to tackle tax evasion.”

Davies said tackling the problem was “not straightforward” but added there were “real opportunities for HMRC to work more systematically across government to reduce it. Tighter controls and more compliance work could raise significant sums and improve value for money.”

A spokesman for HMRC said: “We generated a record £843.4 billion in tax revenues last year, paying for the vital public services everyone relies on. The UK has one of the lowest tax gaps reported in the world, but the government is committed to reducing it further.

“While the vast majority of businesses pay the tax that’s due, we will continue to use our civil and criminal powers against the determined minority who refuse to play by the rules.”

He said HMRC would work with bodies including the Insolvency Service and Companies House to tackle evasion in retail and online services.

VS Tricky is one of the most popular FNF Mod based on the Friday Night Funkin game. This VS Tricky FNF Mod is a little bit difficult so you can play it on Easy mode. In This FNF VS Tricky Mod, You have to beat your opponent to win your Girlfriend and her Dad’s heart.

How to Play?

You can use WASD or Arrow Keys to play VS Tricky FNF Online Mod on your Computer. You have to press the keys as notes reach the judgment line. You can Start or Pause the VS Tricky Mod using Enter key.

Game Controls

• Arrow Keys or WASD
• Space and Enter

“FNF CATFIGHT” a silly Friday Night Funkin mod where a dog and a cat have a rap-battle. Include two mixes.. This Catfight FNF Mod have two different weeks which are normal speed mod and easy to play. In This FNF Catfight Mod, You play as a dog and you have to survive till end to win this rap battle.

How to Play FNF Catfight?

You can use WASD or Arrow Keys to play Catfight FNF Online Mod on your Computer. You have to press the keys as notes reach the judgment line. You can Start or Pause the Catfight Mod using Enter key.

Game Controls

• Arrow Keys or WASD
• Space and Enter

FNF World’s Smallest Violin but Boyfriend sings it is one of the most popular FNF Mod based on the Friday Night Funkin game. This World’s Smallest Violin but Boyfriend sings it FNF Mod have series “World’s Smallest Violin” with Hard and Normal difficulty mode. In This FNF World’s Smallest Violin but Boyfriend sings it Mod boyfriend sing to the tune of World’s Smallest Violin on stage.

How to Play?

You can use WASD or Arrow Keys to play World’s Smallest Violin but Boyfriend sings it FNF Online Mod on your Computer. You have to press the keys as notes reach the judgment line. You can Start or Pause the World’s Smallest Violin but Boyfriend sings it Mod using Enter key.

Game Controls

• Arrow Keys or WASD
• Space and Enter

Sussus Moogus, but Everyone Sing it” is a creative and fun modification for Friday Night Funkin’ (FNF)! The idea of bringing various characters together to sing the popular Sussus Moogus song adds a humorous touch to the game. The winter setting and the challenge from the Impostor also add an interesting twist to the gameplay.

How to Play Sussus Moogus, but Everyone Sing it?

You can use WASD or Arrow Keys to play Sussus Moogus, but Everyone Sing it FNF Online Mod on your Computer. You have to press the keys as notes reach the judgment line. You can Start or Pause the Sussus Moogus, but Everyone Sing it Mod using Enter key.

Game Controls

• Arrow Keys or WASD
• Space and Enter

FNF Vs Rainbow Friends is one of the most popular FNF Mod based on the Friday Night Funkin game. In Rainbow Friends FNF Mod, you play as an unnamed child who has been kidnapped during a school trip to an amusement park called Odd World.From the moment when you captured, you have to survive five nights in the strange location that’s entirely empty of life except for you and the Rainbow Friends. This Rainbow Friends FNF Mod is a little bit difficult so you can play it on Easy mode. In This FNF Rainbow Friends Mod, where Boyfriend faces-off against Blue, Green, and many more. Singing to a single song called “Friends to the End”. Rainbow Friends is a Roblox mini-game where The Players were supposed to go on a normal field trip but are trapped inside a Lab.

How to Play Rainbow Friends FNF?

In Rainbow Friends FNF mod, You will meet blue friend. Blue is the most threatening of all the Rainbow Friends as they’re always patrolling the area looking for lost children. You will rap battle against him. To do so, You have to click on the same arrow button which is coming from down. Be careful because these arrows are very fast, you have to keep attention on these arrows. If you miss any of these arrows then your power of survive will be decreased. In this FNF Rainbow Friends, the last survival will be a winner.

Game Controls

You can use WASD or Arrow Keys to play Vs Rainbow Friends FNF Online Mod on your Computer. You have to press the keys as notes reach the judgment line. You can Start or Pause the Vs Rainbow Friends Mod using Enter key.