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The entrepreneur Dale Vince has made a fresh approach to the owner of The Guardian in a bid to persuade it to open talks with him about The Observer, days after its sale was agreed to a digital start-up.

Sky News has seen an email sent at the weekend by Mr Vince to Ole Jacob Sunde in which he asks whether an interview given to a Sunday newspaper indicating that he was open to other talks about The Observer’s future represented “a change of position” from the left-wing newspaper publisher.

Mr Vince, who had held talks with the Guardian Media Group chair, Charles Gurassa, prior to last week’s confirmation of The Observer’s sale to Tortoise Media, wrote to Mr Sunde: “I am ready to engage with your team if you are serious.

“I don’t imagine you expect a blind bid, or would take one seriously, [and] a discussion on the numbers therefore would be the right starting place. Is that possible?”

“Broadly speaking my intentions for the Observer match your own; I’m a fan and a reader and a believer in media pluralism.

“I operate a group of companies that made £38m last year on roughly £500m of turnover – all operating in the green economy.

“The Observer clearly needs a digital presence in order to stand alone, I believe the print version is essential to maintain – and the Guardian subscriber model is I believe the right approach.”

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Mr Vince, who has founded a string of green energy businesses and owns Forest Green Rovers Football Club, is understood to have written to Mr Sunde after the Scott Trust chair was asked by The Sunday Times whether he would still consider selling to a rival to Tortoise Media.

“Of course, at any time in the process, you would listen to people coming to talk to you,” Mr Sunde told The Sunday Times.

“And we will listen, as we have done with all the different bidders that have come.”

However, his comments appeared to be at odds with a subsequent email sent by Mr Sunde in response to Mr Vince’s latest overture – which has also been seen by Sky News.

“Our position hasn’t changed and we are still not in a position to have discussions with other interested parties,” Mr Sunde told the entrepreneur.

“You are the only person who has addressed us, revealing your identity and intentions.”

Despite saying that the Scott Trust had no grounds to talk to rival bidders, Mr Sunde concluded his email: “May I suggest that any further queries are directed to [Charles Gurassa] at this point.”

A GMG spokeswoman confirmed on Monday that the company remained in exclusive discussions with Tortoise Media, having said last Thursday that it expected a formal sale agreement to be signed within days.

The Scott Trust has pledged to invest £5m into Tortoise Media in exchange for a stake and a board seat, in an attempt to placate furious Guardian and Observer journalists.

Last week, they went on strike for two days in protest at the sale.

On Friday, Mr Vince accused the newspapers’ owners of telling “a complete untruth” about his interest in The Observer.

“I don’t understand why my interest in the Observer continues to be mischaracterised by the Guardian/Scott Trust,” he told Sky News.

One source said that the apparent mixed messaging from GMG and the Scott Trust raised important questions about corporate governance at the two organisations, and said the “fiasco” would put serious pressure on the organisations’ leadership.

Paul Webster, who until last month was The Observer’s editor, accused Mr Sunde of failing to consult him or colleagues on the paper about the sale.

If the deal with Tortoise Media completes, it will see The Observer in new ownership for the first time since the early 1990s.

Founded in 1791, it is the oldest Sunday newspaper in the world.

Its takeover by a digital media startup will underline the shifting dynamics sweeping the global news media landscape.

GMG and the Scott Trust declined to comment beyond confirming the accuracy of Mr Sunde’s quotes in The Sunday Times.

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UK economy figures not as bad as they look despite GDP fall, analysts say

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UK economy figures not as bad as they look despite GDP fall, analysts say

The UK economy unexpectedly shrank in May, even after the worst of Donald Trump’s tariffs were paused, official figures showed.

A standard measure of economic growth, gross domestic product (GDP), contracted 0.1% in May, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Rather than a fall being anticipated, growth of 0.1% was forecast by economists polled by Reuters as big falls in production and construction were seen.

It followed a 0.3% contraction in April, when Mr Trump announced his country-specific tariffs and sparked a global trade war.

A 90-day pause on these import taxes, which has been extended, allowed more normality to resume.

This was borne out by other figures released by the ONS on Friday.

Exports to the United States rose £300m but “remained relatively low” following a “substantial decrease” in April, the data said.

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Overall, there was a “large rise in goods imports and a fall in goods exports”.

A ‘disappointing’ but mixed picture

It’s “disappointing” news, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said. She and the government as a whole have repeatedly said growing the economy was their number one priority.

“I am determined to kickstart economic growth and deliver on that promise”, she added.

But the picture was not all bad.

Growth recorded in March was revised upwards, further indicating that companies invested to prepare for tariffs. Rather than GDP of 0.2%, the ONS said on Friday the figure was actually 0.4%.

It showed businesses moved forward activity to be ready for the extra taxes. Businesses were hit with higher employer national insurance contributions in April.

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The expansion in March means the economy still grew when the three months are looked at together.

While an interest rate cut in August had already been expected, investors upped their bets of a 0.25 percentage point fall in the Bank of England’s base interest rate.

Such a cut would bring down the rate to 4% and make borrowing cheaper.

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Is Britain going bankrupt?

Analysts from economic research firm Pantheon Macro said the data was not as bad as it looked.

“The size of the manufacturing drop looks erratic to us and should partly unwind… There are signs that GDP growth can rebound in June”, said Pantheon’s chief UK economist, Rob Wood.

Why did the economy shrink?

The drops in manufacturing came mostly due to slowed car-making, less oil and gas extraction and the pharmaceutical industry.

The fall was not larger because the services industry – the largest part of the economy – expanded, with law firms and computer programmers having a good month.

It made up for a “very weak” month for retailers, the ONS said.

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UK economy remains fragile – and there are risks and traps lurking around the corner

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UK economy remains fragile - and there are risks and traps lurking around the corner

Monthly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures are volatile and, on their own, don’t tell us much.

However, the picture emerging a year since the election of the Labour government is not hugely comforting.

This is a government that promised to turbocharge economic growth, the key to improving livelihoods and the public finances. Instead, the economy is mainly flatlining.

Output shrank in May by 0.1%. That followed a 0.3% drop in April.

Ministers were celebrating a few months ago as data showed the economy grew by 0.7% in the first quarter.

Hangover from artificial growth

However, the subsequent data has shown us that much of that growth was artificial, with businesses racing to get orders out of the door to beat the possible introduction of tariffs. Property transactions were also brought forward to beat stamp duty changes.

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In April, we experienced the hangover as orders and industrial output dropped. Services also struggled as demand for legal and conveyancing services dropped after the stamp duty changes.

Many of those distortions have now been smoothed out, but the manufacturing sector still struggled in May.

Signs of recovery

Manufacturing output fell by 1% in May, but more up-to-date data suggests the sector is recovering.

“We expect both cars and pharma output to improve as the UK-US trade deal comes into force and the volatility unwinds,” economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics said.

Meanwhile, the services sector eked out growth of 0.1%.

A 2.7% month-to-month fall in retail sales suppressed growth in the sector, but that should improve with hot weather likely to boost demand at restaurants and pubs.

Struggles ahead

It is unlikely, however, to massively shift the dial for the economy, the kind of shift the Labour government has promised and needs in order to give it some breathing room against its fiscal rules.

The economy remains fragile, and there are risks and traps lurking around the corner.

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Is Britain going bankrupt?

Concerns that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is considering tax hikes could weigh on consumer confidence, at a time when businesses are already scaling back hiring because of national insurance tax hikes.

Inflation is also expected to climb in the second half of the year, further weighing on consumers and businesses.

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Government to announce new scheme as it ramps up AI adoption with backing from Facebook owner Meta

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Government to announce new scheme as it ramps up AI adoption with backing from Facebook owner Meta

The government is speeding up its adoption of AI to try and encourage economic growth – with backing from Facebook parent Meta.

It will today announce a $1m (£740,000) scheme to hire up to 10 AI “experts” to help with the adoption of the technology.

Sir Keir Starmer has spoken repeatedly about wanting to use the developing technology as part of his “plan for change” to improve the UK – with claims it could produce tens of billions in savings and efficiencies.

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The government is hoping the new hires could help with problems like translating classified documents en masse, speeding up planning applications or help with emergency responses when power or internet outages occur.

The funding for the roles is coming from Meta, through the Alan Turing Institute. Adverts will go live next week, with the new fellowships expected to start at the beginning of 2026.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: “This fellowship is the best of AI in action – open, practical, and built for public good. It’s about delivery, not just ideas – creating real tools that help government work better for people.”

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He added: “The fellowship will help scale that kind of impact across government, and develop sovereign capabilities where the UK must lead, like national security and critical infrastructure.”

The projects will all be based on open source models, meaning there will be a minimal cost for the government when it comes to licensing.

Meta describes its own AI model, Llama, as open source, although there are questions around whether it truly qualifies for that title due to parts of its code base not being published.

The owner of Facebook has also sponsored several studies into the benefits of government adopting more open source AI tools.

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Mr Kyle’s Department for Science and Technology has been working on its mission to increase the uptake of AI within government, including through the artificial intelligence “incubator”, under which these fellowships will fall.

The secretary of state has pointed to the success of Caddy – a tool that helps call centre workers search for answers in official documents faster – and its expanding use across government as an example of an AI success story.

He said the tool, developed with Citizens Advice, shows how AI can “boost productivity, improve decision-making, and support frontline staff”. A trial suggested it could cut waiting times for calls in half.

My Kyle also recently announced a deal with Google to provide tech support to government and assist with modernisation of data.

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Joel Kaplan, the chief global affairs officer from Meta, said: “Open-source AI models are helping researchers and developers make major scientific and medical breakthroughs, and they have the potential to transform the delivery of public services too.

“This partnership with ATI will help the government access some of the brightest minds and the technology they need to solve big challenges – and to do it openly and in the public interest.”

Jean Innes, the head of the Alan Turing Institute, said: “These fellowships will offer an innovative way to match AI experts with the real world challenges our public services are facing.”

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