UK business secretary Peter Kyle has approved a £100mn plan to reopen the mothballed Ensus CO2 plant on Teesside, marking the first major ministerial intervention to avert shortages caused by the Iran war. The plant produces carbon dioxide, which is vital for fizzy drinks, food packaging, IVF treatment, and animal stunning in abattoirs.

The Ensus bioethanol plant was mothballed last September after a UK/US trade deal cut tariffs for imports from the US. As one UK government official noted, "The irony is that the plant was shut because of a deal with Trump and now it's reopening because of Trump's war in Iran." The government expects to pay around £100mn to reopen the plant for an initial three-month period.

Meanwhile, the government has postponed a planned meeting with supermarkets and banks over rising energy costs after chief executives said they could not attend at short notice. Businesses are pushing back against government plans to add extra green policy costs to business bills, with M&S CEO Stuart Machin noting policy costs now make up over half their energy bill.

The rise in wholesale energy costs is set to increase business electricity bills by between 10 and 30 per cent, with gas bills even higher at 25-80 per cent, according to Cornwall Insights. Machin emphasized: **"They now make up over half our