Department of Health civil servants met lobbyists from the cigarette manufacturer Imperial Tobacco before the Government shelved proposals to introduce plain packaging laws this week, it can be revealed.

Outlook The lethal collapse of a building in Bangladesh, where workers were churning out cheap clothes for retailers such as Primark, has prompted scrutiny of the supply chains of some of our big retailers.

Britain's biggest movie visual-effects (VFX) company made a significant move into quality television yesterday as a direct result of George Osborne's decision to give the sector tax breaks.

A Dutch appeals court has lifted a ban on an organisation which lobbies for the legalisation of sex between adults and children, after finding that the group was not breaking any laws in The Netherlands.

The courts will soon decide the future of Portsmouth and Coventry, rivals joined in uncertainty

President Barack Obama's assault weapons ban lay in tatters last night after being dropped from the Senate gun control bill.

Sir Alex Ferguson has barred the Independent from his Carrington press conferences after a report by one our writers detailed his fall-out with Rooney

A Republican stalwart, now 80, has owned up to a 1970s liaison with the daughter of a colleague

Sensitive personal information risks being left vulnerable to hoarding and misuse by banks, retailers and insurance companies due to three British MEPs accused of directly inserting major firms’ suggestions into EU laws, according to privacy campaigners warning of the most intense lobbying effort ever seen in the European Parliament.

Global Outlook The defence group BAE is among the biggest British spenders on Washington lobbying, splurging $3.5m in 2012. Over the past five years, it's spent some $24m, according to OpenSecrets. That's twice as much as even Barclays did during the aftermath of the banking crisis. Rolls-Royce, another big supplier to the US military, spent $7.3m over that period.

The deal will mean Diageo saves many millions more dollars in rebates

If there is anything more infuriating than the predictable New Year fare increases on public transport, it is the equally predictable whingeing on the part of suburban rail commuters. Year after year they complain that they are uniquely victimised because they don't have a choice. They are captive passengers, crammed every day into obsolete rolling stock, sitting ducks for above-inflation fare rises.

Growing buyer interest across the UK suggests confidence in the housing market according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Simon Hughes is accused of failing to declare donations to local party