Since January, Coventry-born-and-raised Linda Jackson has been at the helm of Peugeot as its global boss.

This follows five years as CEO of its sibling-rival Citroen as she helped turn that firm around to make it more customer-friendly and focused.

'The Government can talk until it is green in the gills about the UK’s carbon-free future. But when it comes to turning great new technologies into global opportunities, the UK is not even at the races.'

Britain's ambition to become an electric car battery champion suffered a setback yesterday as Johnson Matthey abandoned a pioneering programme.

The FTSE 100 chemicals group said it would scrap years of research and development because it was too far behind foreign competitors in China and Korea who are already making batteries on a huge scale.

Japan's Toshiba is set to break up into three independent companies by spinning off its core energy and infrastructure businesses, as well as its device and storage business.

It is understood that the plan - borne of a five-month strategic review undertaken after a highly damaging corporate governance scandal - is partly aimed at encouraging activist shareholders to exit.

After spinning off the two companies, Toshiba will continue to own its 40.6 per cent stake in memory chipmaker Kioxia as well as other assets.

Toshiba said in its statement on Friday it believed that splitting the company was the best path to enhancing shareholder value.

‘The decision allows each business to significantly increase its focus and facilitate more agile decision-making and leaner cost structures,’ the statement said.

Toshiba hopes to complete the reorganisation by the second half of the 2023 financial year.

Water companies will be forced to slash customer bills by more than £67million next year in England and Wales, as many failed to live up to standards set by themselves and the regulator.

Thames Water, the supplier for the London region, will have to slash bills by £53million in the year ending March 2023. Southern Water will have to forgo nearly £46million and Southwest Water more than £15million.