Here are the business stories making the headlines locally and across the country this morning.

Fashion brand Mint Velvet opening Aberdeen shop

High street womenswear brand Mint Velvet is opening its first branch in Aberdeen.

The shop announced the news in a recruitment post for a store manager to run the Granite City location.

It said: “Mint Velvet will be opening its doors in Aberdeen later this year!”

The post also hinted at a date for the opening with the new hire required to start in August.

Redundancies drive biggest jump in job-seekers since 2020

The number of people looking for jobs has risen at its fastest pace since 2020, in a sign of growing weakness in the employment market.

A combination of more redundancies and fewer job openings has meant a surge in job-seekers, according to a closely watched survey by KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).

It was the 15th consecutive month in which “staff availability” had risen, with the pace of the increase being the highest since December 2020.

Unemployment has climbed in recent months while wage growth has cooled, raising the prospect of the Bank of England cutting interest rates this summer.

Motors.co.uk lines up deal to buy stricken car marketplace Cazoo

Administrators to Cazoo, the British online car retailer once valued at well over £5bn, are closing in on a deal to offload its marketplace division.

Sky News has learnt that Motors.co.uk, a privately owned used-car platform, is now the frontrunner to buy Cazoo's brand and marketplace business.

Industry sources said the price was likely to be a significant discount to the investment that Cazoo had ploughed into sports sponsorship deals in a bid to build brand awareness since the company launched in 2018.

Cazoo crashed into administration last month, having failed to put itself on a sustainable footing after a debt restructuring last year.

Warning as carry-on rules revised at 6 airports

Restrictions on carrying liquids over 100ml in hand luggage are being temporarily reintroduced at some regional airports in the UK.

The change will apply from 00:01 BST on Sunday 9 June 2024 and will affect passengers at Newcastle, Leeds Bradford, London City, Aberdeen, Southend and Teesside airports.

All of the airports affected have Next Generation Security Checkpoints (NGSC) in full operation and had scrapped the 100ml liquid rules after introducing the high-tech CT scanners.

The Department for Transport said reintroducing restrictions would "enable further improvements to be made to the new checkpoint systems" and was not in response to a specific threat.

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