Buy-now pay-later firms braced for clampdown as Treasury looks to grant regulator new powers February 13, 2023 The government said it will give City watchdogs the power to “clamp down” on buy-now pay-later firms this year as it prepares to publish a much-delayed update on the scope of regulation around the sector tomorrow morning. The Treasury will lay out the details of regulation that will include plans to bring firms like Klarna, [...]
UK recession to officially begin this winter, City economists predict December 5, 2022 The UK’s recession will officially begin this winter and is likely to last for most of next year, a closely watched survey out today suggests. S&P Global and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply’s (CIPS) final purchasing managers’ index (PMI) measuring private sector activity in November was unchanged at 48.2, the lowest number since [...]
We are not rip-off retailers, says Sainsbury’s July 6, 2023 Bosses at Sainsbury’s have said they are “not rip-off retailer” or “profiteers” as they defended the profit made by the retailer amid scrutiny related to food inflation over the past year. The company also defended increased pay packages for its senior executives at its annual general meeting in London, despite the continued cost-of-living crisis. It [...]
Efforts underway to remove Boris Johnson from No 10 via vote of no confidence in House of Commons June 7, 2022 The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Ed Davey, said this morning that his party will put forward a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Speaking to Kay Burley on Sky News, Sir Ed said: “I think there should be a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister in the House [...]
Why Labour won’t compensate the Waspi women March 26, 2024 With fiscal discipline the order of the day, the Party is unlikely to repeat it’s commitment to handing £billions to pensioners, says Morgan Jones In November 2019, with the general election campaign already well underway, Labour announced that, if elected, it would pay compensation to Waspi women, at a cost estimated to be as much [...]
‘Worse than the pandemic’: Pub bodies warn of closures as energy bills relief scheme ends April 4, 2023 Hospitality bodies have warned that business failure is worse now than it was during the pandemic as the sector braces itself for the first month of trading following the end of the government’s energy bill relief scheme. “We’re seeing an acceleration of business failure which is now worse than the pandemic,” Emma McClarkin, chief executive [...]
Pantheon: Investment slump on Bank of England’s rate hikes will deepen UK recession January 10, 2023 The UK recession is set to be powered by businesses slashing investment due to higher interest rates squeezing their finances, City economists have warned. Finance chiefs are “despondent” amid a rapid acceleration in borrowing costs caused by the Bank of England scrambling to tame sky high inflation, Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, [...]
UK economy much more volatile after series of sharp shocks November 28, 2022 The UK economy has become much more volatile compared to three decades ago, a new survey out today reveals. Since the global financial crisis in 2008, the economy has grown much slower compared to the decade and a half in before the catastrophe, according to consultancy BDO. The firm said in the first 15 years [...]
‘Summer of discontent’ looms as THIRD rail union threatens to strike and plunge country into travel mayhem June 10, 2022 The country has been plunged into further travel mayhem with rail drivers union TSSA set to join the train alongside RMT and Aslef. The organisation served notice to ballot hundreds of staff for strike action at Avanti West Coast, over pay, conditions and job security. Transport and Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) General Secretary Manuel Cortes [...]
INEOS boss Sir Jim Ratcliffe brands CMA ‘increasingly hostile to business’ after $1bn deal snub July 4, 2023 INEOS chair Sir Jim Ratcliffe has lashed out at Britain’s competition watchdog for being “increasingly hostile” to business – after it blocked a $1bn deal involving his firm. The business titan who founded the private chemicals giant made his comments after the Competition and Markets Authority prevented INEOS’ acquisition of Sika AG, a concrete additives [...]