Today: Tens of thousands of Post Office workers stage a strike as they demand more pay May 3, 2022 A one-day strike by Post Office workers in a dispute over pay started this morning. Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action in April. The union said the strike is over a pay freeze for 2021 and the offer of a 2 per cent increase from April this [...]
UK ahead of EV adoption curve but charging accessibility lags behind August 4, 2022 The UK is currently ahead of the Climate Change Committee’s electric vehicle (EV) adoption curve by more than 100,000 cars. According to figures by Volkswagen Financial Services UK, there were 833,000 EVs in the UK as of March – up 71 per cent on last year’s levels. At the same time, registrations of battery-electric vehicles [...]
Asda, Boots and Primark among retailers urging officials to prioritise crime against shop staff August 11, 2022 High street staples including Tesco, Aldi and Primark have signed a letter urging police commissioners to prioritise tackling crimes against shop staff. Some 105 retailers have written to police and crime commissioners in England and Wales, calling for more help with increasing violence and anti-social behaviour towards workers. Reports of abuse towards shop staff have [...]
Starmer, Sturgeon and Davey respond to Boris Johnson’s resignation: Election, referendum and unity on the table July 7, 2022 Labour leader Keir Starmer has led the response to Boris Johnson’s impending resignation, saying he has been “Responsible for lies, scandal and fraud on an industrial scale” North of the border, the Scottish National Party’s Nicola Sturgeon saw the resignation as a renewed opportunity to push for independence, while Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford called [...]
The Notebook: Victoria Scholar on why it’s not all doom and gloom for the economy March 8, 2023 The Notebook is where interesting people say interesting things. Today, it’s Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, on why it’s not the time to be gloomy about the UK’s prospects, the battle for your coffee pound and a new podcast. You wouldn’t be blamed for thinking that the UK economy is in a [...]
Ofgem warns Scottish Power and Utilita over customer protections September 22, 2022 Ofgem has slapped two of the UK's leading energy firms with provisional orders, requiring them to meet requirements to customers.
UK services inflation accelerates at record pace as cost of living squeeze intensifies February 3, 2022 UK businesses are raising prices at the fastest rate on record as Brits prepare for a once-in-a generation cost of living squeeze, reveals a closely watched survey published today. Prices for products produced by services businesses, including pubs, restaurants and bars, rose at the quickest pace since 1996, according to IHS Markit. Soaring raw material [...]
Even a complete reversal of the mini-budget won’t fill the giant fiscal hole created October 14, 2022 In August, we were promised a new Budget under the new premiership of Liz Truss. In September, it was downgraded to a mini-Budget when the Government decided not to ask the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to mark its homework, or set out a new economic outlook. The market fallout from this disastrous decision [...]
Sky-high inflation slows UK private sector economy to ‘standstill’ August 1, 2022 Consumers reacting to scaling prices by cutting spending is expected to grind the UK economy to a halt, new surveys published today revealed. Private sector firms think they will squeeze out zero growth over the next three months, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the country’s largest business lobby group. Businesses are beginning [...]
A blank cheque for two years of capped energy bills was a perverse kind of plan October 25, 2022 It was always perverse to ask the taxpayer to write a blank cheque for two years as part of the energy support package and ignore the huge potential gains in increasing our energy efficiency.