George Osborne bags a Blairite: Lord Adonis quits Labour benches in blow to Jeremy Corbyn October 5, 2015 In a major blow to Labour, one of its most influential peers has left the parliamentary party to chair a new infrastructure commission spearheaded by chancellor George Osborne. Osborne will use his speech at the Conservative party conference in Manchester today to announce that Lord Andrew Adonis, a former minister under Prime Minister Tony [...]
Businesses raise red flag over airports expansion as Zac Goldsmith enters mayoral race October 5, 2015 British business groups are raising a red flag over the London mayoral race, after Zac Goldsmith, a noted opponent to Heathrow expansion, was selected as the Conservative candidate. Goldsmith won the party’s nomination on Friday, commanding more than 70 per cent of the vote in an open primary contest. He will square off next May [...]
New York and fuel trim FTSE – London Report October 2, 2015 UK SHARES outperformed their European counterparts yesterday as mining and oil and gas companies rose, although weakness on Wall Street trimmed the gains. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index closed just 10.86 points higher, up 0.2 per cent at 6,072.47 points, having been up by more than one per cent for most of the session. Mining [...]
T-Mobile boss ‘incredibly angry’ as data from 15m customers is leaked in Experian data breach October 2, 2015 T-Mobile boss John Legere said last night that he was "incredibly angry" about news that 15m of the company's US subscribers could have been affected by a data breach at Experian. Experian processes the mobile network operator's credit applications. The hacked data includes customers' names, dates of birth, addresses and Social Security numbers, as well as [...]
UK workers get a pay rise as minimum wage raised to £6.70 ahead of National Living Wage introduction October 1, 2015 One million UK workers are getting a pay rise today, as the national minimum wage has gone up by 20p. This sets the new adult rate at £6.70 per hour. Youth rates are up too, as 18 to 20-year-olds will get £5.30 and under-18s get £3.87. Another pay rise is on the way for at [...]
Sainsbury’s and Glencore give FTSE 100 a three-digit lift – London Report October 1, 2015 The FTSE 100 enjoyed strong gains yesterday, helped by Sainsbury’s after the supermarket group lifted its full-year profit outlook. The blue-chip index climbed 152.37 points, or 2.6 per cent, to close at 6,061.61. Despite reporting a seventh straight quarter of falling sales, Sainsbury’s shares soared 13.8 per cent. Other supermarkets were also lifted, with Morrisons [...]
Whitbread’s Costa coffee chain to pay baristas above National Living Wage September 30, 2015 First it was Starbucks. Now coffee chain Costa has also followed suit by announcing a pay hike for its staff ahead of the government’s national living wage. From tomorrow Costa baristas in London (of all ages) will earn a minimum of £8.20 an hour, rising to over £9, the Whitbread-owned chain said. Meanwhile staff working [...]
London Gatwick still battling Airports Commission over Heathrow expansion decision September 30, 2015 The of words between Gatwick and the Airports Commission showed no signs of levelling off today with Sir Howard Davies being forced to defend his commission’s final recommendation to expand Heathrow. In a letter to transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin, Davies rebuffed claims from Gatwick Airport boss Stewart Wingate about the panel’s endorsement to build a [...]
Uber at risk as Transport for London bows to pressure from taxi drivers and minicab firms September 30, 2015 Taxi drivers and rival minicab firms have been handed a boost after Transport for London (TfL) bowed to pressure and proposed a range of measures that would hammer much of Uber’s business model. A minimum waiting time of five minutes could become law – even if a car is immediately available – while sharing a [...]
Morrisons follows Lidl and pledges to pay above National Living Wage September 29, 2015 Morrisons has followed in the steps of German discounter Lidl after announcing a 20 per cent pay hike for its staff in line with the new Living Wage. The supermarket, which is striving to turn itself around after years of declining sales, said more than 90,000 staff across all age brackets would benefit from a [...]