UK steel firms suspend imports of Russian coal March 13, 2022 Tata Steel UK (Tata) and British Steel have both suspended imports of Russian coal, according to The Mail on Sunday. The decision follows sustained pressure from Western governments for businesses to divest from Russia, as it ramps up sanctions on the country following the invasion of Ukraine. Coal is used to heat blast furnaces up [...]
Gove insists UK-EU trade deal possible by 2020 December 17, 2019 Michael Gove has insisted the UK will get a trade deal before the end of transition this time next year, as he defended Number 10 plans to rule out an extension. As reported by City A.M., Boris Johnson’s team has rewritten the Withdrawal Agreement Bill ahead of being brought back to parliament on Friday. Concessions [...]
Coronavirus: ‘Green shoots’ starting to show, says NHS boss March 31, 2020 NHS England’s medical director has said the UK’s social distancing measures have begun to yield “green shoots”, despite today’s largest single day rise in deaths. Stephen Powis said at today’s daily Covid-19 briefing that the rate of increase in infections had begun to plateau in the past few days, but warned “we’re not out of [...]
Who gets to shape what comes next? After Covid, power in the UK must be decentralised August 28, 2020 We are all coming to terms with the impact of Covid-19 on our prosperity and life chances. We are relearning how we live, how society functions, and what and who we value most. We are learning how Covid has impacted our communities, and with that has come a realisation of injustices that exist in our [...]
Boris Johnson moves to ease lockdown faster in face of mass job losses June 7, 2020 Boris Johnson is set to accelerate the speed of easing the coronavirus lockdown, after warnings of impending mass unemployment. Ministers have drawn up plans to bring Britain back to something resembling normal life by July, in order to ensure industries benefit from summer trading. The new plans will see the government allow planning restrictions to [...]
Ignore Michael Gove – there’ll be no chance to edit Chequers once the ink is dry September 19, 2018 Theresa May’s ambush of her own cabinet in July by presenting the fait accompli of the proposed Chequers deal, which the EU remains unconvinced about and which will be the subject of discussion among EU leaders in Salzburg tomorrow, was for me the low point of the Brexit negotiations. That was until last Sunday, when [...]
Coronavirus: Taylor Wimpey cancels dividend and draws down £550m March 24, 2020 Taylor Wimpey has cancelled its dividends for the year and drawn down £550m in credit facilities to protect its balance sheet against the impact of Covid-19. The housebuilder said it had felt the effect of government shutdowns in its UK and Spanish businesses over the past few days. Taylor Wimpey said it had put contingency [...]
UK urged to include private sector to ramp up coronavirus testing April 1, 2020 The UK must utilise the country’s private laboratories if it is going to reach its coronavirus testing targets, according to a report from a leading London think tank. The government is beginning to face scathing criticism as it fails to meet testing targets and as the UK falls further behind other OECD countries in testing [...]
Just 2,000 frontline NHS England staff have had coronavirus tests April 1, 2020 Hospitals have been urged by Number 10 to test more NHS frontline staff for coronavirus as it has been revealed that only 2,000 have been tested. The government has come under fire this past week for failing to reach its daily coronavirus testing target, with the UK falling behind other OECD countries. There were just [...]
UK coronavirus: Smiths bolsters production to build 10,000 ventilators March 30, 2020 Engineering group Smiths has ramped up production of its ventilators to produce 10,000 units for the UK government’s fight against coronavirus. Production will increase from hundreds of ventilators per month to thousands to meet the huge demand, after the UK recorded 1,228 coronavirus deaths yesterday. Smiths said talks are ongoing with its supply chain to [...]