British Airways strikes: No 10 tells BA and pilots to ‘sort out’ dispute September 6, 2019 Downing Street has urged British Airways and its pilots to “sort out” the pay dispute behind a planned series of strikes starting next week. “The unions and BA need to get round the table and sort this out. The public would expect nothing less,” said Number 10. Read more: British Airways strikes and IT glitches [...]
Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia reveals huge losses amid CVA controversy September 6, 2019 Arcadia, Sir Philip Green’s high street empire, plunged into huge losses last year before it launched a controversial restructuring drive, new accounts have shown. The group reported an operating loss of £138m for the year ending 1 September 2018, a sharp decline on the £119m operating profit it made the previous year, according to documents [...]
Gina Miller to appeal as High Court rejects legal case against proroguing of Parliament September 6, 2019 Gina Miller has said she “will not give up the fight for democracy” after the High Court rejected her legal challenge arguing that Prime Minister Boris Johnson acted unlawfully by proroguing Parliament for five weeks ahead of the Brexit deadline. The case -which had the backing of former Prime Minister John Major – had challenged [...]
Labour confirms it will not back an early election in Monday’s vote September 6, 2019 Labour will refuse to back an early election if Prime Minister Boris Johnson goes ahead with a planned second vote on one on Monday night, shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry has said. Asked in an interview on the Today Programme if it would be a “no” from Labour, Thornberry said: “yes”. Read more: Prime Minister [...]
China’s new digital currency will be similar to Facebook’s Libra, officials say September 6, 2019 China’s proposed new digital currency would be similar to Facebook’s Libra and be able to used across major payment platforms, a senior official from Beijing’s central bank has said. “Why is the central bank still doing such a digital currency today when electronic payment methods are so developed?” said Mu Changchun, deputy director of the [...]
Ministers prepare new finance council to support post-Brexit lending to SMEs September 5, 2019 Ministers are reportedly set to launch a finance council to support lending to small and medium sized business (SMEs) post-Brexit, following complaints the government has not done enough to help prepare the firms for the UK leaving the EU. Read more: Bill to block no-deal Brexit a ‘chink of light’ for business, says CBI The [...]
Political uncertainty spooks investors as UK equity outflows increase September 5, 2019 Cautious investors pulled £1.2bn from UK equity funds in July, with outflows increasing amid heightened political turmoil. UK equity funds experienced net outflows of £1.2bn, a significant increase on the £744m of outflows reported for June, according to figures from the Investment Association (IA). The funds have consistently seen new outflows over the past year, [...]
CBI: Bill to block no-deal Brexit a ‘chink of light’ for business September 5, 2019 The head of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has said that progress made yesterday towards passing a bill to prevent a no-deal Brexit represents a “chink of light” for businesses in the UK. However Carolyn Fairbairn warned that “the clock is still ticking”, telling the BBC “the cloud has not gone away” for firms [...]
Tool hire firm HSS claws its way back with narrower losses September 5, 2019 Tool hire company HSS has reported a substantial narrowing in pre-tax losses for the first half, despite increased expenditure. The figures Pre-tax loss was down almost 28 per cent to £7.4m, compared to £10.2m for the first half of 2018, the company said. Revenue grew 3.9 per cent to £161.4m during the first half, up [...]
Hong Kong leader: China ‘respects and supports’ withdrawal of extradition bill September 5, 2019 Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam has said Beijing supports her decision to withdraw the extradition bill that sparked months of unrest, part of measures she hopes will “address the discontent” in the territory. In a press conference on Thursday, Lam was repeatedly asked why it took her so long to withdraw the bill, which [...]