Brexit rebels in the Lords must be prepared to back down admits Heseltine March 12, 2017 Tory peer and former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine has warned the House of Lords against waging a long-running battle to make changes to the Article 50 Bill. The unelected chamber installed two amendments to the legislation, on protections for the rights of EU nationals, and offering parliament a “meaningful” vote on any new trading relationship with the EU. [...]
Bovis Homes confirms merger talks with Galliford Try after rejecting Redrow offer March 12, 2017 Bovis Homes is in £2.5bn merger talks with fellow housebuilder Galliford Try after rejecting a bid from Redrow. FTSE 250-listed Galliford Try said the tie-up would create “a new major housebuilder with national scale and geographic coverage through the combination of the sixth and eighth largest UK housebuilders by completions”. Bovis, which is also on [...]
Google’s DeepMind is in talks with National Grid to apply artificial intelligence to energy use March 12, 2017 The Google-owned star British artificial intelligence company DeepMind is in talks with the National Grid about a potential partnership, with the possibility of using the technology to make the supply of energy across the UK more efficient. “There's huge potential for predictive machine learning technology to help energy systems reduce their environmental impact," said a spokesperson for the [...]
HSBC chairman search: Former man from the Pru Mark Tucker will replace Douglas Flint March 12, 2017 Mark Tucker, chief executive and president of AIA and former boss of Prudential, has been confirmed as chairman of HSBC, marking the first time the bank has appointed an external chairman. Tucker will receive an annual fee of £1.5m and a one-time relocation benefit of £300,000 for moving from Hong Kong to London. He will take up [...]
Brexit secretary David Davis says ministers are planning for “all possible outcomes” of EU talks March 12, 2017 Brexit secretary David Davis has moved to reassure MPs that the government is undertaking contingency planning on Brexit, after a critical report called for more preparations. The Foreign Affairs select committee today warned "a complete breakdown in negotiations represents a very destructive outcome leading to mutually assured damage for the EU and the UK", and [...]
Article 50: Six risks of a Brexit “no deal”, as MPs warn Theresa May to plan now for negotiation failure March 12, 2017 "No deal is better than a bad deal" Theresa May famously said, outlining her big plans for Brexit last month. But now an influential group of MPs have told the Prime Minister she better start planning for a "no deal" scenario just days before she's expected to start the firing gun on the UK's official exit [...]
Hammond slammed for “rookie error” over national insurance contributions March 11, 2017 Chancellor Philip Hammond has been criticised for making a "rookie error" with his plans in increase national insurance contributions for the self employed. Former Conservative chancellor Norman Lamont has raised concerns that Hammond's first spring budget has ruined the party's image for pursuing low-tax policies. The changes will mean up to 1.6m people will face [...]
Ticket touts threatened with unlimited fines March 11, 2017 Ticket touts who bulk buy music concert tickets and them re-sell them online will be hit with unlimited fines under new government plans. The department for culture, media and sport (DCMS) is making it illegal for touts to hack ticket-buying websites to buy more than the maximum amount of concert tickets normally available to consumers. [...]
Tesco chairman: White men are an ‘endangered species’ on UK boards March 11, 2017 The chairman of Tesco, John Allan, has warned white men everywhere that they are an "endangered species" on UK boards and that to get to the top they are going to have to work "twice as hard" as women and ethnic minorities. Despite sitting three executive boards himself (he is also chairman of Barratt Developments, and [...]
Volkswagen pleads guilty to US charges in emissions scandal March 11, 2017 Volkswagen has pleaded guilty to three US charges relating to the emissions scandal that emerged in 2015. The German company's lawyer Manfred Doss said VW had committed criminal acts in both Germany and the United States, and admitted that cars were fitted with software that allowed them to cheat emissions tests over six years. Read more: [...]