Labour has invited industry groups for an emergency summit on business rates tomorrow February 26, 2017 Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has convened an emergency roundtable on business rates tomorrow in a bid to increase the pressure on the government to implement reforms. McDonnell will lead the summit alongside newly appointed shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey, meeting with groups including the Institute of Directors, Federation of Small Businesses and the British Chamber of Commerce [...]
Hoover looks to offload pension scheme, including a possible push into the pensions lifeboat February 26, 2017 Hoover is mulling plans to hand its pension scheme over to the pensions lifeboat in an attempt to save its ailing finances. There are almost 5,800 defined benefit pension schemes in operation across the UK, but around 4,200 of them are in deficit, dragging on many companies' finances. Now, The Sunday Times has reported electronics firm [...]
January gym bunnies have sent visits to this budget chain soaring February 26, 2017 One of the UK's fastest-growing budget gym chains received a massive boost during January, as exercise enthusiasts bent on achieving their New Year's resolutions went crazy for cardio and whacky for workouts. Pay-as-you-go The Gym Group said the number of people with visiting its branches rose 21 per cent in the year to January – that's [...]
Barclays to install ex-boss of B&Q-owner Kingfisher Sir Ian Cheshire as chair of its UK operations February 26, 2017 Barclays is set to announce Sir Ian Cheshire as chair of its UK ringfenced operations tomorrow. Under the ringfencing rules, banks have until 2019 to split their retail units away from their investment divisions. Sky News, which first reported the news of Cheshire's impending appointment, revealed the Prudential Regulation Authority, the banking sector watchdog, has now [...]
Some Barclays customers are still locked out – but Barclays says it isn’t related to yesterday’s huge outage February 26, 2017 Barclays customers were still complaining about problems with Barclays' online banking service this morning, following a huge outage stranded many of its 15m customers without access to their money last night. However, a spokesperson for the lender said while there was an "ongoing issue with a minimal number of Android users", problems experienced this morning [...]
Almost 80 per cent of non-Labour voters say the party has the wrong leadership February 26, 2017 Almost 80 per cent of non-Labour voters do not believe the party has the right leader in Jeremy Corbyn, new polling figures show. Research published in the Sunday Mirror today shows an overwhelming 77 per cent of those who backed other parties in 2015 also dismissed Corbyn. A further 73 per cent said they do [...]
Philip Hammond enlists Mark Carney and Simon Kirby for first UK FinTech conference February 26, 2017 The government will host its first ever International FinTech conference as part of FinTech Week 2017, chancellor Philip Hammond announced today. City minister Simon Kirby and Bank of England governor Mark Carney will join the chancellor at the conference, which will feature panels and workshops as well as opportunities for UK FinTech firms to pitch [...]
Guess who’s coming to dinner? Nigel Farage joins Donald Trump for a meal after his Brexit speech February 26, 2017 Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage has been boasting of his close ties with US President Donald Trump again, posting a picture of the two sharing a meal last night. Farage was in the States to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, giving an address on the "global revolution" started by Brexit. After his speech, Farage sat down with The [...]
Five people have been taken to hospital after a car crashed into pedestrians in South East London February 26, 2017 Five people have been taken to hospital after a car crashed into a group of pedestrians in Bellingham, in South East London. The Metropolitan Police said officers were called at 8.20am today, after reports of a car collision with a wall and a number of pedestrians on Bromley Road. BELLINGHAM: Bromley Road is closed due [...]
Michael Heseltine vows to fight the government on Brexit February 26, 2017 Conservative peer Lord Heseltine has vowed to fight Theresa May's government over Brexit, coming out in favour of opposition amendments to the Article 50 Bill. The Bill, which gives the government the power to begin Brexit talks, is being debated in the Lords, with next week set aside for discussions of amendments. Writing in the Mail on [...]