The Liberal Democrats have been hit with the largest possible penalty over 2015 election spending December 7, 2016 The Liberal Democrats have been hit with a £20,000 fine by the UK's election watchdog. The fine is the maximum possible penalty the Electoral Commission can issue, with the watchdog claiming that more than 300 payments totaling £184,676 were excluded from party spending returns. The Lib Dems suffered from “systemic failures” during last year's General [...]
A man has been arrested for making racist threats against Gina Miller December 7, 2016 A 55-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of making threats against anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller, it has been reported. The Metropolitan Police said officers from its Falcon Unit arrested the man after detectives were made aware of threats made against a 51-year-old woman from 3 November. Read more: Gina Miller condemns "disgraceful" media coverage [...]
Lufthansa names telecoms boss to lead expansion of its Ryanair rival Eurowings December 7, 2016 German airline Lufthansa has plumped for a telecoms boss to drive expansion at its budget airline Eurowings. The board appointed Thorsten Dirks, chief executive of Telefonica Deutschland, to take over from Karl Ulrich Garnadt who's retiring from the board on 30 April next year. Dirks will take charge of Eurowings from 1 May. The airline [...]
Vauxhall tries to pour cold water on Corsa fire risk claims after concerns raised over heater systems December 7, 2016 Vauxhall has made an effort to reassure customers by refuting claims models of its Corsa have a potential fire risk. An investigation by The Sun claimed heater wiring in Corsa Ds and Es built since 2006 is susceptible to heat damage. The newspaper commissioned a report by forensic investigation firm GBB, after several Corsa owners reported their [...]
The EU competition watchdog just fined HSBC, Credit Agricole and JP Morgan Chase €485m over Euribor December 7, 2016 HSBC is one of three banks fined a total of €485m (£412.4m) over their participation in a Euribor rigging cartel, the European Commission's antitrust watchdog said today. HSBC will pay €33.6m over its month-long participation in the cartel, which rigged euro interest rate derivatives, while Credit Agricole will pay €114.7m and JP Morgan willl pay €337.2m, both [...]
Sterling falls sharply as UK production falls at its fastest rate in four years December 7, 2016 The pound has fallen sharply against the dollar as a big fall in manufacturing production contributed to the biggest fall in UK production for more than four years. The decrease surprised analysts and could deal a blow to the nation's GDP growth expectations. Reduced output in the UK’s oil and gas industries also contributed to [...]
The London luxury properties that have had their prices slashed by over 30 per cent December 7, 2016 London's high-end homes are in crisis. House prices in prime central London have been falling since 2014, when former chancellor George Osborne slapped higher rates of stamp duty on homes worth over £1m. This year, he introduced a further three per cent hike for people buying second homes. Read more: This is how far house prices have fallen [...]
An ONS blunder means the trade deficit is £6bn bigger than we realised December 7, 2016 A blunder by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) means the UK's trade deficit was £6bn bigger than we realised, it admitted last night. The so-called processing error by the ONS means the trade deficit was £17bn in the third quarter of the year, up from the £11bn it had originally mooted. Read more: The [...]
Credit Suisse shares rise as chief exec Tidjane Thiam cuts costs and lowers profit targets December 7, 2016 Credit Suisse shares have risen more than six per cent in early trading after it announced more than 1bn Swiss francs (£785.4m) in extra cost cuts. It is just over a year since chief executive Tidjane Thiam set out his restructuring strategy for the bank to focus on markets in Switzerland and Asia and ditch investment banking for wealth management, [...]
Revealed: The best places to work in the UK December 7, 2016 Businesses can breath a sigh of relief – the trend of trying to emulate Google's particular brand of work environment with bean bags, slides, hot desking and food freebies might just be over. The tech company has slipped out of the top 10 best places to work list for the first time, coming 13th in the annual ranking by [...]