Plan B Covid restrictions would cost UK economy up to £18bn, says leaked report October 26, 2021 The economy will take a hit of up to £18bn if Boris Johnson implements his Plan B Covid restrictions over winter, according to a leaked government report. The Cabinet Office estimates the restrictions – which would see the government tell people to work from home and implement mandatory face masks and vaccine passports – would [...]
All public sector workers to get pay rise after partial 2021 wage freeze October 25, 2021 Millions of public sector workers are set to get a pay rise in this week’s Budget as the UK faces increasing inflation growth. The Treasury tonight said the size of the wage increase will be determined next year after it has been given recommendations from pay review bodies. Rishi Sunak froze pay for all public [...]
SMEs fear high energy costs will act as a barrier to growth October 25, 2021 Seventy per cent of small and medium enterprises (SME) owners believe that high-energy costs will negatively affect the growth of their businesses, according to a new survey from Tyl by Natwest. The group questioned 500 UK SME business owners, and discovered that 65 per cent of SMEs are spending up to one fifth of their [...]
Brexit: Frost leaves door open for EU courts to have minor role in NI Protocol October 25, 2021 Lord David Frost has today left the door open for the EU’s courts to still have a minor role in the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol as negotiations over its implementation heat up again. The UK’s Brexit minister, who wants the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to lose its role as the main arbiter of the [...]
Central London office take-up hits highest level since 2019 October 25, 2021 Central London office take-up has reached its highest level since the end of 2019, according to real estate advisor CBRE. According to CBRE’s analysis of deals in central London, take up of office space has seen another increase for the third consecutive quarter. For the third quarter, some 2.7m sq ft was taken on, with [...]
Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle hits out at Sunak for revealing large parts of Budget in advance October 25, 2021 Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has lashed out at Rishi Sunak for releasing more than a dozen spending announcements in the lead-up to Wednesday’s Budget, saying that ministers would resign over similar briefings in years past. Referring to Hugh Dalton’s 1947 resignation after briefing the Budget hours before it took place, Hoyle said: “At one [...]
UK firms now having to pay £50,000+ ‘security bond’ to litigate in EU post-Brexit October 25, 2021 Following the end of the Brexit transition period UK businesses are now having to pay ‘security bonds’ of £50,000 or more to courts in the European Union in order to litigate there, legal experts told City A.M. today. These bonds could make it more difficult and costly for UK businesses to defend their intellectual property [...]
HSBC online banking hit by an outage, impacting business customers – CityAM : CityAM October 25, 2021 HSBC’s online banking has been down this morning, according to reports, which primarily impacted the bank’s business customers. Service complaints spiked at around 9:30am this morning, according to DownDetecter, with more than 60 per cent of the complaints regarding HSBC’s online banking. The issue had largely been resolved by around 11:30am, with reports of the [...]
Letters: Flexible work isn’t just about the perks October 25, 2021 I can’t help but think that the whole conversation around employees’ rights and mental health at work is missing the mark. This shouldn’t only be about perks. This is about balancing employers’ duty of care with employee accountability. As with physical health, employers have a responsibility to help their people to be mentally healthy, but [...]
Philip Morris accused of lobbying government amid £1bn Vectura takeover October 25, 2021 Concerns continue to mount that tobacco giant Philip Morris International will use its £1bn takeover of inhaler company Vectura to lobby in the public health sector. Fears that the move will legitimise the tobacco industry as an active player in the health sector have spiked after Philip Morris boss Jacek Olczak was accused of lobbying [...]