One dead and five construction workers in hospital while three remaing missing following incident at Didcot Power Station during demolition in Oxfordshire February 23, 2016 Emergency services are currently attending an incident at Didcot Power Station in Oxfordshire, which has left one dead while five construction workers are in hospital, and three are missing. Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service area manager Mat Carlile, who is on the scene, said: “I can confirm search operations are in progress and that there has been one fatality, [...]
Top European regulator Daniele Nouy warns low interest rates could push banks into riskier investments February 23, 2016 Subdued profitability caused by low interest rates could push banks toward riskier activities, a top European regulator has warned. “Low profitability is obviously a major concern for the stockholders of banks. And it is also a concern for supervisors. Over the long term, low profitability threatens the ability of banks to generate capital and access [...]
Council spending on CCTV equipment cut in half over space of three years, but campaign group warns that a surveillance spending storm could be on the way February 23, 2016 It may always feel like somebody's watching you and you have no privacy, but you're probably less likely to be caught on CCTV than you were a few years ago. According to a report released today by civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch, local authorities reduced the number of CCTV cameras they have by 12.5 per [...]
Property sales kicked off the year with a rise, HMRC property transaction figures show February 23, 2016 The number of properties sold at the start of 2016 across the UK was 7.7 per cent higher than in 2015, new figures reveal. Nearly 105,400 residential properties were sold in January and just over 9,600 non-residential, compared to 97,000 and 9,740 a year earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis. “Even as the housing market builds a head of [...]
Mark Carney tells MPs the Bank of England is not prepared to cut interest rates into negative territory…for now February 23, 2016 Bank of England governor Mark Carney has said the Bank does not yet consider negative interest rates to be an appropriate stimulus measure for the UK. He said the Bank would consider lowering rates below the current record low of 0.5 per cent if necessary, but they would be unlikely to go below zero. "One of the things [...]
Bank of England’s Minouche Shafik and Martin Weale expect interest rates to go up sooner than financial markets are expecting February 23, 2016 Interest rates are likely to go up sooner and faster than is currently implied by a gauge of financial market expectations, two Bank of England rate setters have said today. Monetary policy committee member Minouche Shafik said rates would increase faster than implied by the market yield curve. The market yield curve currently points to the first rate [...]
Government has poor grasp on fraud levels and the information it holds is incomplete, warns National Audit Office report February 23, 2016 Government lacks the right information to accurately detect and monitor levels of fraud, according to a report by the National Audit Office (NAO). The report, which was released today and focuses on fraud at central government expenditure level, warned that, with the exception of details on tax credit and benefit fraud, information collected by the [...]
Fears over German economic growth after sharp drop in business confidence February 23, 2016 German sentiment on the economy has taken a sharp tumble to its lowest value for over a year, data released this morning reveals. The IFO business climate index for German industry and trade dropped to a score of 105.7 in February from January's 107.3. It is the lowest score since December 2013. The index was dragged [...]
UK income inequality 2015: Here’s the average household income in the UK – take this test to find out how your wealth compares February 23, 2016 Feeling flush? Median household disposable income rose to £25,700 in the year to the end of 2015, up £1,500 from the year before, according to official figures released today – which also suggested the rich are getting poorer, while the poor are getting richer. Average income is now a hair above the at £25,400 people had just before the [...]
Over-40s are on a mortgage shopping spree – but age restrictions mean they’re struggling to borrow February 23, 2016 The over-40s are going berserk for mortgages – but banks and building societies are having trouble lending to them because of age restrictions, new research has found. The findings, by Nottingham Building Society, suggested two in five mortgage brokers have reported a rise in mortgage customers over the age of 40 – but 17 per cent [...]