200,000 per hour were trying to register to vote in the EU referendum last night when online services crashed June 8, 2016 More than 200,000 people per hour were trying to register to vote in the build up to the collapse of online systems last night. Cabinet Office minister Matt Hancock told the House of Commons today that the peak usage of the gov.uk site was three times the previous peak witnessed, of 74,000 per hour, just [...]
Ex-BHS boss Dominic Chappell threatened to kill chief exec Darren Topp, MPs hear at select committee hearing June 8, 2016 Dominic Chappell, the most recent owner of soon-to-be-wound-up BHS, threatened to kill the company's former chief executive, MPs in the business, innovation and skills and work and pensions committees heard this morning. During a session looking into the collapse of BHS, the retailer's ex-boss Darren Topp told the committees that Chappell had moved £1.5m out of BHS and into a company called BHS Sweden. [...]
PMQs today: Prime Minister David Cameron under pressure on zero-hour contracts and comments by pro-Leave ministers June 8, 2016 Prime Minister David Cameron came under fire from opposition in PMQs today on zero-hour contracts in the aftermath of the revealed exploitation at Sports Direct. "Will the Prime Minister do what some other European countries have done and ban exploitative zero-hour contacts here?," Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn asked. David Cameron acknowledged that the practice of Sports [...]
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan says first savings found to fund his fares freeze, but some tickets will be excluded June 8, 2016 A major efficiency savings programme to enable fares on Transport for London services to be frozen until 2020 has been announced by the Mayor of London, but not all travel costs are set to be included. Sadiq Khan and London’s transport commissioner, Mike Brown, announced the plans which will allow the freeze to come into force without hitting [...]
Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin hints that diesel taxes could rise to cut air pollution June 8, 2016 Diesel car owners could face a tax hike in order to tackle the rising problem of air pollution, the transport secretary has indicated. Patrick McLoughlin said that it had been a mistake for former Labour chancellor – and Prime Minister – Gordon Brown to cut taxes on diesel. In an interview with the Evening Standard, McLoughlin said: "We [...]
Recently listed CMC Markets lures in the traders to boost its profits; as chief executive Cruddas waves away Brexit “scare mongering” June 8, 2016 Recently listed CMC Markets proved it was quite a catch for traders in its results for its year ended in March, with trading activity significantly increasing. The figures The derivatives dealer revealed that its profit before tax had grown to £53.4m, up 23 per cent on the prior year's £43.5m. Meanwhile, net operating profit increased [...]
EU referendum: Euroscepticism in Europe is on the rise, according to Pew Research Centre June 8, 2016 Euroscepticism across Europe is on the rise, according to new research released ahead of the UK's referendum. While data from the Pew Research Centre finds that a median of 51 per cent across 10 EU countries surveyed have a favourable view of the 28-member bloc, the overall trend of euroscepticism is on the rise. "In [...]
EU referendum: Jeremy Corbyn leads calls for voter registration deadline to be extended after website crashes June 8, 2016 — UPDATE 11.42AM: The Electoral Commission has now called for the voter registration deadline to be extended Jeremy Corbyn and a host of MPs have called for the deadline to register to vote in the EU referendum to be extended after surging demand caused the government's official website to crash last night. A total of 515,000 people logged on [...]
Hillary Clinton declares victory in Democratic nomination contest June 8, 2016 Hillary Clinton has declared victory in the Democrat Party's race to become nominee for US president after securing enough delegates to secure the nomination – but rival Bernie Sanders says he will continue with his campaign. The former First Lady was yesterday reported to have won the support of enough delegates to take the nomiation. [...]
After grilling Mike Ashley about Sports Direct working practices, is it fair for MPs to demand business leaders account for themselves before Parliament? June 8, 2016 Ioannis Ioannou, associate professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at London Business School, says Yes. Yes, it is fair. To the extent that Parliament acts in good will to protect the long-term interests of society at large (as opposed to serving short-term political objectives), demanding transparency and accountability from companies that have a material impact on societal [...]