UK worker shortage: Home Office to announce five-year work visas for ‘skilled’ refugees July 18, 2021 Priti Patel is set to announce a new five-year visa for refugees fleeing war, reserved for those who can show proof they have the skills to fill jobs in the UK that are suffering a shortage of workers. The home secretary will next week reveal a new displaced talent mobility scheme, offering refuge to highly [...]
Nigel Farage will host own prime time show on GB News July 17, 2021 The Reform UK party leader has announced he will host a weekday evening show called “Farage” on GB News starting on 19 July, and said he “will not be taking the knee” on the show. “Watch my new Prime Time evening show on GB News from next week. Tune into “Farage” Mon – Thurs at [...]
Health Secretary Sajid Javid tests positive for Covid-19 July 17, 2021 The new health secretary Sajid Javid has announced he’s tested positive for coronavirus and has “mild symptoms”. “This morning I tested positive for Covid,” Javid wrote in a tweet. “I’m waiting for my PCR result, but thankfully I have had my jabs and symptoms are mild. “Please make sure you come forward for your vaccine [...]
Government launches summer jobs site to stave off UK labour shortages July 16, 2021 The government has launched a summer jobs site in a bid to stave off labour shortages that have hit UK businesses across most sectors. The collision of the pandemic and Brexit has driven workforce shortages across construction, retail, hospitality and transport. The lorry driver shortage has also pushed production delays across other sectors, as supermarkets [...]
US citizen arrest stokes Biden’s fresh Hong Kong business caution July 16, 2021 A US citizen has been arrested in Hong Kong, according to local reports, just hours after the US issued a fresh advisory warning for US businesses in the region. The US citizen, whose identity has not yet been confirmed by Southern China media, has been detained under Beijing’s controversial national security law. The national security [...]
Day three: Belarusian police raid homes of journalists and rights activists July 16, 2021 Police in Belarus have raided the offices and homes of journalists and human rights activists for a third consecutive day today. The so-far three-day search came as the UK’s ambassador to the United Nations and World Health Organisation in Geneva, Simon Manley, said the UK was still “deeply concerned by the human rights situation in [...]
Small shops face £1.7bn debt, says report by ex-boss of Iceland July 16, 2021 Small shops are struggling under £1.7bn debt, the former retail chief of Iceland, has warned. Independent businesses’ borrowing increased fourfold during the pandemic, according to the report. While the money borrowed has allowed small shops to survive, the task of paying back the loans still looms over them, said Bill Grimsey, the author of the [...]
Government unveils new ‘hospitality strategy’ to boost sector post-Covid July 16, 2021 The UK’s hospitality businesses are set to receive increased support through the government’s vocational training programmes in a bid to boost the sector post-Covid. The new “hospitality strategy” will also see the government work with the British Business Bank and other lenders to “support access to finance for hospitality firms so they can invest in [...]
Londoners may be set for bumper 5 per cent TfL fares hike in 2022 July 15, 2021 Londoners could face a 5+ per cent hike in Tube fares next year as Transport for London (TfL) is forced to adjust its prices to ballooning inflation. Under the terms of TfL’s most recent government bailout, the transport body has to increase its prices each year by 1 per cent more than the retail price [...]
City lawyer takes government to High Court over Northern Ireland Protocol July 15, 2021 Four businesses will submit evidence against the government to England’s High Court in the coming weeks in a bid to prove the Northern Ireland Protocol infringes on the European Convention of Human Rights. Clive Thorne, partner at City of London firm McCarthy Denning, is representing the four Northern Irish businesses and says he is trying [...]