Budget: The UK’s contactless payment limit lifted to £100 March 3, 2021 Rishi Sunak will today lift the limit on contactless payments to £100 in a bid to boost the UK’s ailing retail sector. The previous limit on contactless payments was £45, however the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) conducted recommended lifting the cap after a public consultation. “As we begin to open the UK economy and people [...]
Nicola Sturgeon faces calls to resign over Alex Salmond revelations March 3, 2021 Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is facing calls to resign amid claims she lied to Parliament over her involvement in the Alex Salmond saga. The Scottish government has published emails showing it continued a doomed legal fight with Salmond despite lawyers saying it was likely to lose. In a devastating blow before her appearance at [...]
Furlough scheme extended to September in Rishi Sunak’s Budget March 2, 2021 The UK’s furlough scheme will be extended until September in tomorrow’s Budget, ensuring the government will pay millions of people’s wages past when Covid restrictions are set to end. The chancellor said tonight that it was “only right” that the government continued to help businesses and pay workers’ wages as the UK looks to lift [...]
Tory mayor candidate under fire for saying people would blow Universal Basic Income on ‘lots of drugs’ March 2, 2021 The Conservative candidate for London mayor has come under fire for saying people would blow Universal Basic Income (UBI) on “lots of drugs”. Liberal Democrats and Greens on the London Assembly have pushed for a trial of the scheme, which would hand all citizens a set sum of money on a regular basis regardless of [...]
Brand Budget 2021: How Chancellor Rishi Sunak went loco for logos March 2, 2021 The hottest promotional video of this week came not from Netflix, but instead from a rather unexpected source: the Chancellor of the exchequer. Riding on a wave of pre-Budget excitement, Rishi Sunak this week dropped a slick five-minute film that would make any marketing team proud. But while the idea of branding a Budget is [...]
Budget 2021: What to expect from Rishi Sunak’s three-point plan tomorrow afternoon March 2, 2021 Rishi Sunak has hinted that he will extend a wide range of government support schemes in tomorrow’s Budget, as he again pledged to do “whatever it takes” to restore the British economy from the impact of the coronavirus crisis. It may be only Sunak’s second Budget as chancellor, but it comes after delivering almost a [...]
Budget 2021: Philip Hammond tells Boris Johnson to ditch big infrastructure projects March 2, 2021 Former chancellor Lord Philip Hammond has told Boris Johnson to ditch his plans for big infrastructure projects in the North, with the UK facing its largest ever Budget deficit. Hammond said today that a better way to enact Johnson’s “levelling up” agenda was for more devolution to regions, while also calling for tax rises and [...]
How many Covid-19 infections are there in your London borough? March 2, 2021 London has seen a sharp drop in the number of recorded coronavirus cases over the past few days, after figures released on Friday showed the capital currently has the lowest R rate in the country. A further 629 cases were recorded in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of positive tests in London [...]
Search for mystery Brazil Covid variant narrows to 379 households March 2, 2021 The hunt for a mystery person infected with a new, more transmissible Brazil variant of coronavirus has narrowed to 379 households, the health secretary has announced. In total six cases of the new strain, also known as the P1 variant or Manaus variant, have been identified across England and Scotland. One case has still yet [...]
New Attorney General named to cover Suella Baverman’s maternity leave March 2, 2021 Conservative MP Michael Ellis QC has been temporarily made Attorney General while Suella Braverman is on maternity leave. Braverman is due to be on maternity leave for six months, during which Ellis will take up the reins in her absence. Ellis, who was elected Conservative MP for Northampton North in May 2010, was officially made [...]