London mayoral candidate fumes after being fined for touring Southwark January 25, 2021 London mayoral candidate Brian Rose was fined in Southwark on Sunday as he was out campaigning. Police spotted a legally parked bus in Southwark on Sunday morning, quickly descending on the team and issued £200 fines. Businessman Rose was recording a socially distanced video at the time and claims to have been fined despite showing [...]
HSBC exec ‘protected’ from alleged sex assault claim through Chinese Communist Party membership January 24, 2021 A parliamentary committee is investigating allegations that an HSBC executive was protected from sexual assault claims by being a member of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. The explosive claims are reportedly contained in a dossier that is being compiled for a Foreign Affairs Committee report into HSBC’s role in Beijing’s freedom of speech crackdown in [...]
Rishi Sunak to give Universal Credit claimants a one-off £1,000 payment January 24, 2021 Rishi Sunak is considering doubling a one-off payment to Universal Credit claimants to £1,000 to compensate for a planned cut in the current Covid welfare rate. The move would help quell a potential Tory rebellion over plans to remove the £20-a-week Universal Credit uplift introduced last year. Scrapping the uplift would cost claimants around £1,000 [...]
TfL needs government support for next two years to stay afloat, says boss January 24, 2021 Transport for London (TfL) will need government financial support for the next two years to stay solvent, according to body’s commissioner. Andy Byford said today that “without government support, and with the chaos that Covid and the decimation on our finances that Covid has wrought, we absolutely will be needing financial support in the short [...]
Alexei Navalny: Police arrest 1,500 amid protests over jailing of Putin critic January 23, 2021 More than 1,500 people have been arrested across Russia as protesters staged rallies in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. The Putin critic called on his supporters to protest after being arrested last weekend when he returned to Moscow for the first time since being poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent. Tens of thousands [...]
Two rail lines closed in 1960s to receive £800m investment boost January 23, 2021 Two railway lines closed to passengers more than 50 years ago will be brought back to life with almost £800m of funding from the government. East West Rail, which will eventually connect Oxford and Cambridge, has been granted £760m to reopen for the first time since 1968. Ministers have also pledged £34m to accelerate plans [...]
HSBC chiefs to face MPs’ questions over Hong Kong protesters’ frozen accounts January 22, 2021 Two HSBC executives are set to face questions from MPs next week over the bank’s stance on Hong Kong, amid mounting pressure to reverse a decision to freeze the accounts of pro-democracy activists in the region. HSBC faced backlash last summer after it issued a statement in favour of a new National Security Law in [...]
Airline, hotel and travel shares slump on summer holiday warnings and UK quarantine rumours January 22, 2021 Shares in airline, hotel and travel companies have sunk today, after UK Government ministers poured cold water on summer holidays being back to normal this year.
MPs urge Boris Johnson to appoint hospitality minister to help pubs and restaurants recover January 22, 2021 MPs have urged Boris Johnson to create a new minister for hospitality, as the sector continues to suffer during the coronavirus pandemic. In a letter to the Prime Minister, chair of the Petitions Committee Catherine McKinnell MP asked Johnson to engage with pub and restaurant bosses over concerns there is no long-term plan for the [...]
10.5m Brits could not last another month without income January 22, 2021 One in five of adults in the UK could not support their household for one month if they lost their source of income, a report revealed. After a third lockdown gripped the nation, 10.5m British adults have been found to have no financial buffer, digital financial coaching app Claro said today. With financial strain disproportionately [...]