Ofgem urged to extend prepayment price cap due to smart meter delays June 7, 2019 The competition watchdog has urged Ofgem to extend protection for prepayment consumers beyond the end of 2020 due to the delayed roll-out of smart meters. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) implemented a temporary prepayment price cap in 2017 in a bid to reduce customers’ bills by around £300m a year. Read more: Ofgem won’t [...]
Sam Gyimah pledges tax cuts in bid to win Tory leadership race June 7, 2019 Conservative leadership hopeful Sam Gyimah has vowed to slash taxes in a bid to outflank his rivals as the true Thatcherite candidate in the race to succeed Theresa May. Read more: Tory leadership race candidates told to stay until ‘bitter end’ The former universities minister told City A.M. he wanted to reform five taxes in [...]
FCA to overhaul banks’ ‘dysfunctional’ overdraft fees June 7, 2019 The financial regulator will set out to stop banks from charging higher fees for unarranged overdrafts, it confirmed today. Read more: Consumers could save ‘£100m a year’ from overdraft shake-up The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) laid out planned reforms to the “dysfunctional” overdraft market in a bid to make such arrangements simpler, fairer and easier [...]
Chaos hits commuters with severe Tube delays June 7, 2019 Commuters faced a dire journey into work this morning after signalling problems left three Tube lines suffering severe delays. Read more: These are the Tube’s most stressful stations The Circle Line and Hammersmith & City Line had severe delays along their entire lines this morning after the problem. Meanwhile the District Line had severe delays [...]
Trump forfeited the respect that the presidency deserves June 7, 2019 Show respect for the office, if not for the man. This was the finger-wagging admonishment heard across the UK this week, as the President of the United States graced our tiny island with his presence, and was greeted by crowds of protesters. President Trump, these protesters were sternly reminded, is the leader of the free [...]
Luxembourg regulator to probe British post-Brexit fintech firms June 7, 2019 The financial regulator in Luxembourg has turned up the heat on UK fintech and payment services firms, launching on-site inspections of companies that have chosen the European country as a post-Brexit base. The Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) has begun conducting site visits to British fintech startups in Luxembourg, a process that previously [...]
Fashion app Depop grabs $62m from Airbnb and Uber investor June 7, 2019 British fashion marketplace app Depop has today closed a series C funding round at $62m (£48.8m), led by US venture capital stalwart General Atlantic. Existing investors HZ Holtzbrinck Ventures, Balderton Capital, Creandum, Octopus Ventures and Tempocap also participated in the round, alongside Klarna founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski. Depop said it will use the funding to expand [...]
Labour market confidence hit by Brexit gloom in May June 7, 2019 The number of people placed into permanent job roles fell for the fourth time in the past five months in May and at a quicker pace than in April. Subdued confidence hit both the demand and supply of labour, with vacancy growth staying close to a multi-year low and staff availability declining further, according to [...]
Holland 3-1 England: Gareth Southgate’s side freeze in the face of the orange press to surrender semi-final June 6, 2019 The Estadio D Afonso Henriques was tonight etched into England’s football history alongside the Luzhniki Stadium as another nearly moment for the Gareth Southgate regime. Twice in the last year England have shown promise, brought excitement and progressed to a semi-final. Twice they have stumbled at the penultimate hurdle, with expectation ultimately giving way to [...]
Wren Kitchens to create 1,200 new jobs June 6, 2019 Wren Kitchens plans to create 1,200 new jobs as it seeks to expand its manufacturing workforce. The company is seeking approval to build a new £120m manufacturing facility in the Humber. The new factory, which will be the company’s fourth in the region, is set to be built on a 180-acre site behind company’s headquarters [...]