Early signs suggest there’s already been a fall in supply of EU nationals – contributing to UK skills and labour shortages February 13, 2017 Sectors employing a high number of EU nationals are starting to feel the pinch as uncertainty lingers over future prospects. According to the CIPD and Adecco’s Labour Market Outlook, while the short-term outlook for employment remains strong, skills and labour shortages are starting to become evident in sectors employing a raft of EU nationals. Despite [...]
Consumer spending growth at four month low after Christmas boom February 13, 2017 Consumer spending growth slowed to 0.4 per cent on the year in January, putting it at a five month low according to Visa’s UK Consumer Spending Index. Following the Christmas shopping jump of 2.5 per cent in December, January proved sluggish and saw the fastest decline of face-to-face spending in four years (-3.1 per cent). [...]
Rolls-Royce braced for record £4bn loss as it counts cost of the plummeting pound and bribery fine February 13, 2017 Rolls-Royce is braced to report a record annual loss tomorrow as the aero-engine firm absorbs the effect of its £671m settlement with regulators for past bribery and corruption. It is also battling a weaker pound. City analysts have forecast that Rolls-Royce, which makes engines for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliners, could report a pre-tax loss topping £4bn, after [...]
The Treasury needs to rebuild public trust February 13, 2017 Lord Kerslake popped up on Sunday morning to discuss the findings of his review into the current state of the Treasury. Kerslake, a former head of the civil service, was commissioned by shadow chancellor John McDonnell to assess the capabilities and remit of HMT and his findings look set to make interesting reading. Kerslake’s report is [...]
Blame France’s incompetent and corrupt elite for the rise of Marine Le Pen February 13, 2017 “Apres moi, le deluge.” (After me comes the flood) – Louis XV Say what you will, Francois Fillon, the disgraced former frontrunner in the upcoming French presidential elections, is no Professor Moriarty. As the investigative journal Canard Enchaine reports, Fillon paid his wife Penelope over €800,000 for work as a political assistant it is unclear whether [...]
Making housing more affordable is crucial if we’re to improve social mobility in London February 13, 2017 The City of London Corporation announced last week that it will sponsor the Social Mobility Employers’ Index, a new initiative from the Social Mobility Foundation and Social Mobility Commission which ranks Britain’s top businesses on how open they are to accessing talent from all backgrounds. We are backing the Index with £70,000 of funding as [...]
We should roll back the barriers to growth post-Brexit – not employment rights February 13, 2017 For years, some of the people I’ve encountered on the Westminster circuit have argued that one of the principal reasons for the UK to leave the EU is employment law. For this hardy bunch, and their tight circle of business supporters, rolling back employment legislation always seemed to be the answer to everything that ails Britain. [...]
With Britain on track to invoke Article 50 in March, is the EU unprepared for the implications of Brexit? February 13, 2017 Tim Worstall, senior fellow of the Adam Smith Institute, and author of Chasing Rainbows: Economic Myths, Environmental Facts, says Yes. There are minor implications of Brexit that Europe hasn’t really got to grips with yet. Given that the UK has long been a substantial net contributor, who is going to fill the hole in their [...]
Trivago’s boss on how the travel group finds the hotel that fits you perfectly February 13, 2017 While Trivago was meeting American investors ahead of its December listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange, chief executive Rolf Schroemgens realised many of the people he met had a very limited understanding of the company. Despite a boost to the hotel search engine’s profile in 2013 when American travel giant Expedia snapped up 63.5 per cent of the company [...]
January footfall fell at the steepest rate since the Brexit vote February 13, 2017 In January the number of shoppers in the UK fell at the steepest rate since the month of the EU referendum. Footfall fell 1.3 per cent year-on-year in January, according to data from Springboard and the British Retail Consortium. This was the sharpest drop-off in customer numbers since a 2.8 per cent drop in June [...]