Brexit Day: Sadiq Khan ‘effectively banned’ from flying EU flag at City Hall June 23, 2023 London Mayor Sadiq Khan has been been “effectively banned” from flying the EU flag at City Hall on the seventh anniversary of the Brexit referendum. The European Union flag, which features 12 gold stars on a blue background, was removed from a list of exemptions which do not require planning permission before being flown. A [...]
Hunt and big banks vow to ease mortgage pain with repossessions grace period June 23, 2023 Mortgage holders will get a 12-month grace period before banks begin repossessions on their homes, Jeremy Hunt has announced, after a crunch meeting with lenders at No11. The Chancellor said ministers were “particularly worried” about people falling behind on payments or having to switch deals at the end of a fixed rate mortgage. He announced [...]
NatWest, Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays and Santander leaders meet Jeremy Hunt in ‘productive’ mortgage crisis talks June 23, 2023 Bank bosses held a “productive” meeting with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt as the rates increase worsens the mortgage crisis. Natwest chief executive Alison Rose, speaking to reporters as she left Downing Street, said lenders were “doing everything we can” and were “very keen” to help customers. Lloyds Banking Group boss Charlie Nunn described the meeting as [...]
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to meet lenders as mortgage crisis worsens June 23, 2023 Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will ask banks if they can do more to support struggling households after a shock interest rate hike deepened the mortgage crisis. He is meeting large lenders including HSBC and Santander in Downing Street this morning as the government comes under pressure to relieve the pain. Prime minister Rishi Sunak and Hunt [...]
Not ‘sufficient thought’ into stopping Covid-19, Chris Whitty tells inquiry June 22, 2023 Government “did not give sufficient thought” into stopping the pandemic in its tracks, Sir Chris Whitty has told the official Covid-19 inquiry. The chief medical officer for England has said options to stop a disease outbreak on the scale of coronavirus were not considered fully enough by ministers ahead of the crisis. Giving evidence today, [...]
Sadiq Khan says Shaun Bailey should lose peerage over ‘Jingle & Mingle’ video June 22, 2023 Sadiq Khan has said his former mayoral rival Shaun Bailey should not receive his peerage after a video of staff dancing and drinking at a Christmas party during Covid-19 emerged. The mayor of London described the footage of staff, who joked about bending the rules in the video filmed at CCHQ on 14 December 2020 [...]
Musk vs Zuck: Twitter and Facebook bosses agree to a… cage fight June 22, 2023 Twitter CEO Elon Musk and Facebook owner Meta’s boss Mark Zuckerberg appear to have agreed to a cage fight. The social media billionaires will scrap it out after Musk, who also owns Tesla, said he was “up for a cage fight” with his tech giant rival. Zuckerberg posted a story on Instagram this morning, showing [...]
Labour’s plan to force banks to help on mortgages branded ‘risky’ and ‘counterproductive’ June 22, 2023 Labour’s plans to force banks to help struggling borrowers with their mortgages have been slammed as “risky” and “counterproductive”. The party says lenders should be compelled to help mortgage holders struggling with payments in a bid to avert a looming mortgage crisis as interest rates are expected to keep rising to bring inflation down. Shadow [...]
Covid-19 inquiry: Flu-based pandemic prep meant herd immunity was seen as ‘inevitable’, says Hunt June 21, 2023 Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said the focus on any future pandemic being flu-based meant there was a “shared assumption herd immunity was inevitably” going to be the strategy used to contain a new virus. He admitted being part of “groupthink” when he was health secretary, leading to a “narrowness of thinking” that failed to expand [...]
Rishi Sunak: City of London will be ‘engine room’ of UK investment in rebuilding Ukraine June 21, 2023 Ukraine is set to receive £3bn in World Bank loan guarantees as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed the UK would continue to support the nation for “as long as it takes” in the fight against Russia. Sunak will also announce a major financial support package for the eastern European country as it mounts its long-awaited [...]