Watchdog summons Corbyn and McConnell to meeting over misuse of statistics November 4, 2018 The staff of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell have been summoned to a meeting by the UK’s statistics watchdog over the misuse of stats. Statistics Authority chairman David Norgrove has previously written to the Labour Party over a “lack of published information on sources, assumptions and methods to support statements”. In February [...]
HMRC to sue General Electric for £770m over tax relief claims November 4, 2018 American industrials giant General Electric is being sued by HM Revenue & Customs over allegations it wrongly claimed tax relief amounting to $1bn (£770m). HMRC has accused GE of wrongly claiming tax deductions from 2004 to 2015. The tax man has informed GE that it intends to disallow interest deductions to its financial services arm, GE Capital. Interest deductions reduce the [...]
Former Cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood dies of cancer aged 56 November 4, 2018 Former Cabinet secretary and head of the civil service Sir Jeremy Heywood has died of cancer, aged 56. Heywood, who served in Downing Street under Labour Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and Tory leaders David Cameron and Theresa May, retired from the civil service on 24 October to focus on his cancer treatment. Downing Street confirmed [...]
Tesla hit with SEC subpoena over Model 3 production targets November 2, 2018 Tesla has received a subpoena from US regulators over company production estimates, the firm revealed today. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is looking into claims that the electric carmarker has made over production of its Model 3 sedans last year. Department of Justice prosecutors have also asked for the company to provide [...]
Bank of England: A British scientist will feature on the next £50 note November 2, 2018 The Bank of England told the public to “think science” when nominating new faces for the £50 note this morning. Figures such as Stephen Hawking and Dorothy Hodgkin are among the early frontrunners in the race to be on the new plastic note, which comes as part of a six-week process where the public can [...]
Markets rally as Trump claims US and China are discussing possible trade agreement November 2, 2018 Markets moved upwards this morning on hopes the US’s trade war with China might be easing. The Stoxx Europe 600 – which tracks Europe’s biggest firms including the FTSE 100 – rose by one per cent while Asian stocks rallied. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index grew by over four per cent and China's Shanghai Composite [...]
Editor’s Notes: Business chiefs can do great things in politics, but what about the pay cut? November 2, 2018 Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has raised the prospect of senior business figures giving up the boardroom and joining the Foreign Office in the service of their country. When I asked a former senior diplomat, with an alphabet of letters after his name, what he made of this proposal he slapped his hands on his head [...]
Mark Kleinman: Financial Reporting Council must offer clarity on Haddrill’s future November 2, 2018 The 900 UK partners at PwC were unable to deduce much from a voicemail left for them this week by their boss, Kevin Ellis, about its plans for the future of the UK audit market. His message was “very top-level”, according to one person who heard it: the details of its blueprint, submitted to the [...]
Trump ramps up the pressure on Venezuela with fresh sanctions November 1, 2018 US President Donald Trump today turned up the heat on Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, signing an executive order to place new sanctions that will affect the country’s gold exports. The order bans anyone in the US from engaging with people or businesses involved in “corrupt or deceptive” Venezuelan gold sales, which Trump believes had been used [...]
Barclays appoints former Rothschild veteran Nigel Higgins as next chairman November 1, 2018 Barclays has confirmed that Rothschild deputy chairman Nigel Higgins has been lined up as the replacement to current group chairman John McFarlane, following a six month search process. The switch-over, which was revealed by Sky News earlier this evening, is scheduled to take place after the bank's annual general meeting in May 2019. However Higgins [...]