Pubs beg for emergency support for ‘scapegoated’ sector November 25, 2020 Over fifty of the country’s pubs and brewers have written to Boris Johnson to beg for emergency support amid the “darkest of moments” for the sector. They warned that unless the government changed its guidance, or provided extra funding, “the focal point of countless communities in every region of the UK could be lost forever”. [...]
Snakes and Ladders: Who is moving jobs in the City this week? November 25, 2020 Snakes and Ladders provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every Wednesday afternoon. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. Firms are continuing to adapt to the challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic as they vie to be in prime position to recover from the economic fallout of the crisis. This week, [...]
Fulham residents hit with matchday parking fees – even with no fans at Craven Cottage November 25, 2020 Tory MP Greg Hands has hit out at Fulham and Hammersmith Council for implementing matchday parking restrictions around Fulham FC’s Craven Cottage, despite there being no fans at games. The council is charging people £2.50 an hour to park in some areas around the Premier League club’s ground, with £80 fines given to cars parked [...]
RMT joins calls for emergency Eurostar funding as passenger numbers collapse November 25, 2020 Rail union the RMT has called on the government to provide emergency funding for the Eurostar, saying that a failure to do so threatens the future of the rail link. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic,the Eurostar is currently battling a 95 per cent decline in passenger numbers. If the service were to fail [...]
Crossrail funding remains up in the air despite government commitment November 25, 2020 Questions remain over the immediate future of the Crossrail link despite the government committing to the £19bn project’s completion in today’s National Infrastructure Strategy (NIS). “The government is continuing to address capacity issues in the capital, by financing the completion of Crossrail”, the paper read. But negotiations over the funding package for the rail link [...]
IFS says Sunak likely to end up spending more than planned November 25, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak is likely to end up spending more than he said he plans to in his spending review today amid “lasting damage” to the economy, the leading Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank and other experts have said. Sunak today said he would ramp up public spending to tackle coronavirus next year [...]
B&Q owner Kingfisher acquires trade services platform to roll out to UK stores November 25, 2020 B&Q owner Kingfisher has acquired home improvement services firm Needhelp for €10m, with plans to roll the platform out in the UK. The company said today that it has taken an 80 per cent stake in the company as it seeks to ramp up its mobile and digital services. Needhelp founder Guillaume de Kergariou will [...]
Editorial: No-deal Brexit and London lockdown would compound economic catastrophe November 25, 2020 It is hard to shake the suspicion that Rishi Sunak’s spending review is a political response to an economic catastrophe. Cutting foreign aid because of these exceptional circumstances makes sense. Time to tighten the belts, as they say. But then taking the saving and putting it into a pork barrel levelling-up fund? Those are political [...]
Think short-term for lockdown but not for investing November 25, 2020 The UK’s second lockdown means everyone’s winter plans have been torn up and thrown away. Even seemingly modest weekend activities – going to a museum, meeting a friend for lunch – are now off the table. As many of us learnt during the first lockdown, the trick is to focus on what is possible in [...]
Government backtracks on full-fibre broadband rollout pledge November 25, 2020 The government has backtracked on its pledge to bring full-fibre broadband to the whole of the UK by 2025. The promise to reach all premises across the country with gigabit-capable speeds was a key part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s manifesto at the last election. But in its national infrastructure strategy published today, the government [...]