Autumn Statement 2015: Treasury documents reveal new details about planned RBS, Lloyds, Northern Rock sales November 25, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne may not have mentioned returning British banks to private ownership in his statement to parliament this afternoon, but buried in the Treasury's official Spending Review and Autumn Statement documents are new details about plans for selling off the government's stake in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds. Noting that the government is "committed to [...]
PMQs today: Jeremy Corbyn skips asking about Syria, focuses on climate and women’s safety November 25, 2015 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn used his six questions at today's Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) to probe Prime Minister David Cameron on the government's policies surrounding climate change and violence against women, rather than ask about proposals for further military action against the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria ahead of an expected parliamentary vote on the issue [...]
HSBC says women will hold 50 per cent of senior jobs at new headquarters November 25, 2015 HSBC UK is upping the ante on its gender equality initiatives by announcing a new "50/50 recruitment target" to have half of senior management roles occupied by women. Britain's biggest lender revealed the new policy this morning, saying that while female employees account for 54 per cent of HSBC UK’s overall workforce, women are "significantly underrepresented at a senior [...]
SNP MP Natalie McGarry withdraws from her party’s whip amid campaign funding probe November 24, 2015 An SNP member of parliament has withdrawn from her party's SNP whip amid a police investigation over campaign funding. Natalie McGarry, the MP for Glasgow East, said this afternoon that her decision was taken "in the best interests of the party", but she maintained she had done "nothing wrong". McGarry is being investigated as part of a [...]
EU referendum: Leave.EU founder Arron Banks tells Vote Leave’s Matthew Elliott he wants a merger November 24, 2015 The millionaire founder of an anti-EU organisation has made a direct appeal to a rival campaign, saying that a merger would be in their best interests. The Leave.EU campaign said earlier today that its founder, Ukip donor Arron Banks, had sent a letter to Matthew Elliott, the campaign director of Vote Leave, another Eurosceptic group, [...]
Business committee chair Iain Wright MP accuses Uber of being a “seedy backstreet minicab firm” November 24, 2015 An influential MP has accused Uber of being a "seedy backstreet minicab firm". Iain Wright, a Labour MP who chairs the business, innovation and skills committee, made the comments during an evidence session at the House of Commons this morning. Wright took issue with a previous Uber promotion in France offering passengers the chance to book a minicab with a "hot [...]
Spending Review 2015: Government announces it’s spending another £10bn a year on NHS November 24, 2015 The government has announced today that it will spend an additional £10bn a year above inflation by the end of the decade on the NHS. The additional funding will help pay for 800,000 more operations and treatments, 2m more diagnostic tests and 5.5m more outpatient appointments, according to the Treasury. The extra cash is also expected [...]
Institute of Economic Affairs debunks fears over 24-hour drinking: Licensing Act did not result in catastrophe November 24, 2015 Relaxing liquor licensing laws has benefited consumers and caused little harm, the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) is arguing today. On the tenth anniversary of the Licensing Act and so-called 24-hour drinking, the free-market think tank has said that looser licensing laws “did not result in the catastrophic outcomes” predicted a decade ago. “The apocalypse [...]
London airport expansion: CBI president says UK can’t “pass the buck” to the next generation November 23, 2015 Britons can’t “pass the buck” to the next generation when it comes to building another runway, the president of Britain’s biggest business group has said. Speaking at the Airport Operators’ Association Conference earlier today, Confederation of British Industry (CBI) president Paul Drechsler said the “window of opportunity is closing fast” for more airport capacity. “Every [...]
Prime Minister David Cameron says he will make the case for UK military action in Syria November 23, 2015 Prime Minister David Cameron has confirmed that he will make the case for British air strikes in Syria. Speaking to MPs in the House of Commons this afternoon, Cameron said that he will make a separate statement on Thursday setting out how attacking the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Syria would help defeat the violent [...]
