M&A quarterly transactions down as investors nervy amid war in Ukraine June 7, 2022 The number of merger and acquisition transactions in the UK has plunged in the first quarter of the year, versus the end of last year. According to fresh figures published by the Office for National Statistics, there were some 370 completed M&A deals in the first quarter of the year. This was a significant drop [...]
Sunak says £15bn cost of living package will only add to inflation ‘minimally’ June 6, 2022 Rishi Sunak has moved to assure people that the £15bn cost of living package he recently announced will only “minimally” add to the UK’s inflationary pressures. The chancellor today told Westminster’s Treasury Select Committee that he had been careful “to make sure fiscal policy was responsible in that context”. The chancellor last month performed a [...]
Monkeypox spreading like wildfire: 77 cases confirmed during Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend taking total to 302 June 6, 2022 The Monkeypox outbreak is spreading like wildfire with almost 80 new cases detected over the Platinum Jubilee weekend break, bringing the total number to more than 300. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) announced the spike in cases between 2 and 5 June, with the vast majority in England (73). The infection, which now has [...]
London Metal Exchange sued by US fund manager over nickel freeze June 6, 2022 The London Metal Exchange (LME) is being sued for a sum worth £365m by a Wall Street hedge fund after the cancellation of nickel trading earlier this year. Fund manager Elliott Associates has filed a claim in the English High Court against the platform and its subsidiary LME Clear. The trading platform suspended nickel trading [...]
No confidence vote happening TODAY: Make-or-break Monday for Boris Johnson as PM faces Tory leadership test at 6pm June 6, 2022 More than 30 Tory MPs have publicly urged the Prime Minister to resign amid the fallout from revelations about Downing Street parties held during lockdown. As a result, a confidence vote in the Prime Minister will he held between 6pm and 8pm today as allies of Boris Johnson appeared braced for a test of his [...]
Explainer-in-brief: The cost of another bank holiday June 6, 2022 So you’ve woken up at the end of another long bank holiday, and thought right, when’s the next one? There have been several campaigns for new bank holidays – even a permanent one in honour of the Queen, or one to mark the sacrifices made during the pandemic – a Thank Holiday, as some charities called [...]
Ministers mull changes to Universal Credit job coach meetings requirement amid labour crunch June 4, 2022 Benefits claimants will be forced to work longer hours to be able to miss meetings with job coaches, under new plans. As reported by The Times, ministers are drawing up plans to extend the amount of time people must spend working each week from nine hours to twelve, to avoid check-ins. The government is eyeing [...]
Platinum Jubilee Reads: the best in our opinion pages on politics and the economy June 4, 2022 May was a weird month for Bitcoin – it included a price dip of 15 per cent weeks ago. Yet the cryptocurrency is not going away any time soon, and as Christian Keroles wrote at the beginning of the month, the UK should find a coherent approach to deal with it. The Chancellor could take [...]
Ex rate-setter urges BoE to raise interest by 3 per cent to stop inflation June 2, 2022 The Bank of England (BoE) needs to raise its interest rates by 3 per cent if it wants to stop inflation, according to former UK rate-setter Andrew Sentance. Previously an external member of the BoE’s monetary policy committee, Sentance argued that interest rates need to be increased fast to contain inflationary pressures, which last month [...]
Jubilee 2022: what’s changed for savers since 1952? June 1, 2022 It’s 70 years since Queen Elizabeth II took the throne. How have some of our key financial metrics – from longevity to inflation, interest rates to investment returns – moved over the decades? The seven-decade reign of Queen Elizabeth II has seen transformations in many aspects of our lives. That includes sweeping changes to the [...]