Guinness owner Diageo launches $100m fund to help pubs reopen June 24, 2020 Guinness owner Diageo has today announced a recovery fund to help pubs and bars reopen following the coronavirus lockdown. The drinks maker will provide $100m in funding through its “Raising the Bar” scheme to major hospitality centres, including London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Belfast. Hospitality has been one of the hardest-hit sectors as the pandemic forced [...]
Alex Cheatle: The trouble with staycations June 24, 2020 Alex Cheatle, founder and CEO of Ten Lifestyle Group, writes for City A.M. on why he thinks ‘staycations’ are for too many a risky business this summer Tempted to holiday in the UK this summer? There are two things you need to know about the ‘staycation’ to discover why much of the British travel industry [...]
FTSE 100 and Wall Street gain on signs of economic recovery June 23, 2020 The FTSE 100 closed up and Wall Street posted strong gains on Tuesday afternoon after new economic data signalled that business activity across the US, UK and the Eurozone was recovering faster than expected. Having risen steadily throughout the morning, the FTSE 100 pushed ahead in afternoon trading today as traders welcomed the most significant [...]
Pubs and restaurants express relief as their lockdown ends June 23, 2020 Hospitality bosses have reacted with cautious optimism after Boris Johnson gave the green light for restaurants and pubs reopening on 4 July. Industry reaction has been largely relieved this afternoon, albeit with warnings that many businesses will still need financial support from the government as they start trading again. The Prime Minister announced this afternoon [...]
New lockdown guidance gets widespread approval in Westminster June 23, 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement today that the two metre social distancing will be scrapped in favour of new “one metre-plus” guidance from 4 July was met with widespread approval from Westminster, as the public prepares to revitalise the British economy after months of lockdown. Business Ministers welcomed the new guidance as providing a lifeline [...]
Number 10 will no longer hold daily coronavirus briefings June 23, 2020 Downing Street will no longer hold daily press briefings, the government announced today, as England begins to emerge from months of lockdown ahead of a nationwide relaxation of social distancing rules. Number 10 said that this evening’s 5pm news conference will be the last to be held on a daily basis, as the rate of [...]
Competition watchdog moves closer to green light on Amazon and Deliveroo deal June 23, 2020 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is set to make the first step in giving the tie-up between Amazon and Deliveroo the green light. The announcement, which could be made this afternoon, would reissue a provisional approval of Amazon’s £442m deal to buy a 16 per cent stake in Deliveroo, Sky News reported. The watchdog [...]
Lockdown eased: Boris Johnson cuts two-metre rule to ‘one metre-plus’ June 23, 2020 The Prime Minister has announced that the two-metre social distancing rule will be relaxed from 4 July, when pubs, bars, cafes, art galleries, museums, hotels and cinemas are set to reopen after months of closure. Boris Johnson today said a dramatic fall in the rate of infection means “we can now safely ease the lockdown [...]
UK economy set to return to growth in third quarter after coronavirus chaos June 23, 2020 The UK economy’s coronavirus-induced downturn eased in June as key health indicators hit a four-month high, according to a closely-followed survey. The UK’s economic output hit a measure of 47.6 on IHS Markit’s flash purchasing managers’ index (PMI), a four-month high. Anything below 50 represents a contraction. But it was a stark improvement from May’s [...]
Tax system to the rescue: Six policy tweaks that could kickstart the economy June 23, 2020 The past three months have seen a deluge of economic, political, and legal moves that would have been unthinkable at the start of the year. As civil liberties were curtailed on a scale never seen in peacetime and ten million children were turned away from school, new hospitals were built in a matter of weeks, [...]