Covid-19, a year on: the need for a more diverse UK economy March 26, 2021 In this series, City A.M. looks back at the last year of the pandemic and Covid restrictions and takes stock of its impact on industries and issues at the heart of British society. Read more: Read the full Covid-19, a year on series here. The UK’s economy was hit by a 10 per cent drop in GDP [...]
Rishi Sunak: Workers will quit if they can’t return to offices, chancellor warns March 26, 2021 Employers may face an exodus of staff if they implement a permanent remote-working strategy after lockdown, the chancellor warned. Rishi Sunak said workers should be allowed to return to offices or they may “vote with their feet” and leave the firm for an employer that encourages face-to-face working. He said offices allow meetings to “happen [...]
200,000 more people furloughed last month as 4.7m are still on the scheme March 25, 2021 Another 200,000 people were put on furlough for the first time last month as the government paid out nearly £4bn to cover wages. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said it had paid £57.7bn in furlough cash to around 11.4m people since the pandemic began. Around 4.7m people were still on furlough by the end of [...]
Big Tech hearing: Facebook, Google and Twitter face Congress grilling March 25, 2021 The chief executives of Facebook, Google and Twitter will be hauled in front of Congress again this afternoon to face questions about misinformation and extremism on their platforms. Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai and Jack Dorsey will appear before a virtual joint hearing of two subcommittees of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. It follows a [...]
Coke UK CEO: Our sugar-free variants are thriving – but the full-fat Coca-Cola is safe March 24, 2021 Earlier this month, thanks to the strange vagaries of the internet, a years-old video emerged of the now-Chancellor Rishi Sunak expressing an opinion that – at the highest levels of a Government hell-bent on public health warnings – now seems almost scandalous. “I’m a total Coke addict,” he tells two schoolchildren. “A Coca-Cola addict.” The [...]
Exclusive: Small business owners on what is happening in the real economy March 24, 2021 The City was hit with some sobering figures earlier this month, as official data showed UK GDP shrank by a staggering 9.9 per cent in 2020, the largest drop on record. The figures were less bad than expected, which led PwC to conclude that British businesses are becoming more adaptable to lockdowns from an economic [...]
House of Lords committee calls for UK-EU financial services agreement March 24, 2021 A House of Lords committee has called for the UK to negotiate better EU access for the financial services industry post-Brexit. The Lords’ EU Services Sub-Committee said today that there will be “real problems” for financial services professionals “whose qualifications are not recognised in the EU under current arrangements”. The City lost its pre-Brexit access [...]
Government launches search for new UKGI chair March 23, 2021 The Treasury has launched a search to replace the outgoing chair of UK Government Investments (UKGI), the Whitehall agency responsible for taxpayer investments. Headhunting firm Odgers Berndtson has kicked off a search to find Robert Swannell’s successor, Sky News reported, with the current UKGI head set to step down after seven years at the helm. [...]
Rishi Sunak cuts red tape on inheritance tax for Treasury’s ‘tax day’ March 23, 2021 Rishi Sunak will cut red tape involved with UK inheritance tax and tighten tax rules for second property owners as the Treasury today released a series of consultations and reports in what Whitehall is calling “tax day”. The measures will see the government reduce paperwork and other red tape required for people with smaller estates [...]
Global online tax on tech giants ‘in our grasp’, says Rishi Sunak March 23, 2021 Rishi Sunak has today said a global online tax on internet giants like Amazon and Facebook is “in our grasp”. Sunak said he was “very keen to see a resolution” on the issue, with the chancellor making it one of his top three priorities in G7 meetings this year that are hosted by the UK. [...]