FTSE 100 and US stocks plunge amid coronavirus lockdown fears September 21, 2020 A horrible start to the week saw the FTSE 100 suffer its worst day since June as worries over rising coronavirus cases combined with a financial scandal to cause chaos in the City. London’s blue-chip index plunged 3.5 per cent to 5,800 points just before the close, having started the day above 6,000. The FTSE [...]
UK-US travel slump set to cost British economy £11bn September 21, 2020 The government is facing mounting pressure to roll out large scale coronavirus testing at airports after new research showed reduced travel between the UK and US could cost the British economy upwards of £11bn this year. A new report commissioned by Heathrow Airport, Airlines UK, British Airways owner International Airlines Group (IAG) and aviation services [...]
Tory mayoral candidate calls for TfL to sell Tube station naming rights September 20, 2020 London’s Tube stations could be renamed through lucrative advertising deals if Tory mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey gets elected. Bailey’s proposal, which he says could bring in £100m a year, follows in the footsteps of the Dubai Metro which has allowed companies to bid for naming rights of underground stations. The mayoral candidate told the Sunday [...]
Coronavirus: Johnson faces calls for urgent action and COBRA meeting as cases rise September 19, 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson has come under pressure to take “decisive action” in the battle against coronavirus as cases rise. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has demanded a COBRA meeting within the next 48 hours and echoed the sentiments of London mayor Sadiq Khan regarding the need to learn from March’s mistakes and implement restrictions [...]
Quarantine quagmire – when will UK plc be open for business? September 18, 2020 If ever the term “too many cooks” needed a case study, then you’d need look no further than the government’s quarantine policy for those arriving in the UK. There are no fewer than four government departments which have a say in the policy – the Department for Transport, the Foreign Office, the Home Office and [...]
West End footfall bounces back faster than London’s business districts September 17, 2020 Visitor numbers in the West End are recovering faster than London’s business districts, the latest footfall data showed. Parts of the West End have reached more than 50 per cent of pre-Covid movements despite the continued closure of the area’s theatres, boosted by the prevalence of pubs, shops and restaurants. However footfall in the Holborn [...]
Chris Grayling sets sail again with new £100,000 ports advisory role September 17, 2020 Former transport secretary Chris Grayling’s latest endeavour has been revealed – an £100,000 per year role to advise a global port company. The Tory MP will be paid for seven hours of work a week for a year by China-headquartered Hutchison Ports, the MPs’ register of financial interests said. The company operates Harwich, Felixstowe and [...]
Covid-19 is not slowing climate change – businesses still have to do their bit September 17, 2020 Much has been made of the so-called global reset brought about by the pandemic, and many have subscribed to the Instagram-ready notion that the earth is healing due to lockdowns. This is despite the effect of Covid-19 on the environment being either negligible or harmful. For policy makers, the immediate and tangible threat to life [...]
Break international law ‘at our peril’, says City of London policy chief September 16, 2020 The City of London’s policy chair has warned the government that it must assure investors that the UK will not break international law over the current Brexit negotiations. Catherine McGuinness said that the alarm around the Internal Market Bill could prove problematic for future investment. Speaking to the PA news agency, she said that Northern [...]
Silvertown Tunnel to cost £2bn over next 30 years September 16, 2020 A controversial tunnel which will connect Greenwich with London’s Docklands will cost Transport for London (TfL) almost £2bn over the next three decades. Although the actual construction of the Silvertown Tunnel remains at £1bn, figures from the capital’s transport operator show that the overall cost for building, maintaining and operating the tunnel will be £65m [...]