Reality bites October 20, 2010 Axe falls as Britain gears up for biggest cuts since 1976 Chancellor slashes welfare bill by £18bn to shield departments Middle class child benefit cut will affect 300,000 more families Businesses furious at plans for new £1bn carbon stealth tax Police and prisons hit hard but hospitals and schools protected Rail fares to soar by [...]
At a glance: George Osborne’s first comprehensive spending review October 20, 2010 SPENDING FIGURES This fiscal year current expenditure will be £637.3bn. In 2011-12, current spending will be £651.1bn, followed by £664.5bn in 2012-13, £678.6bn in 2013-14 and then £692.7bn in 2014-15. The government will pay £43.3bn of gross government debt interest this fiscal year followed by £46.5bn in 2011-12, £52.4bn in 2012-13, £57.8bn in 2013-14 and [...]
The cabinet’s winners and losers October 20, 2010 WINNER | MICHAEL GOVE WINNER | ANDREW LANSLEY LOSER | VINCE CABLE LOSER | THERESA MAY ANALYSIS Education: After Health and Overseas Aid, Education has got the best settlement, with cuts of just three per cent. The schools budget will increase in real terms from £35bn to £39bn. The capital budget, which was allocated to [...]
Crossrail and Tube spared from savings October 20, 2010 MAYOR of London Boris Johnson yesterday painted the chancellor’s decision to protect the capital’s major transport funding as a triumph, upholding London’s competitiveness as a major economic hub at a time when tax and regulatory changes are hammering the city. Johnson, who has fought a long campaign over the importance of investment in London’s infrastructure, [...]
Rail prices to rise by up to 30pc by 2015 October 20, 2010 COMMUTERS will face more misery as the price of rail fares rockets over the coming years. The capped regulated price of train tickets will rise by three per cent over inflation over three years, starting in 2012. The price for those commuting long distances into the capital could rocket, with a season ticket from Brighton [...]
Summer hols give a lift to Eurotunnel October 18, 2010 EUROTUNNEL, the operator of the Channel Tunnel, said yesterday a bumper summer helped boost revenues for the year so far by 10 per cent. The Paris-based firm said core revenue for the three months to the end of September grew eight per cent compared to last year to €181.3m (£159m). This rose to €212.1m when [...]
Stagecoach in £52.8m deal for London bus group October 15, 2010 TRANSPORT group Stagecoach has bought the East London Bus Group in a £52.8m deal. The company has a market share of around 15 per cent in the capital. Stagecoach said it could make “back office” cost cuts to make the business – London’s third largest bus operator – more efficient. Chief Executive of Stagecoach Brian [...]
Crossrail facing delays October 13, 2010 LONDON’S flagship Crossrail scheme could be delayed by a year in the face of government pressure to cut costs on the £15.9bn project. The new rail link across the capital was due to open in 2017, but could now be delayed to 2018, it emerged yesterday. It is understood that officials have told engineers to [...]
Russian rail group plans London IPO October 12, 2010 RUSSIAN transport group TransContainer is poised to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in Moscow and London, in a bid to raise as much as $500m (£317m). TransContainer, a subsidiary of the state-owned Russian Railways group, will float 35 per cent of its equity, or 4,863,170 shares. Last week, Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putin signed [...]
Tube bosses sit down with unions to avert more strikes October 12, 2010 LONDON Underground (LU) bosses went back to the drawing board with trade unions RMT and the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) yesterday in a bid to avert two more looming strikes and put an end to the long running dispute over staffing levels. The three parties met at conciliation service Acas yesterday afternoon to try [...]