London needs a homebuilding kickstart package, with social housing at its heart July 7, 2020 The government’s economic statement tomorrow is an opportunity for the chancellor to put building new homes at the heart of a plan to kickstart the recovery and help Britain bounce back after coronavirus. To achieve this, we need to see much more than Boris Johnson set out in his speech in Dudley last week. A [...]
Markets live: Nasdaq hits record intraday high as FTSE 100 rallies on recovery hopes July 6, 2020 The FTSE 100 and US stock markets rose sharply today as investors cheered the prospect of more stimulus for the UK economy and followed the lead of Asian markets. London’s index of blue-chip companies was 1.87 per cent higher this afternoon at 6,2572.5 points. The FTSE 250 index of slightly smaller firms rose 1.27 per [...]
High street footfall soars on Super Saturday after lockdown lift July 6, 2020 Footfall in England hiked almost 36 per cent on Saturday evening, according to new research, as revellers flocked to high streets around the country to enjoy their first pints out after more than three months of lockdown. New data released by Springboard today showed that footfall on English high streets rose 35.8 per cent on [...]
‘Serious concerns’ raised over government’s export credit agency July 6, 2020 The government’s export credit agency could be “cutting corners” as it races to finance the post-coronavirus and post-Brexit trade drive, raising “serious concerns” about the UK’s future trading relations, according to a new report. A report released today by anti-corruption campaign group Spotlight on Corruption found that UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s export credit [...]
Former Tory PM advisers call for government to spend big on coronavirus recovery July 6, 2020 A group of former economic advisers to a string of Tory prime ministers and chancellors have called for a swathe of jobs programmes and fiscal spending to aid the UK’s economic recovery. The group called for £30bn investment into high growth firms, a new retraining fund, a doubling of further education funding and tax reform. [...]
Rishi Sunak to announce £111m for traineeship programme July 5, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak will announce next week that the government will provide £111m in funding to triple the number of 16-24 year old trainees in England. Sunak will use his summer economic statement on Wednesday to announce the extension of the programme, which will see participants receive maths, English and CV writing training in addition [...]
Government to announce £1.57bn support for UK arts and culture industries July 5, 2020 The UK’s arts, heritage and culture industries will benefit from a £1.57bn support package to protect them against the coronavirus downturn. Boris Johnson will announce the new package tomorrow, which will provide funding for thousands of galleries, museums, venues, theatres, historic palaces and independent cinemas. The package will include a £1.15bn pot of support for [...]
Rishi Sunak considers £500 hand out to every adult July 5, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak is considering plans to hand £500 to every adult and £250 to every child in the country to spend on sectors worst affected by the coronavirus crisis. The plans, which have been drawn up by left-leaning think tank the Resolution Foundation, would see people handed vouchers to spend on sectors such as [...]
Johnson says he’s more optimistic than Barnier on post-Brexit trade deal July 3, 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he is more optimistic than European officials about the prospect of Britain securing a post-Brexit trade agreement, but said the UK could still leave the bloc without a deal if needed. Johnson said he was a bit more optimistic than chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier, who said this week that [...]
Rishi Sunak to make an announcement on jobs support next week, says PM July 3, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak will make an announcement on the government’s coronavirus jobs support schemes next week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said today. “You’ll be hearing more about what we’re going to do to support people next week from the chancellor Rishi Sunak,” he told LBC in response to a question about what would happen once [...]