Friday newspaper round-up: Councils, GSK, business confidence
Almost half of councils in England risk falling into bankruptcy without action to address a £4. 6bn deficit amassed under a Conservative-era policy, the government’s spending watchdog has warned. In a damning report, the National Audit Office said that rising pressure on public services and repeated delays to reform the funding of local government meant town halls were in an “unsustainable” financial position. – Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: United Utilities, Amazon, Nvidia
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has announced an ambitious plan to add more than £100bn to the capital’s economy within a decade. Unveiling what he is calling the London growth plan, Khan said he was allocating hundreds of millions of pounds in devolved funding in an attempt to return the annual productivity growth of the London economy to the levels seen before the 2008 financial crisis. – Guardian.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Farmers, Volklec, BP, Apple
Farmers are warning of a “cashflow crisis” that has left many in the agricultural sector wondering how they will make it to the end of the year. At the annual meeting of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) of England and Wales, its president told members that “bad policy, geopolitics and unprecedented weather” had left some sectors of UK farming “in the worst cashflow crisis ever”. – Guardian.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Energy price cap, BMW, Chapel Down
The cost of the global energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will reach £3,000 for the average British household by the summer, after another expected increase in bills in April. The average annual bill in Great Britain under the latest energy price cap is forecast to be about £750 higher than in the pre-invasion winter of 2020-21, a 75% increase, according to calculations by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, a campaign group. The cumulative toll of the price increases in the last four years comes to £3,033, the group said.
Monday newspaper round-up: UK hospitality, net zero, Aston Martin, Warren Buffett
More than two-thirds of hospitality businesses will reduce staffing as a result of tax changes taking effect in April, according to research by industry bodiescalling on the government to delay the changes. The survey of pubs, bars, restaurants and hotels found that 70% expected to cut back on employment levels because of the higher costs and reduction in rates relief announced in last autumn’s budget. – Guardian.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Trump crash, BP, Rolls Royce
The curious calm that has settled over global markets belies the fact that global politics are in a state of chaos. First there is America's U-turn on its Ukraine policy, followed by the threat of a trade war between Washington and nearly all its trading partners, and the prospect - perhaps - of the US slashing its budget deficit. Yet the only big movement in financial prices has been in the price of gold. That may be because we are at a "wait and see" moment. Global wealth managers are like rabbits transfixed in the headlights of a car, fearing that they might jump in the wrong direction.
Friday newspaper round-up: UK lenders, independent breweries, HP, MoD
UK lenders paid “advance commissions” to car dealers that may have encouraged them to push costlier loans on to consumers, legal filings linked to the motor finance scandal reveal. Court documents seen by the Guardian show that lenders, including Lloyds Banking Group, have paid commission to individual dealerships in lump sums upfront, which campaigners say total millions of pounds. – Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: British Steel, public services, Microsoft
British Steel should get an extra £200m from the government to support it in keeping the UK’s two remaining blast furnaces open until electric replacements are built, according to a proposal put forward by unions. Chinese-owned British Steel has said it will replace its polluting blast furnaces at Scunthorpe with electric arc furnaces, which can be used to make much cleaner, recycled steel. – Guardian.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Trump, heat pumps, sickness benefits
Donald Trump stood firm against warnings that his threatened trade war risks derailing the US economy, claiming his administration could hit foreign cars with tariffs of around 25% within weeks. Semiconductor chips and drugs are set to face higher duties, Trump told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday. – Guardian.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Meta, seaborne gas shipments, Naked Wines
Meta has announced plans to build the world’s longest underwater cable project, which aims to connect the US, India, South Africa, Brazil and other regions. The tech company said Project Waterworth involved a 50,000km (31,000-mile) subsea cable, which is longer than the Earth’s circumference. The cable would be the longest to date that uses a 24 fibre-pair system, giving it a higher capacity, and would help support its AI projects, according to Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Monday newspaper round-up: Council tax, layoffs, tech companies
Britain’s poorest households are paying an increasing share of their income on council tax, according to new analysis that likened it to the poll tax that contributed to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher. The poorest fifth of households paid 4. 8% of their income on council tax in England, Wales and Scotland and on domestic rates in Northern Ireland in the 2020-21 financial year, up from 2. 9% in 2002-3, according to research by the Resolution Foundation. - Guardian.
Friday newspaper round-up: Barclays, BP, JPMorgan
The UK government will “wait and see” whether tariffs announced by Donald Trump “actually come to pass”, a senior minister said. The US president announced what he called “reciprocal tariffs” on all other countries on Thursday evening, claiming it was “fair to all”. But it was unclear how this would apply to the UK, especially as Trump suggested his policy regarded VAT as a tariff. – Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Solar panels, OBR, Chevron
California’s home-insurance safety net does not have enough money to pay all of the claims from damage caused by the Los Angeles wildfires and has asked private insurers to contribute $1bn toward those claims. All private insurers operating in California are required to contribute to the Fair plan, a plan of last resort established so all Californians would have access to fire insurance. More than 450,000 California homeowners got their insurance through the Fair plan in 2024 – more than double the number in 2020.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: British economy, Heathrow, FOS
The British economy is on course to expand by 1. 5% this year after the budget gave a boost to public spending but could be blown off course if Donald Trump goes ahead with threatened tariffs, a leading economic thinktank has warned. In a boost to Rachel Reeves after a bruising month of negative economic figures, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) upped its annual growth prediction from 1. 2% to 1. 5%. – Guardian.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: OpenAI, EVs, gas prices
Elon Musk escalated his feud with OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman on Monday. The billionaire is leading a consortium of investors that announced it had submitted a bid of $97. 4bn for “all assets” of the artificial intelligence company to OpenAI’s board of directors. The startup, which operates ChatGPT, has been working to restructure itself away from its original non-profit status. OpenAI also operates a for-profit subsidiary, and Musk’s unsolicited offer could complicate the company’s plans.
Monday newspaper round-up: Service charge, BP, Heathrow, Elon Musk
An increasingly complex tax system is burdening the government and businesses with hundreds of millions of pounds more in administration costs, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has warned. The report by the National Audit Office (NAO) also said “poor levels of service” meant some taxpayers and their representatives were “finding it more difficult to deal with their tax matters and are losing trust in HM Revenue & Customs [HMRC]”. – Guardian.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Etihad float, Shein, Thames Water
Abu Dhabi based carrier Etihad is planning to float a stake of up to 20% on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange. Sources indicate that it could command a valuation of $5bn (£4bn). It would be the second such transaction for its boss, Antonoaldo Neves. In 2017, the former McKinsey partner floated Azul, Brazil's third-largest airline, on the New York Stock Exchange. For Neves, any airline that aspires to be "relevant" needs to tap into different sources of capital. Its goal is to fly 170 jets by 2030, up from 93 at present.
Friday newspaper round-up: Gambling sector, FOS, Amazon
The gambling regulator has accidentally handed over more than 4,000 sensitive documents to lawyers acting for the media tycoon Richard Desmond, in an “unprecedented” blunder during its legal battle over the £6. 4bn national lottery contract, the Guardian understands. Northern & Shell (N&S), the investment group owned by Desmond, is suing the Gambling Commission for £200m in damages over its handling of the lottery licence award process. – Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: CMA, Riverford, Lloyds, Arm Holdings
The appointment of the former boss of Amazon UK to lead the competition watchdog poses a threat to its independence and pledge to hold big tech to account, according to a group including tech companies and the former business secretary Vince Cable. The group – which includes the News Media Association, the Firefox developer Mozilla, the consumer group Which? and the Future of Technology Institute – has written to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, to raise concerns about the appointment of Doug Gurr as the interim chair of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Thames Water, Johnson & Johnson, BoE
Thames Water may need as much as £10bn in debt and equity investment to repair its finances, according to a representative of creditors hoping to lend the struggling utility another £3bn. London’s high court heard evidence on Tuesday that suggested the UK’s largest water company may need significantly more resources than the roughly £6. 3bn it has previously indicated. – Guardian.