Thursday newspaper round-up: Boeing, property landlords, HSBC
Boeing workers have rejected the latest offer to end the more than a month-long strike that has crippled the already struggling manufacturing giant. In a blow to Boeing and the Biden administration, which has fought for a resolution to the dispute, 64% of the 33,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union voted to reject the contract, the union said late on Wednesday. – Guardian
Vladimir Putin has opened the expanded Brics summit by issuing a call for an alternative international payments system that could prevent the US using the dollar as a political weapon. But the summit communique indicated that little progress had been made on an alternative payment system. Speaking at the summit in the Russian city of Kazan, Putin said: “The dollar is being used as a weapon. We really see that this is so. I think that this is a big mistake by those who do this.” He said that nearly 95% of trade between Russia and China is now conducted in rubles and yuan. – Guardian
Property landlords are braced for record stamp duty bills next year as Rachel Reeves prepares to launch a Budget tax crackdown. The threat to buy-to-let investors has emerged as part of the Chancellor’s plans to unwind stamp duty tax breaks that were introduced by the Conservatives in 2022. This expected policy change means landlords will soon have to pay up to £14,766 in stamp duty on an average home sale, which amounts to the largest bill on record, according to analysis by Hamptons estate agents. – Telegraph
Rachel Reeves should launch a £10bn tax raid on motorists by charging them a fee for every mile they drive, Sir Tony Blair’s think tank has urged. Cars and vans should pay 1p per mile and heavy goods vehicles charged between 2.5p and 4p per mile, according to proposals published by the Tony Blair Institute (TBI). – Telegraph
A plan by the new boss of HSBC to split the bank’s operations internally between East and West has led to fresh calls for the sprawling lender to pursue a full break-up. Georges Elhedery, who became HSBC’s chief executive last month, is aiming to simplify the group through an overhaul he unveiled on Tuesday that includes creating standalone divisions for its Hong Kong business and the bulk of its UK operations and the partition of other businesses into Eastern and Western market regions. – The Times
Priory Group’s finances have come under scrutiny from a short-seller targeting the healthcare chain’s landlord for sale-and-leaseback deals allegedly agreed at inflated prices. Viceroy Research has questioned the strength of the balance sheet of the UK’s largest mental healthcare group in a report outlining its concerns about the practices of the chain’s landlord Medical Properties Trust, which is listed in the US. – The Times