News digest 10 June 2011
The digest starts with the strong
endorsement of BMW’s workforce and also good news for apprentices
at Rolls-Royce, but then there’s a reverse at Wincanton, Lloyds
cuts again, homelessness is on the rise, the Southern Cross care
crisis continues, NHS reforms must be properly reviewed, and
Cameron wants rid of a troublesome priest, Balls went for Blair
while the Mail banks on Hilary, yes really. M&S bosses coin it
in, the Royal Mail privatisation bill passes its final
parliamentary hurdle and a Tory MP is arrested for
assault…
Workforce of “outstanding
quality” – BMW chairman Norbert Reithofer heaped praise on
the carmaker’s workforce as he formally announced that £500 million
would be invested in the company’s UK plants; 5,000 jobs have been
secured as a result. He also announced that the next generation of
the Mini would be built at the company’s Cowley plant and it is
looking to expand the range to as many as 10 different variations,
Simon Powell, regional officer for Unite and lead negotiator for
the union with BMW, said the money was a tribute to the UK workers:
"This workforce thoroughly deserves this tremendous
investment in them and the product they make. Manufacturing is an
industry that has had much uncertainty to cope with in recent years
but this workforce has worked with BMW every step of the way to
build for the future. So they thoroughly deserve this vote of
confidence. Their sheer hard graft and determination will
safeguard decent, skilled jobs and ensure that the best of British,
the Mini, continues to be produced in this country.”
(Mirror p6, Sun p31, Mail p19, Times p47, Indie p32, Guardian p3, Telegraph b1, FT p1, Morning Star p5, Unite
release)
New academy – More good news
in the auto sector as Rolls-Royce plans to build a new Apprentice
Academy in Derby which will enable the company to take on an extra
200 school leavers a year (Sun p56).
Ifor Williams Trailers pay strike
ends - Workers at a Flintshire trailer manufacturer called
off further strike action after they narrowly accepted a revised
pay offer (BBC
Wales,
Flintshire Chronicle).
Wincanton reverse –
Distribution group drives into the red as it reported annual losses
of £25.9 million although sales remained static at £2.1 billion;
the company is looking to strip out ‘underperforming operations’
and announced its intention to sell three European units (Express p68, Indie p36).
Network Rail on
track – Rail operator reports a 10 per cent rise
in profits to £438 million even though punctuality worsened and the
company’s cost cutting drive saw 1,547 job losses (Mail p69, Times p, Indie p, Guardian p31, Telegraph b4, FT p4, Morning Star p3)
Lloyds cuts again – And yet
more job losses in the banking sector as Lloyds cuts 300 more jobs
and RBS signals cuts in its corporate finance division. Unite’s
David Fleming said: “Unite is angered by the Lloyds
Banking Group’s decision to cut another 300 staff and close a major
workplace in Bridgend which employs 700 people. This decision will
devastate the local workforce in Bridgend. This announcement means
that since formation Lloyds has cut a staggering 23,300 staff. When
the Bridgend site opened there was a significant commitment to the
community and the bank secured a grant to this end. This withdrawal
smacks of hypocrisy and makes a mockery of the statements made by
the new CEO, Antonio Horta-Osorio, to support the bank’s
communities and customers.” (Mirror p58, Times p54, Indie p36, Guardian p30, Telegraph b2, Morning Star p2, Unite
release).
Decade on the dole – And the
government is to launch its ‘work programme’ scheme today. The £581
million programme will pay firms for helping to find people a job,
although it was noted that almost one million people have spent
more than a decade on incapacity benefit or income support, how
many of those will be helped? (Mirror p19, Express p15, Mail p2, Times p11, Guardian p12, FT p4)
Homelessness on the rise – As
the cuts bite councils across the country are reporting that the
total number of people approaching them for housing has risen by 23
per cent in the last year. And while 26,400 people approached
councils in the first three months of this year, less than half
were successful in getting housed. Housing minister Grant Shapps
admitted “the recession has brought difficult times for
lots of people” and told people in trouble to
approach their local Citizens Advice Bureau, he neglects to note
that government funding for the CAB has been cut by 45 per cent
(Guardian p7, Morning Star p2).
Care crisis continues – And
most papers follow up on the latest in the Southern Cross care
crisis, the company has indicated that it will surrender 132 homes
– almost 20 per cent of its holdings – as part of a restructuring
plan, although landlords are to hold a meeting later today to
decide on a counterproposal to the company’s rescue plan (Sun p24, Mail p8/66, Guardian p28, Telegraph b3, FT p1/17).
£1 billion NHS redundancy
bill – And the Mirror (p15) also reports that the
government’s health reforms could cost the taxpayer £1 billion in
redundancy pay for 20,000 NHS managers, who may then be brought
back to do the same job, joined up thinking there…
No to NHS respray – Doctors’
leaders warn Cameron that changes to the NHS bill must be
substantial rather than “a respray job” as GPs voted overwhelmingly
to show their total disapproval of the Health and Social Care bill
at the British Medical Association's annual GP conference in London
yesterday. Cameron is to brief his backbenchers on planned changes
to the bill on Monday, many of whom think he has sold out to the
Lib Dems (Telegraph p16,
FT p2, Morning Star p5, Unite
release).
Rid me of this troublesome
priest – More hassle for the prime minister as Cameron
hits back at the Archbishop of Canterbury after Rowan William’s
onslaught on the coalition which said the Con-Dems were introducing
a whole range of long term polices which no one ever voted for;
truth hurts doesn’t it (Mirror p7, Sun p8, Express p4, Mail p6, Times p1, Indie p12, Guardian p14, Telegraph p1, FT p2, Morning Star p2).
Rid me of this troublesome
beast? – And the Telegraph (p1) splashes on a
‘brutal’ plot to topple Blair by Brown and Balls after the 2005
general election. In a splash on the so-called ‘Balls files’
nothing amazingly new is revealed, but is someone out to get Balls?
(Express p17, Mail p2)
Hilary for leader? – The
Mail (p32) heaps praise
on shadow leader of the commons Hilary Benn, it’s a roundabout way
for Quentin Letts to have a dig at Ed Miliband.
Is Bob bothered – And some of
the papers also take another dig at RMT general secretary Bob Crow
after a series of tube strikes over the sacking of a tube driver
were announced, Wimbledon seems to have been targeted as the
strikes will happen during the tennis tournament (Mirror p2, Sun p12).
M&S board pay hits £11.6
million – Back in the City and the M&S board gets rise
from previous year’s £8.5 million with chief executive Marc Bolland
bagging £4.4 million (Mirror
p58, Sun p2, Express p65, Mail p67, Times p47, Indie p31, Guardian p28, Telegraph pb3 FT p1).
Mail sale row – And as the
bill to sell off the Royal Mail passed its final parliamentary
stage a row has broken out over plans to write off a large part of
the Royal Mail’s £1.7 billion debt (FT p4).
MP arrested – And finally
there’s some parliamentary trouble for the Tories after backbench
MP Andrew Bridgen was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault on a
parliamentary researcher (Mirror p1, Sun p9, Express p9, Mail p5, Times p11, Indie p13, Guardian p1, Telegraph p6, FT p4).
Edited by Mik
Sabiers
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