News digest 22 June 2011
Yesterday was the formal announcement of
the U-turn on sentencing, and surprisingly Cameron took charge, but
the military is less than happy. Elsewhere there’s a plea for
action from Prentis, the government’s books are worsening and
ordinary people are squeezed. Foster’s and Capital Pub say no, and
Bombardier and Lotus want some aid while it’s no go for R3 or
Virgin and Greece is still feeling the pinch…
Bash a burglar – Most of the
papers focus on the U-turn over the crimes and sentencing and even
though Cameron announced the change his pledge to be tough on crime
was shattered when it emerged thousands of criminals will walk free
under cost-cutting plans. Fearing that he will seem soft on crime,
Cameron also indicated that he would back a bill allowing home
owners to fight off burglars, make squatting a criminal offence and
introduce automatic jail terms for carrying a knife (Mirror p8-9, Sun p8-9, Express p1, Times p6-7, Indie p12, Guardian p6-7, Telegraph p1, FT p1/4, Morning Star p3).
Legal aid cuts hit even more
– And in another bad day for Ken Clarke the Ministry of Justice
yesterday played down an error in its impact assessment which means
cuts to legal aid could have even more of an impact. Unite national
officer, Sally Kosky, said: ”We estimate that 650,000
of the poorest people in the country will be very hard hit by the
swingeing cutbacks to the legal aid and advice budget of about £350
million a year – we call on the government to urgently rethink its
proposals.” (Morning Star p4, Unite
release)
Cameron shoots his mouth off
– The head of the army, General Sir Peter Wall, publicly challenged
the prime minister over Afghanistan only to be slapped down by
Cameron who said: “You do the fighting and I’ll do the
talking.” Is the pressure getting to the prime
minister? (Mirror p4-5,
Sun p2, Express p5, Telegraph p1, FT p2).
Prentis plea – And that
pressure will build, Unison general secretary Dave Prentis tore
into the Con-Dem coalition’s cuts at yesterday’s Unison conference
as he geared up over a million workers for strike action. The
Telegraph (p2) reports
that deputy prime minister Clegg has said that Conservative
politicians are “bristling for a fight” with
unions and has offered to act as a ‘peacemaker’, then again with
fellow Lib Dem Danny Alexander’s catastrophic intervention last
week that would probably make things even worse (Mirror p23, Sun p2, Express p2, Times p5, Guardian p2, FT p4, Morning Star p1).
Borrowing falls, or does it?
– And the government’s books don’t look too good. Higher VAT
receipts resulted in government borrowing dropping to £17.4 billion
in May, £1.1 billion less than the previous year, although the
total for the first two months of the fiscal year is the highest
since records began in 1993 and the chief economist at Capital
Economics said he expected borrowing to be £30 billion higher than
target by the end of the fiscal year, many of the papers are
beginning to note that now the cuts are starting to kick in, the
end of the calm before the storm is nearing, but can Osborne stay
the course (Times p40,
Indie p34, Guardian p23, Telegraph b1, FT p11).
Keep the top tax rate – And
as the FT (p18) reports that seven
senior RBS staff have been granted £2.7 million in bonus shares,
Labour leader Ed Miliband said the party would not go back to the
taxation rates of the 1970s, but he did say that the repeal of the
50p tax rate was not a priority (Times p15, Morning Star p4).
May squeeze – Households
suffered a record squeeze on budgets last month, overall the
average British household was £165 worse off than in the same month
in 2009 (Mirror p21,
Times p40).
Asda slips – And after losing
chief operating officer Simon King yesterday, Asda also reported
just 2.1 per cent growth in sales against the market average of 4.7
per cent meaning Asda’s overall market share dipped to 16.3 per
cent, equal with Sainsbury’s. The strongest growth has been seen by
the low cost supermarkets Lidl and Aldi as ordinary people’s
budgets are increasingly squeezed (Mirror p40, Sun p41, Express p24, Indie p33, Telegraph b3).
No round for SAB – Australian
brewer Foster’s has rejected a £66.2 billion takeover bid from
SABMiller (Mirror p40,
Sun p41, Express p50, Times p35, Guardian p25, Telegraph b1, FT p19).
No round for Fuller’s – And
Capital Pub Company hit back against a £54 million takeover bid
from Fuller, Smith & Turner, maker of London Pride (Express p50, Telegraph b4).
Bombardier wants more aid –
The Belfast based airmaker has urged the government to make more
tax credits available to keep its British manufacturing base
competitive (Times
p41).
Lotus looking for £10 million
– And the FT (p2) reports carmaker
Lotus is to apply for government aid of £10 million next week as it
looks to expand its Norfolk operations and expand its range of
vehicles, up to 10,000 jobs could be created if the government
gives the go-ahead.
Total deal – One deal that
has the go ahead according to the Guardian (p22) is by veteran
tycoon Gerald Ronson – known for being one of the Guinness Four -
who is expected to return to the petrol station forecourt business
with a deal to snap up 500 Total sites for £110 million.
No go for R3 – The Times (p1) splashes with the
admission from BA that it has effectively given up hope of a third
runway being built at Heathrow airport.
No go for Virgin – And a
number of the papers report that Virgin pilots have voted to go on
strike over a four per cent pay offer, 97 per cent voted for action
in a 94 per cent turn out (Mirror p23, Express p2, Guardian p9, Morning Star p5).
Paris Air Show – And the
FT (p23) has more updates on
orders from the air show, Rolls-Royce has won a deal to be the
exclusive engine supplier to Airbus, who announced orders for 105
aircraft, Norwegian Air has ordered 15 Boeing 737s, while Aeroflot
has gone for eight 777s. The Guardian (p24) also focuses on how
important the aerospace industry is to UK manufacturing, but the
head of Airbus UK has warned against cuts to research and
development and the need to invest in the next generation of
engineers…
Private firm in talks to run
universities for profit? – Talking of which the Guardian (p1) also splashes
with the news that BPP, which offers undergraduate degrees at 14 UK
centres, is in talks about managing the business side of 10
universities, the problem is that the shareholder would come first
and also who would be accountable for making sure that universities
continue to provide high quality graduates rather than just cream
off the profits...
Savage spending cuts plus tax
rises – And finally the turmoil in Greece continues
although the government survived a vote of confidence which has
helped the euro stabilise even as the local population are shifting
their savings into gold, again the ordinary people are being hit
while the rich continue to avoid their taxes (Mirror p8, Sun p6, Express p2, Times p8, Indie p2-3, Guardian p14-15, Telegraph b1, FT p1, Morning Star p5).
Edited by Mik Sabiers
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