News digest 25 May 2011
The digest starts with poor results on
government borrowing as tax receipts drop even with the VAT rise,
while more finance jobs are cut and Lloyds is ready to challenge
branch sales, Glencore dips while M&S targets the rich while in
Southampton strikes over sackings continue, Cashcroft is called in
while Big Society tsar Wei walks off, before there’s bad news for
lovers of Guinness and Marmite, but better news if you are on your
holidays, as long as you’re not going to Germany…
Not balancing the books –
Government borrowing has hit an April record. The fall in tax
receipts has increased the pressure on chancellor George Osborne as
public sector net borrowing hit £7.7 billion in contrast to £5.3
billion recorded last year. The overall result is that the
chancellor is facing calls to reconsider his plans, while business
secretary Vince Cable is quoted in a number of papers as saying:
“You can’t just deal with this by cutting, cutting,
cutting…” although he was talking about the Greek
debt crisis; he was slapped down by the government. In more bad
news for Osborne the UK’s credit rating has also been downgraded,
admittedly this was China’s Dagong agency rather than Moody’s or
Standard & Poor’s. The main concern is will the Con-Dem cuts
lead to a renewed private sector that helps drive growth or rising
unemployment which sees less tax receipts and slowing growth, it’s
looking like the latter based on recent figures (Mirror p19, Sun p2, Express p4, Times p16/42, Indie p34, Guardian p26, Telegraph p10/b1, FT p4).
RBS cuts again – Another 700
jobs go at the bank with the bank’s Telford centre which deals with
debt management and fraud closing, while an additional 150 jobs
will go in Plymouth and 40 in Leeds. Unite national officer Dave
Fleming said: “The job losses announcements and site
closures announced today by the Royal Bank of Scotland are truly
devastating news for the local communities, many of which depend on
these finance jobs.” (Mirror p40, Mail p66, Guardian p28, Morning Star p5, Unite
release)
Lloyds challenges sell off –
But the Telegraph (b1)
reports that senior banking sources expect there to be a
Competition Commission investigation into the UK banking industry,
especially as Lloyds has signalled that it wants to challenge the
European Commission ruling that said it should sell off 600
branches.
Printing problems put jobs in
jeopardy – Even with a licence to print money the bank
note maker De La Rue is threatening to slash jobs after a 70 per
cent fall in profits due to paper production problems at its
Hampshire mill (Mirror p40,
Sun p40, Express p57, Mail p67, Times p47, Indie p39, Telegraph b4, FT p20).
Glencore shares slip – But
one operation that has just made millions for its executives is the
£37 billion floatation of Glencore. The company was yesterday
immediately promoted into the FTSE 100 – kicking Invensys out –
although the shine was taken off as shares slipped to 525p on
profit taking (Express p57,
Mail p66, Times p35, Guardian p25, Telegraph b6, FT p32).
M&S targets rich – Looks
like the rich/poor divide is getting the M&S treatment as the
high street retailer will look to target its stores to local
markets with products based on wealth, age and competition of local
shoppers, spending £650 million revamping its stores. The company
reported a 13 per cent rise in profits to £714.3 million, with
sales up 4.2 per cent to £9.2 billion (Mirror p40, Sun p40, Express p57, Mail p3/65, Times p35, Indie p34, Guardian p25, Telegraph b3, FT p18/19).
Pension pain – And away from
the City and the rich the Express (p15) reports that the
economic crisis has sparked a savings exodus as people can no
longer to put money away for the retirement, the past year has seen
payments cut by £11 billion according to research by LV=.
Fighting for decent pay -
Olympic Hotel fails to give workers fair pay as workers call on
InterContinental Hotel Group to pay the London living wage to staff
after the hotel group, an official sponsor of the London Olympics,
sticks to paying the statutory minimum wage to cleaners, room
attendants and waiters. Unite assistant general secretary Diana
Holland said : “The conduct of Holiday Inn in refusing
to pay its staff the agreed Olympic London Living Wage makes a
mockery of the ethos of the games. There is no excuse for this
international hotel chain continuing to award its workers in London
poverty wages, yet charging astronomical rates for its
rooms.” (Morning Star p5, Unite
release)
Striking against sackings –
And the action at Southampton city council continues, 108 refuse
workers are taking full strike action while hundreds of others are
working to rule, refusing overtime and more in action short of
strike (Morning
Star p5).
Fast track sacking for
teachers – Many papers report that ‘bad’ teachers could be
sacked after one term after new government regulations were issued,
NASUWT calls it ‘a licence to bully’ for head teachers (Express p21, Mail p17, Guardian p20).
Pro-NHS change - The Times (p10-11) starts a three
day series of reports into the NHS with a brief to consider the
case for change, day one focuses on the ‘problems’ while tomorrow
will look at ‘can competition work?’
Anti-abortion advice – The
Guardian (p1) and Telegraph (p11) both report that
the government has appointed Life – which is opposed to abortion in
all circumstances – to a government advisory body on sexual health,
while the British Pregnancy Advisory Service has been omitted even
though it was previously on the board and has a 40 year record in
providing pregnancy counselling.
Cashcroft called in – Tory
lord brought in as defence adviser even after Clegg complained.
Ashcroft is to advise on the government’s review of Britain’s
military bases in Cyprus. Lib Dem peer Lord Oakeshott questioned
his suitability: “Lord Ashcroft’s qualifications for
this task are his collection of old VCs, years of private plane
rides with Hague and a decade of vast Tory
donations.” Remind me who the Lib Dems are in
coalition with again? (Mail p10, Times p14, Guardian p11, FT p2)
Huhne questioned by police –
Will the investigation come to a speedy conclusion, well Huhne’s
career might as the story continues to drag on (Mirror p14, Sun p2, Express p15, Mail p8, Guardian p10, Telegraph p1).
Wei says goodbye – And
Cameron’s Big Society tsar Lord Wei is leaving his role leading the
government’s project to go an work for a charity, suppose he didn’t
like the relaunch earlier this week? Unite national officer Rachael
Maskell said: “The prime minister can’t even keep the
person he charged with making the Big Society happen on board,
which speaks volumes about the failure of this concept, which is
just a smokescreen for financial cuts and job losses for
charities.” (Mirror p9, Sun p2, Express p10, Guardian p5, FT p3, Morning Star p5, Unite
release)
Obama says hello – Wall to
wall coverage of US president Barack Obama’s European visit, he
flew in a day early after enjoying some Guinness in Ireland
(Mirror p10, Sun p8-9, Express p1-3, Mail p1, Times p1, Indie p9-11, Guardian p1, Telegraph p1, FT p2, Morning Star p3).
Guinness cuts – But it may be
a longer wait for that pint as 180 jobs are expected to go at
Diageo in Ireland, with most cuts expected to be at the company’s
Guinness brewery in Dublin (Times p35).
Hate it? – And no chance of
that brown yeast extract as the Danish government bans Marmite due
to its law against products fortified with added vitamins;
Horlick’s and Ovaltine have also fallen foul of the government
ruling which was first passed in 2004 (Mail p32, Guardian p1).
Cloud dissipates – But then
most of the papers say people may not be going anywhere as the
latest ash cloud cloaks the nation, fortunately Britain’s blustery
weather looks to have blown the cloud away. UK airports remain
open, but the cloud has closed some German airports, presume
tabloid subeditors are busy thinking of witty headlines as you read
this (Mirror p11, Sun p13, Express p1, Mail p1, Times p7, Indie p4, Guardian p5, Telegraph p1, FT p4, Morning Star p7).
Edited by Mik Sabiers
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