News digest 2 March 2011
The digest starts with Bank of England
governor King laying the blame for the crisis at the foot of the
financial services sector, fuel costs continue to rise and
manufacturing is seeing a rise too, but big companies keep their
tax bills low while cuts continue to bite at the MoD and in
councils across the country, Barclays has poached Egg while Lloyds
halts closures, for now. There some good news on the car production
front as the turnaround of Jaguar Land Rover continues, as does
demand for train carriages but some clouds on the horizon as yet
another ballot at BA begins...
Living standards may never
recover – Many of the papers feature Bank of England
governor Mervyn King’s evidence to the treasury select committee
yesterday. King said that he was surprised that there had not been
more public anger over the scale of cuts and that the crisis – and
hence the need for public spending cuts – was the fault of the
financial services sector. Asked about living standards he went on
to say that unlike previous downturns living standards may never
return to previous levels (Mirror p8, Mail p10, Times p39, Indie p33, Guardian p1, Telegraph b2, FT p1).
Fuel costs continue to rise –
More concerns over rises in fuel duty as airlines and travel
companies hike prices of holidays to cover recent increases. Unite
has also asked the seven major fuel distributors to talks about
securing tanker driver terms and conditions to avoid industrial
action by 3,000 drivers (Mirror p21, Sun p2, Express p13, Mail p1, Times p5, Indie p34, Guardian p25, Telegraph p1/12, FT p4, Morning Star p4).
Manufacturing powers ahead –
Rising exports lead to increased employment in the manufacturing
sector, but there could be trouble ahead as one of Britain’s
leading industrialists calls on the government to do more for
manufacturing to safeguard the recovery (Sun p49, Times p33, Indie p36, Telegraph b5).
Large companies pay lower
taxes – And the FT (p3)
reports that very large companies pay a lower rate of corporation
tax in contrast to smaller businesses with findings that of the 100
largest companies only two sectors saw big business pay more
corporation tax, data also showed the volatility of tax receipts
and also that half of companies wrote off losses in their 2009/10
tax bill, even more 15 per cent of profitable companies paid no
corporation tax at all, who said we’re all in this together?
Front line troops fired – Up
to 11,000 troops could be axed as the MoD announces the full scale
of redundancies as billions of pounds are cut from the defence
budget (Mirror p15, Express p4, Mail p7, Indie p11, Guardian p8, Telegraph p1, FT p2).
Whitehall recruitment
remains frozen – The temporary freeze on recruitment in
Whitehall is to be extended indefinitely which could see thousands
more jobs go through ‘natural wastage’ (Guardian p9).
Police pay cuts or job cuts –
Home secretary Theresa May gives the police an ultimatum with a
major review which could see the force face pay cuts in order to
keep police numbers up (Express p7, Mail p10, Telegraph p2).
Surgeries to float? – Will
GPs spend more time on watching their stock rise rather than their
patients blood pressure as the Guardian (p4) reports that the
government’s NHS reforms could allow GP practices to float. Unite
general secretary, Len McCluskey, said: ”The fact that
family doctors could be set for windfall profits under the
government’s plans, which will see them controlling £80 billion of
the NHS budget, will horrify and alarm the public. The NHS, which
is funded by the taxpayer, should not become part of the casino
capitalism that health secretary Andrew Lansley seems intent on
introducing into healthcare.” (Unite
release)
Birmingham cuts
confirmed – And the front page of the Morning Star reports on
yesterday’s budget setting meeting in Birmingham which has seen
£320 million cut from local services, 7,000 jobs are on the line.
And Unite was down at Croydon council watch
the video as Unite spoke to local people and councillors about
what is happening in Croydon.
Supermarket census savings –
And the Mail (p2) trails
a possible means to save on the census arguing that the government
is thinking of using supermarket loyalty cards to gather data,
another case of trying to give even more private information
directly to big business?
Cheap CD dodge to be closed –
And as HMV makes a plea for more money – and its chairman Robert
Swannel quits after just eight weeks in the job - the end of cheap
CDs may be nigh as the government indicates that it plans to close
the loophole that costs the exchequer some £130 million a year
(Sun p49, Mail p73, Times p37, Guardian p24, Telegraph b4, FT p17).
Barclays poaches Egg – Back
to finance and Barclays buys the Egg credit card business for £2
billion giving it an extra million customers (Sun p49, Express p70, Mail p73, Times p35, Indie p36, Guardian p26, FT p18).
Offloading branches? – The
new head of Lloyds Antonio Horta-Osorio is to fast track the sale
of 600 bank branches as per regulatory requirements but has called
a hiatus on branch closures as he looks to sell off some £3 billion
of assets (Sun p49, Express p71, Guardian p26, Telegraph b5, FT p17, Morning Star p5).
Offloading engines? - AssetCo
to be wound up? The company that manages and maintains the London
Fire Brigade’s fleet financial crisis worsens as the Inland Revenue
applies for a winding up petition over unpaid taxes (Indie p2).
Indian Land
Rover – Jaguar Land Rover is to build the Land Rover
Freelander in India to meet local demand, initial production is
expected to stand at 2,000 vehicles (Mail p34).
Halewood Range Rover – And
JLR also announces that up to 2,500 jobs could be created once
production of the new baby Range Rover starts at the company’s
Halewood plant, 1,500 new assembly jobs will be created in the
first wave (Times
p38).
Electric trains – Transport
department has announced plans to place a £4.5 billion order for
500 Hitachi carriages, the new trains should be built at a new
factory in Newton Ayrcliffe, County Durham (FT p4).
Good aviation news – From
trains to planes and aircraft parts maker Meggitt saw sales rise 18
per cent in the second half of 2010 gaining from demand from the
civil aerospace sector (FT
p20).
BAd aviation news – And
finally Unite announces that the fourth strike ballot in two years
at British Airways has got underway as Unite general secretary Len
McCluskey extended an invitation to the airline's new chief
executive, Keith Williams, to meet with him at any time to discuss
solutions to the cabin crew dispute, now in its third year
(Indie p38, Morning Star p3).
Edited by Mik
Sabiers
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