News digest 3 March 2011
The Geneva motor show gets the digest off
to a driving start before there’s anger over aviation tax, a
warning from and for Pickles, health concerns and Cameron has a bad
day in the office…
Jaguar and jobs – The good
news about some £2 billion of investment and at least 2,500 jobs at
Jaguar trailed in yesterday’s digest features across most papers.
Carl-Peter Forster, head of Tata’s Europe operations, is
interviewed in the Mail
(p69) about the new plans to expand the luxury brands – there will
be a new Jaguar sports car next year – while the FT (p3) reports on Cable’s visit to the
Merseyside plant and Unite’s call for a more effective industrial
strategy. Said Unite’s Roger Maddison: "We very much
welcome the creation of new manufacturing jobs - they are
desperately needed … however it is totally wrong for business
secretary Vince Cable and the government to try to claim any
credit. The new Evoque was secured in Halewood during the last
Labour government with a £2 billion investment from the parent
company Tata. The present government has a policy of watching
manufacturing from the sidelines.” The overall
investment could lead to more than 5,500 jobs being created by
including jobs in the supply industry (Times p45, Indie p35, Guardian , Telegraph b3, Morning Star p4, Unite
release).
No spies here? – And Renault
could be rowing back on its claim of industrial espionage over its
electric vehicles according to the FT (p23).
On your marques – And Fiat
plans a ‘product offensive’ as it plans to renew its compete range
of cars by 2013 as it looks to bolster sagging sales (FT p23).
Fuel duty dropped – The
Guardian (p26) also
expects chancellor Osborne to scrap the 1p rise in fuel duty in the
budget as oil prices get ever higher…
Air duty attacked – And a
number of airlines put aside their differences to complain about
the rise in fuel duty - the UK rate is almost 10 times the rate in
France – while IATA also warns that the rise in oil prices is going
to cut airline industry profits in half this year with the industry
expected to earn £5.3 billion in total, many still hedge to cover
cost price changes, all airlines shell out some $166 billion on
fuel every year (Sun p21,
Express p2/65, Indie p30, FT p2/32).
BP bonuses – And talking of
oil companies the Telegraph (b1) says BP has
announced that despite the spill last year it will still award many
of its senior managers bonuses; time for a windfall tax
methinks…
Admiral bonus – Car insurance
company grants 4,000 workers share of £12 million bonus pot after
company gains from increased UK premiums, profits hit £266 million
and that’s before premiums rise to reflect the gender ruling from
the EU which could see women’s premiums rise by 50 per cent,
although the company said the judgement was ‘bizarre’ (Mirror p58, Sun p52, Express p65).
New northern rail hub – Maybe
take the train instead. More good news for the north of England as
Network Rail says it will invest £530 million on rail routes,
trains and stations to improve services, the total project could
generate some £4 billion for the local economy (Mirror p24).
Pickles warning – Communities
secretary threatens legislation to stop councils cutting charity
funding. Unite’s Rachael Maskell said: ”Eric Pickles is
living in a fantasy world. [His] unreasonable funding settlement to
councils has contributed to this crisis.” Too right
(Times p4, Unite
release).
Double dip danger – And
leading retailers have warned the treasury that urgent action is
needed to prevent a double-dip recession with the sector saying
they need government support to help create jobs to help secure the
recovery, but instead of recommending training and apprenticeships
it looks more like they want more cuts to regulations (Telegraph b1).
Retired workers double – And
in a sign that pensions are too low many of the papers report that
the number of workers aged over 65 has doubled from 412,000 to
870,000 over the past decade (Sun p2, Express p22, Mail p6, Indie p10, FT p4, Morning Star p2).
Sainsbury’s shares – One
company with a fair share of older employees – it has a policy of
supporting a diverse range of workers – is Sainsbury’s where staff
are set to share in a £27 million share options windfall with more
than 10,000 workers seeing profits from a share-save scheme
established five years ago (Mirror p58).
Diageo eyes baijiu – Drinks
maker looks to acquire local company as means to move into the
market for the Chinese white spirit (FT p20).
Whitbread buys Coffee Nation
– Company pays £59 million to build presence in coffee sector; it
already owns Costa Coffee. However the group saw a slowdown in
sales as a result of austerity measures and government changes with
the result that it shares fell by five per cent (Mirror p58, Sun p52, Express p68, Mail p66, Times p43, Indie p35, Guardian p29).
Health concerns – And back to
government changes with the NHS again under fire. A BMA survey
(Indie p14, Guardian p13, Telegraph p1) shows that 65 per
cent of doctors reject the government’s changes and a whopping 89
per cent are worried about the government’s plans. The Times (p5) also highlights what
could be a new expenses scandal after a firm that wants to help GP
consortia manage budgets says that savings could be shared as
profit rather than ploughed back into patient care. Unite’s Len
McCluskey said the level of concern over the NHS reforms was now
deafening: “Only yesterday it was revealed that family
doctors could be set for windfall profits under this bill, as GP
practices could be partially floated on the stock market. Patients
expect their GP to be reading The Lancet not the Financial Times.’
(Unite
release)
Troops out – And even more
cuts may hit the MoD after yesterday’s announcement by defence
secretary Liam Fox in parliament, although the debate was
overshadowed by a Tory MP playing air guitar during the statement
(Mirror p6, Sun p2, Express p7, Times p15, Telegraph p1).
Cameron stumped – And more
trouble in the chamber as the pressure may be getting too much for
the prime minister. At yesterday’s PMQs Cameron went off the rails
after he relocated the West Coast Main Line to Wales, was shown up
for spinning jobs figures by Stephen Timms and
was also stuck for words over a question from Miliband over cuts to
Sure Start Centres where he just broke out into laughter, not
really a laughing matter Dave - and can’t have helped for today’s
Barnsley by-election… (Mirror p6, Sun p2, Times p23, Guardian p17, Morning Star p4)
Edited by Mik
Sabiers
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