News digest 9 February 2011
Banks take today’s headlines as Lloyds
cuts again, Osborne announces a little levy and a lot of lolly goes
from the City to Tory coffers. There’s the true cost of cuts in
Manchester although the sale of search and rescue is off, as is the
latest action at BA after another legal challenge this time to the
ERS. There are some potential sales in the City, but Talk Talk is
down and the phone tapping scandal hits the Sun again, plus be
careful what you tweet…
Lloyds cuts again – 200 more
jobs to go as bank announces further cuts to its group, insurance
and wholesale operations. Unite’s David Fleming called on the new
boss of Lloyds - Antonio Horta-Osorio - to stop the 200 jobs being
cut: “It is inexcusable that while he is one of the
best-paid executives in Britain with a pay package of £8.3 million
a year, staff earning an average salary of less then £20,000 are
joining the dole queues. Lloyds has already cut over 21,000 jobs,
yet the boss of this taxpayer supported company has yet to
intervene to ensure those working hard to make the bank successful
are not simply discarded. He needs to ensure there are fundamental
changes on his watch.” (Mirror p40, Mail p65, Times p39, Telegraph b2, Morning Star p3, Unite
release).
A little levy – And
chancellor George Osborne tries to gain kudos for making an extra
charge on the banks which should generate an extra £800 million
although the general charge is that he is being ‘soft’ on the
banks. General secretary Len McCluskey summed it up as:
“Nobody will be convinced by this political gesturing.
The effort to present this bank levy as a punishment for the banks
is pathetic, the money returned to the Treasury is a pittance,
while bonuses are chucked around like confetti.”
(Mirror p19, Sun p4, Express p64, Mail p66, Times p14, Indie p5, Guardian p6, Telegraph p1, FT p1, Morning Star p2, Unite
release).
Lots of lolly – Interestingly
latest figures on party donations show that 50 per cent of
donations to the Tories now come from the City, with the party
having banked £11 million in City donations last year (Mail p12, Times p14, Indie p1, Guardian p1, Telegraph p4, FT p1).
Jobs warning – And the CBI
warns about the impact of the cuts saying it expects no improvement
in employment for two years while also warning of sluggish growth
and rising inflation. Other papers note the pressures on inflation,
especially from food prices, ahead of the monetary policy committee
meeting which starts today (Mirror p40, Mail p65, Indie p33, Guardian p24, Telegraph b2, FT p4).
Cuts in action – Manchester
council features across many of the papers as it reveals the true
scale of services it will close following the government scything
£109 million or 25 per cent of its budget this year and a
staggering £170 million next year. 2,000 jobs, 36 Sure Start
centres, 20 youth centres, five libraries and two swimming pools
will close, welcome to Con-Dem Britain (Mirror p4-5, Mail p28, Indie p9, Guardian p, FT p3).
Lay off it – The cost of
dismantling the NHS and primary care trusts will reach a staggering
£852 million with some £500 million given to people who will then
legitimately walk back into a job in the new structure, Unite’s
Karen Reay sums it up in the Mirror (p14) saying:
“This is a waste of public money.” No
argument there.
Lansley probed – The Mirror (p19) says the cabinet
secretary has been asked to look into the links between health
secretary Andrew Lansley’s office and private health firms.
Invincible sold – A couple of
the papers report that HMS Invincible has been sold for £2 million,
the ship will be scrapped and made into saucepans and razor blades
(Sun p29, Telegraph p2) while the Mirror (p15) says a defence chief
has blasted the prime minister over scrapping Nimrods.
Sale off – The privatisation
of the UK’s search and rescue service has been put on hold after a
police probe into irregularities as the preferred bidder had access
to confidential information (Mirror p6, Sun p41, Mail p21, Times p11, Morning Star p4).
Ballot on – BA challenges the
latest Unite ballot as it still refuses to come to the table, Unite
to ballot cabin crew once again after the airline said it would
sack anyone that took strike action. Said Len McCluskey:
“There has not been the slightest flicker of interest
from BA in holding talks to address the concerns of its own
employees. Instead, BA has launched a legal blitz … if BA
management believes that it can secure industrial harmony by these
methods it is living in a fools’ paradise. Only negotiation, not
litigation or intimidation, can place industrial relations on a
sound footing and start to heal the wounds caused by this
dispute.” (Indie p40, Guardian p25, Telegraph b4, FT p2, Morning Star p2).
Less long haul – Figures from
the travel sector say show that there has been a 17 per cent fall
in holidays to ‘band c’ countries since the rise in air duty to £75
per person, travel to the Caribbean and India has been hit
particularly hard (Telegraph p12).
More German vehicles –
Automotive sector booming as January sales soar driven by demand in
emerging markets (Indie
p39, FT p20, Morning Star p2).
National Express for sale? -
£200 million price tag on the company as largest shareholder could
be looking to engineer sale of bus operator (Times p35).
Premier foods sells cans –
Fray Bentos and other names sold for £182 million as company
continues to deal with debt crisis, Hovis could be next (Mirror p40, Sun p41, Express p64, Mail p67, Times p39, Indie p35).
Checks canned? – Not so good
for exploited food workers as the checks on gangmasters are to be
diluted following a review placed in the Commons (Mirror p8).
Sun under the spotlight – And
another union leader – former FBU head Andy Gilchrist – has raised
concerns over hacking of his mobile phone by the Sun under Andy
Coulson, News International said there was no substance to the
claims (Indie p2).
Not so good to Talk Talk –
Broadband company loses 25,000 subscribers (Mail p69, Indie p34, FT p18).
Careful what you tweet – And
finally for those that tweet a little warning as the Press
Complaints Commission rules that all tweets are public property, so
the old rule think before you send stands (Times p5, Indie p17, Guardian p14, Telegraph p8).
Edited by Mik
Sabiers
Subscribe to this post's comments using
RSS
Comments
