6:54 am, June 10, 2022
Government under pressure to cut fuel duty again as tank of petrol reaches £100
Pressure is building on the Government to cut fuel duty again after the average cost of filling a typical family car with petrol exceeded £100.
The AA declared ‘enough is enough’ while the RAC said it was ‘a truly dark day’ for drivers.
Figures from data firm Experian show the average price of a litre of petrol at UK forecourts reached a record 182.3p on Wednesday.
Johnson warns of ‘wage-price spiral’ if pay packets rise with inflation
Boris Johnson warned of a 1970s-style ‘wage-price spiral’ if pay packets increase in line with soaring prices as he set out an extension of the right to buy scheme to housing association tenants.
The Prime Minister also announced a ‘benefits to bricks’ scheme on Thursday to allow welfare payments to secure mortgages as he sought to get his embattled premiership back on track.
Mr Johnson pledged a review of the mortgage market under plans to help renters onto the property ladder after surviving a bruising Tory revolt against his leadership.
Death sentences handed to Britons fighting for Ukraine condemned by Truss
Two British soldiers captured by Russian forces while fighting for Ukraine have been sentenced to death by pro-Moscow rebels in what Foreign Secretary Liz Truss branded a ‘sham judgment’.
Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, were convicted of taking action towards violent seizure of power at a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
The UK Government insisted the judgment had no legitimacy and the pair should be treated as prisoners of war.
FTSE suffers on tough day for European markets
The FTSE 100 plunged lower on the back of renewed coronavirus worries in China and the European Central Bank’s plan to soon hike interest rates.
London’s top flight ended the day down 116.79 points, or 1.54 per cent, at 7,476.21.
The German Dax decreased by 1.73 per cent by the end of the session while the French Cac fell 1.4 per cent.
Russian offensive remains ‘deeply troubled’ – Western officials
Russia’s offensive in eastern Ukraine remains “deeply troubled” despite recent tactical gains, Western officials have said.
Both sides in the conflict are taking heavy losses, with the Russian death toll from the fighting estimated at between 15,000 and 20,000.
Officials believe most of the besieged city of Sievierodonetsk is in Russian hands and will eventually fall.
Thursday’s Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
- Bangers4Ben channels James Bond glamour for 2022 as charity rally is able to head abroad again
- How will agency sales change the look and feel of car dealerships in the future?
- Tesla boss Elon Musk could be given access to raw Twitter data as takeover hangs in the balance
- Man to appear at crown court after being charged with stealing Audi S3 from dealership
- Cox Automotive warns dealers to ‘buckle up’ for difficult second half of the year
- Number of car buyers expecting their next purchase to be all-electric plateaus at one in five
- Used car prices grow for 26th consecutive month despite signs of softening market – Auto Trader
Sunak accused of squandering £11bn in debt interest payments
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been accused of wasting £11bn of taxpayers’ money by paying too much in interest servicing the Government’s debt.
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research said the losses were the result of Mr Sunak’s failure to insure against interest rate rises on £900 billion of reserves created through the quantitative easing programme.
The losses were said to exceed the amount that the Conservatives have accused Labour former chancellor Gordon Brown of losing when he sold some of the UK’s gold reserves at rock bottom prices.
Per mile cost of EVs ‘80 per cent below petrol and diesel cars’ as fuel prices surge
Soaring fuel prices mean the per mile cost of running an electric vehicle (EV) has sunk to around 80 per cent below the bill for petrol and diesel models, according to new analysis.
Green motoring consultancy New AutoMotive calculated that the average annual electricity cost of a popular small EV such as a Nissan Leaf or Renault Zoe is approximately £250.
For a petrol car with typical fuel efficiency of 38 miles per gallon, the annual fuel cost based on current pump prices is around £1,210.
Ban smoking outside pubs and on beaches, major report suggests
Smoking should be banned in outdoor places such as beer gardens, cafe pavements and beaches, a review calling for a radical shake-up of tobacco laws has suggested.
The plan, commissioned by the Government, said ministers will not meet their pledge to make England smoke-free by 2030 unless reforms are brought in as a matter of urgency.
Dr Javed Khan, who led the review, set out 15 recommendations calling for action, including banning supermarkets from selling tobacco or cigarettes and mass stop-smoking campaigns on TV and social media.
Plans to turn ‘benefits into bricks’ need careful consideration, say experts
Plans for a home buying shake-up will need careful consideration and serious investment, according to commentators.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged to turn ‘benefits to bricks’ – changing welfare rules so that the 1.5 million people who are in work but also on housing benefit will have the choice to use their benefit towards a mortgage, rather than automatically going directly to private landlords and housing associations.
The UK Government will launch a review of access to mortgage finance for first-time buyers, with the aim of making it easier to widen access to low-cost, low-deposit finance such as five per cent-deposit mortgages. It will report back in the autumn.
Weather outlook
Today will see a bright and breezy start but blustery showers will soon develop, particularly for N Ireland and much of Scotland. The BBC reports it will be drier and sunnier further south, and quite warm in the south-east.
Tonight will be wet and windy for most north-western areas, and the far north-west will see the strongest gusts. Drier elsewhere, with brisk winds for many and long clear spells in England and Wales.
Northern Scotland will see further spells of blustery rain, whilst N Ireland and northern England will see blustery showers and some brief sunny spells. Drier, brighter and breezy further south.
