6:56 am, September 21, 2022
Businesses await details of support to cope with soaring energy bills
Businesses must be given certainty about support to tackle soaring energy bills, Jacob Rees-Mogg has been told, as he puts the finishing touches to his package to help struggling firms.
The Business Secretary is expected to announce today (Wednesday) how firms, schools, hospitals, charities and other non-domestic consumers will be spared some of the pain of rising gas and electricity bills.
The Government has already announced that bills for an average household in England, Scotland and Wales will be capped at £2,500 from October 1, but while businesses have been promised equivalent support they have been waiting for details as officials have been drawing up a bespoke scheme.
August saw highest number of companies collapsing this year, analysis shows
August saw the highest number of insolvencies this year as nearly 100 companies went into administration amid worsening financial pressures.
Businesses have been grappling with higher costs and steeper energy bills in recent months, worsened by the Russian invasion of Ukraine which began in February.
New analysis showed that 99 companies went into administration in August, a 41 per cent increase compared with the same month last year.
Queen’s funeral service seen by average of 26.2m viewers in UK
The Queen’s funeral service at Westminster Abbey on Monday was watched by more than 26 million viewers in the UK, one of the country’s biggest ever TV audiences, provisional figures show.
The service was broadcast simultaneously on a range of channels between 11am and just after midday, including BBC One and Two, ITV and Sky News.
An average of 26.2m people watched across all channels, according to overnight ratings released by the research organisation Barb.
Truss ‘willing to be unpopular PM’ with measures targeting economic growth
Liz Truss has said she is willing to be an unpopular Prime Minister to bring in measures she believes will grow the economy, as she admitted her tax cuts will disproportionately benefit the rich.
Ms Truss confirmed she would be reversing the national insurance hike and axing the planned increase to corporation tax, ahead of Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget on Friday.
The new Tory leader also effectively confirmed a plan to scrap the cap on bankers’ bonuses as she argued she needs to make ‘difficult decisions’ under her gamble to go for growth.
King ‘plans for slimmed down coronation and monarchy’ amid cost-of-living crisis
The King is reportedly planning a ‘less expensive’ coronation ceremony than his mother’s and a ‘slimmed down’ working monarchy as an acknowledgement of Britain’s cost-of-living crisis.
The Daily Mirror quotes a royal source as saying the new monarch’s coronation would be ‘shorter, smaller and less expensive’ than the Queen’s ceremony in 1953.
The source told the paper: ‘The King is very aware of the struggles felt by modern Britons so will see his wishes carried through that although his coronation ceremony should stay right and true to the long held traditions of the past, it should also be representative of a monarchy in a modern world.’
FTSE slips lower as interest rate rise fears hit housing stocks
The FTSE 100 slipped to a fresh two-week low as concerns over major interest rate hikes weighed on trading sentiment.
London’s top flight ended the day down 44.02 points, or 0.61 per cent, at 7,192.66.
Elsewhere, the German Dax declined 1.03 per cent by the end of the session and the French Cac finished 1.35 per cent lower.
Tuesday’s Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
- Warning as conmen pretending to be used car dealer scamming buyers out of thousands
- Used car prices up slightly in August – but buyer demand tumbles
- Six ways to create a better customer journey
- Software firm in multi-million-pound legal battle with Rolls-Royce over configurator tech
Volkswagen Golf left drenched in red paint after being left parked in a disabled bay
Police are hunting for a car vandal who covered a Volkswagen Golf in red paint after it was left partially parked in a disabled spot.
The white hatchback was left with its front wheels inside a bay for blue badge holders on a residential street in Portsmouth last Wednesday night. (September 14).
However, when the owner returned they were greeted with quite the shock as the 2016 Volkswagen Golf had been completely drenched with red paint that was left streaked across the roof, windscreen and bonnet.
Someone’s not quite nailed those racing stripes 🤦♂️ pic.twitter.com/YInOwC0NBe
— Jack Williams (@JournoJack25) September 15, 2022
Murderer Russell Causley to face first public parole hearing in UK history
A man who murdered his wife and never revealed where he hid her body will become the first prisoner in UK history to have a public parole board hearing.
Calls for Russell Causley’s next review to be heard in public have been granted, the Parole Board said on Tuesday.
Now 79, Causley was handed a life sentence for killing Carole Packman who disappeared in 1985 – a year after he moved his lover into their home in Bournemouth, Dorset.
Holly and Phillip address backlash over lying in state queue on This Morning
This Morning hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield have insisted they would “never jump a queue” as they addressed their controversial visit to see the Queen lying in state.
The pair were criticised on social media after they appeared inside Westminster Hall on Friday without taking part in the public line.
Programme bosses later said in a statement that the hosting duo had attended to film a segment for Tuesday’s show.
Pilot said plane was ‘dodgy’ prior to footballer Emiliano Sala’s fatal flight
The pilot of a plane in which footballer Emiliano Sala died described the aircraft as ‘dodgy’ and vowed to wear his lifejacket prior to the fatal flight.
An inquest in March found the Argentina-born striker died from head and chest injuries but was deeply unconscious, having been poisoned by fumes from the Piper Malibu’s faulty exhaust system, on the evening of January 21 2019.
The 28-year-old player was flying from Nantes in France to Wales to join then Premier League club Cardiff City when the plane crashed in the English Channel close to Guernsey, also killing 59-year-old pilot David Ibbotson.
BMW’s next generation EV batteries to be 50 per cent cheaper than current units
BMW says the cost of its next generation electric car batteries will be reduced by 50 per cent as the firm progresses development of its upcoming EVs.
The German firm is working on the development of its ‘Gen 6’ EV batteries, which are due to be launched in 2025 with its ‘Neue Klasse’ – an important new electric car platform that signals the next phase of its EVs.
Currently on its Gen 5 electric cars, BMW says the battery makes up 40 per cent of the total vehicle cost, so the firm is very keen to reduce that as the firm ‘believes EVs should be available to anyone’, says Marie-Therese v. Srbik, head of battery cell development at BMW.
Weather outlook
Today, the far north-west of Scotland will be cloudy with outbreaks of heavy rain. Northern Ireland will see cloud increase and a few spots of rain move in. Elsewhere it will be mostly dry with sunny spells, the BBC reports,
Tonight, cloud and heavy rain will move into Northern Ireland and rest of Scotland. Northern England will become cloudy with just a few spots of drizzle. It will be largely dry with clear spells elsewhere.
Tomorrow, the north will see a band of cloud and heavy rain mov south-eastwards through the day, leaving plenty of sunny spells in its wake. Southern areas will remain dry with sunny periods.
