6:49 am, October 19, 2022
Truss faces tough PMQs after junking economic strategy
Liz Truss faces a humiliating clash with Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday, having been forced to junk her entire economic strategy and with her leadership in peril.
She will square off against the Labour leader in Prime Minister’s Questions for the first time since her new chancellor Jeremy Hunt ripped up her plan for tax cuts and increased public borrowing in a bid to reassure markets in the wake of the mini-budget turmoil.
It could come amid more gloomy economic news, with economists predicting that Office for National Statistics data will reveal inflation returned to double-figures in September.
Inflation set to return to double-figures as food prices surge
Inflation is expected to have returned to double-figures in September due to rising food prices, according to economists.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) will reveal the latest increase in the cost of living for UK households on Wednesday morning.
Economists have predicted that it will show Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation increased to 10 per cent in September, compared with 9.9 per cent the previous month. There is likely to be an increase despite falls in petrol prices, which dropped by around four per cent over the month according to Forex.com, and used car prices.
Low-income families to lose out ‘if benefits rise is not calculated by inflation’
Gains from the cut in national insurance (NI) for low-income families could be dwarfed by inflation if the government decides to raise benefits in line with wages rather than inflation.
According to research from Child Poverty Action Group and Action for Children, a family with two children earning less than £24,700 will lose out by more than £600 in 2023/24 if benefits are increased in line with earnings.
This is because earnings have increased by 5.5 per cent, while last month’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate is expected to be between 10-10.1 per cent when it is announced on Wednesday.
UK/EU trade down on levels expected without Brexit, research finds
Trade from the UK to the EU is down 16 per cent on the levels anticipated if Brexit had not happened, research has found.
Trade from the bloc to the UK is down even further – 20 per cent – relative to a scenario in which Brexit had not occurred, according to Ireland’s Economic and Social Research Institute.
ESRI used the growth rates recorded by other EU trading partners around the world since the start of 2021 to estimate what UK export and import figures with the bloc would currently stand in a no-Brexit situation. It did so on the assumption that UK trade would have grown at the same rate as those other international trade partners of the EU.
Network Rail workers to stage fresh strikes
Network Rail workers are to stage fresh strikes in the bitter row over pay, jobs and conditions, threatening fresh disruption to services.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will walk out on November 3, 5 and 7.
In separate disputes, RMT members on London Overground and London Underground will strike on November 3.
Rolls-Royce Spectre revealed as firm’s first electric car
Rolls-Royce has revealed its first electric car with the Spectre – a sleek two-door coupe that represents ‘the start of a bold new chapter’.
Described as an ‘ultra-luxury electric super coupe’, the Spectre gets a particularly elegant silhouette, while the grille is the widest ever fitted to a Rolls-Royce, and is also ‘softly illuminated’ with 22 LEDs. At 5.5m in length and more than 2m in width, it’s huge, and can be equipped with 23-inch alloy wheels – the largest fitted to a modern Rolls-Royce.
Rolls-Royce says full technical details are ‘still being refined’, but the firm is expecting the Spectre to offer an electric range of 320 miles. The powertrain is also set to deliver 577bhp and 900Nm of torque, allowing for a 0-60mph time of 4.4 seconds – figures that are comparable with the brand’s current V12 models.
Petrol prices rise for first time since early July
Average petrol prices have risen for the first time since early July, figures show.
Statistics from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy show the average cost of a litre of the fuel at UK forecourts on Monday was 162.8p. That was up from 162.1p a week ago, and was the first weekly increase since the seven days to July 4.
The price rise comes after several countries cut their output of oil to boost its value. Recent strikes at refineries in France also pushed up wholesale costs.
Britain’s worst motorway services revealed
A motorway services in West Yorkshire has been ranked the worst in Britain.
Hartshead Moor East is the least popular out of 119 services analysed, according to a survey of 31,000 visitors by watchdog Transport Focus.
The Welcome Break-owned site on the M62 near Huddersfield received an overall satisfaction rating of just 80 per cent. Only three out of four (75 per cent) visitors were satisfied with the toilets.
Weather outlook
Heavy thundery showers for most of the UK today, reports BBC Weather. They’ll push northwards, although the far north of Scotland will miss them. Sunny spells will develop in the south-east later.
Showers will turn into longer spells of rain as they push northwards tonight. It’ll turn drier in the south-west.
