6:51 am, December 9, 2022
UK to cut finance red tape and axe EU rules in bid for growth
Jeremy Hunt is set to launch a major reform of the UK’s financial sector with plans to rip up red tape and replace reams of EU regulations.
Dubbed the ‘Edinburgh reforms’, the changes will be announced by the chancellor in the Scottish city on Friday as he heralded the ‘golden opportunity’ Brexit provided to reshape the rules governing the financial sector.
Hunt will set out a package of more than 30 regulatory reforms, with plans to ‘review, repeal and replace’ hundreds of pages of EU regulations ranging from disclosure for financial products to prudential rules governing banks. Any rules deemed to hold back growth or that put companies off listing in the UK will be review or overhauled, as part of the bid to create a ‘tailor-made’ UK regulatory system.
People struggling to heat homes in ‘dreadful’ position due to cold snap
People across the UK are struggling to heat their homes due to ‘impossibly high prices’ and now face ‘dreadful consequences’ due to the cold snap, a fuel poverty charity has warned.
National Energy Action has urged the government to provide more support for ‘those at greatest peril’ as parts of the UK are hit by freezing conditions. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued a Level 3 cold weather alert covering England until Monday and the Met Office has issued several yellow weather warnings for snow and ice in parts of the UK over the coming days.
It comes as people on the lowest incomes in hundreds of affected postcode districts in England and Wales are set to receive a £25 cold weather payment. The government payments have been triggered for eligible households in areas where the average temperature has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0C or below over seven consecutive days.
Postal workers take further day of strike action in increasingly bitter dispute
Thousands of postal workers across Scotland take a further day of strike action on Friday in an increasingly bitter dispute over pay and working conditions.
Around 11,000 members of the Communications Workers Union (CWU) have been locked in a dispute over changes to working conditions with Royal Mail and shows little sign of being resolved.
The union claims Royal Mail imposed a two per cent pay increase on members without consultation and is ‘refusing’ to treat employees with respect, according to general secretary Dave Ward. They will walk out again on Sunday, with further action planned throughout December including Christmas Eve.
Search for sunken Jersey fishing boat with three onboard is suspended overnight
A major search operation off the coast of Jersey for a sunken fishing vessel which had three people on board has been suspended overnight.
A captain and two crew members were on the Jersey fishing boat when it collided with the Commodore Goodwill ship just after 5.30am on Thursday.
Specialist diving resources were required to help in the search-and-rescue effort after the boat sank in around 40-metre deep water, Jersey’s Harbourmaster Bill Sadler said. Giving an update to reporters on Thursday afternoon, he said local fishing vessels had also been helping with the search and that drones and beach lifeguards on jet skis had been deployed.
US woman Anne Sacoolas avoids jail over Harry Dunn death crash
The mother of motorcyclist Harry Dunn broke down in court as her teenage son’s killer avoided jail after a three-year fight for justice.
US citizen Anne Sacoolas, 45, declined to come to the Old Bailey in person on Thursday when she was handed eight months in prison suspended for 12 months for causing the 19-year-old’s death by careless driving.
Earlier, Dunn’s mother Charlotte Charles had said she was left ‘absolutely fuming’ on learning the US government had advised her not to travel to the UK to face justice, making the sentence effectively unenforceable.
Mercedes-AMG’s GT2 looks to expand firm’s customer racing ambitions
Mercedes-AMG has expanded its customer racing programme with a new GT2 race car.
Designed to slot between its GT3 and GT4 race cars, the GT2 takes the title as the ‘most powerful homologated race car’ in the 12-year history of the customer sport programme. It’s designed to offer huge performance for ‘ambitious amateur drivers’, according to Mercedes.
The car is based on the Mercedes-AMG GT road car and utilises a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine with 697bhp, driven through a sequential six-speed racing gearbox to the rear wheels. Underneath you’ll find a completely configurable suspension setup with motorsport shock absorbers and adjustable anti-roll bars. Upgraded aero, a large rear wing, a fully programmable dashboard system and a steel roll cage are also fitted.
Harry and Meghan branded ‘troubled couple’ who are ‘irrelevant’ to UK
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been branded an irrelevance to the UK by a government minister, as they faced a call to be stripped of their royal titles.
Harry, who moved to the US to live with his wife Meghan, has been criticised for attacking important institutions in Britain during the couple’s tell-all Netflix documentary. In it, Harry accused the royals of having a ‘huge level of unconscious bias’ and Meghan said the media wanted to ‘destroy’ her.
Conservative MP Bob Seely said there is a ‘political issue’ with Harry’s comments, since he quit as a senior working royal more than two years ago. Seely said he plans to bring forward proposed legislation that could eventually strip the couple of their royal titles.
Thursday Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
- Mackie Motors wins right to appeal High Court ruling that ‘destroyed’ family-run dealership group
- Vertu Motors acquires lion’s share of Helston Garages
- Half of in-market buyers looking to buy before the year is out
- Snows Motor Group announces huge leap in profits last year which saw the firm make £7.56m before tax
- Porsche named UK’s least reliable used car brand – with Land Rover close behind
- Supercar dealer Tom Hartley Junior makes £11.3m profit from selling just 102 cars
UK to work with Italy and Japan to build next-gen fighter jets
Britain will work to develop next-generation fighter jets with Italy and Japan, Rishi Sunak has announced.
The PM said the defence partnership will ensure the UK and allies are ‘outpacing and out-manoeuvring those who seek to do us harm’.
Downing Street aims for the jets, called Tempest in the UK, to take to the skies by 2035 and serve as a successor to the RAF Typhoon. The ambition is for the planes developed under the global combat air programme (GCAP) to be enhanced by capabilities including uncrewed aircraft, advanced sensors and cutting-edge weapons.
‘Cash use plunged in 2021 as shoppers turned to cards’
The proportion of payments made using cash halved in 2021, compared with the previous year, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
In 2021, as stores closed for lockdowns and people increasingly turned to contactless payments, cash usage fell to just 15 per cent of all transactions – down from 30 per cent in 2020. As a proportion of the total money spent, cash accounted for just eight per cent of consumer spend last year, the BRC found.
More than four-fifths (82 per cent) of transactions last year were made using credit or debit cards, up from around two-thirds (67 per cent) in 2020, according to the BRC’s annual payments survey.
Weather outlook
A widespread frosty to wake up to today with some areas seeing freezing fog, reports BBC Weather. Dry and sunny for many inland areas while northern and western coastal areas will see wintry showers.
Tonight will see the same pattern with clear spells inland and wintery showers in coastal areas.
