6:55 am, January 11, 2023
Thousands of ambulance workers go on strike in dispute over pay
Up to 25,000 ambulance workers across England and Wales will strike on Wednesday in a dispute with the Government over pay.
Paramedics, call handlers, drivers and technicians from the Unison and GMB unions are taking part in staggered strikes across a 24-hour period.
None of the workers will strike for longer than 12 hours, with call handlers expected to walk out for six-hour periods.
‘Scaling back already-insufficient energy support will hit small businesses’
Thousands of small businesses are set to struggle when the ‘already insufficient’ help they are getting with their energy bills is slashed less than three months from now.
Experts also warned that the move might put another dent in the UK’s efforts to meet its environmental goals, as firms are left without enough cash to invest in new technology.
Although business groups welcomed the certainty that the new 12-month support – announced on Monday – will give them, they questioned the level of support.
Health Secretary does not rule out plan to backdate next year’s NHS pay offer
The Health Secretary has not ruled out backdating next year’s NHS staff pay settlement, as the Government grapples with a way to end the dispute with healthcare workers over pay.
Steve Barclay, who spent part of Monday meeting trade union officials in a bid to broker a solution, described the discussions as ‘productive’ during a visit to St Charles Hospital in west London, even as he hit out at the accusation that the Government had demanded staff ‘justify’ a payment through productivity improvements.
Multiple reports have suggested that unions put forward a call for the 2023/24 pay deal to be backdated to January in order to create a bigger uplift for 2022/23.
Polestar delivers on 2022 target with 50,000 cars delivered
Swedish EV maker Polestar has announced it met its 2022 sales target by delivering more than 50,000 cars in the year.
The brand, which only started selling cars in 2019, was helped by a booming final quarter of the year, where it sold 21,000 cars to take Polestar up to an end-of-year total of 51,500. This was an 80 per cent year-on-year increase for Polestar.
Of this global total, 7,345 models were delivered to UK buyers.
FTSE 100 closes in the red for first time this year
The retail sector weighed on London’s top stock index on Tuesday, pulling it down from recent highs as some traders locked in the profits they had made in recent weeks.
Finishing at 7,694.49, a drop of 30.45 points, it was the first day that the index has closed down so far this year.
In Europe, the Dax index closed down 0.1 per cent while Paris’s Cac 40 dropped 0.6 per cent.
Tuesday’s Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
- Exclusive: Constellation ‘forced’ to put Toyota and Lexus Marshall dealerships up for sale
- Revealed: The vehicles that hit the scrap heap most in 2022
- Longest serving employee recognised after 60 years with car dealership
- New survey shows rising energy bills, operational costs and taxes are biggest worries for automotive industry
- Allen Ford pre-tax profit rockets to £27.6m thanks to supply pressure
- Automotive Compliance appoints Phil Harding to new role of national sales director
- Pendragon gets go-ahead for showroom on former Taggarts site
- Bristol Street Motors helping to ‘transform lives’ by backing grass roots football programme
- EVs now more expensive per mile on long journeys than petrol cars, new data reveals
Petrol falls below 150p a litre for first time since February 2022
The average price of petrol has fallen below 150p per litre for the first time in more than 10 months.
Figures from data company Experian show the average price of a litre of the fuel at UK forecourts on Monday was 149.7p.
The reduction of nearly 42p from the record high of 191.5p in July last year, is “a huge relief for drivers”, according to the AA.
Harry’s bombshell memoir becomes fastest selling non-fiction book
The Duke of Sussex’s controversial memoir has become the fastest selling non-fiction book ever as his tell-all tale lambasting the royal family was finally published.
Harry’s headline-grabbing autobiography Spare, which hit the shelves on Tuesday, was boosted into the record books with 400,000 hardback, e-book and audio format copies being snapped up, its publisher said.
The book includes claims that the Prince of Wales physically attacked him and teased him about his panic attacks, and that the King put his own interests above Harry’s and was jealous of the Duchess of Sussex and the Princess of Wales.
New anti-strikes law will ‘poison’ industrial relations, ministers warned
New laws requiring minimum levels of service from ambulance staff, firefighters and railway workers during industrial action risk triggering a fresh clash with the unions, ministers have been warned.
Business Secretary Grant Shapps has claimed the new legislation, being introduced in the Commons on Tuesday, is a ‘common-sense’ response to the wave of industrial unrest.
But unions warned it could see key workers facing the sack if they exercise their right to strike, and that if it becomes law it could ‘poison industrial relations’ and lead to more walkouts.
Ukraine cannot win back territory without Western tanks, say officials
Ukraine will not be able to take back significant territory from Russia without an increase in fighting power – including tanks and other heavy armour, Western officials have warned.
Officials said the two sides were currently too closely matched for the Ukrainians to be able to mount a successful offensive.
The warning comes as the UK Government is considering whether to become the first Western power to supply the Ukrainians with main battle tanks in the form of British Army Challenger 2s.
Weather outlook…
Today will be very windy with blustery showers in western areas, wintry over the hills of the north. Drier in the east with bright spells in the morning, but turning wetter in the afternoon, says the BBC.
Tonight, spells of heavy and persistent rain will move in from the west across the south. Drier in the north with a mix of clear spells and isolated showers, these falling wintry over the hills.
Tomorrow morning, a band of rain will push into western areas, this reaching the east later. Behind it, there will be bright spells and blustery showers, but staying cloudy and wet in the north-west
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