6:47 am, March 11, 2023
MOTD commentators boycott BBC show
Saturday’s Match Of The Day will go ahead without a presenter, pundits and several regular commentators, following the fallout over Gary Lineker’s removal from the BBC show.
Former England footballers and MOTD regulars including Alan Shearer and Ian Wright previously announced they would be boycotting the show, in solidarity with Lineker.
Late on Friday evening several of the show’s commentators shared a joint statement online, announcing they would also be stepping down from Saturday’s broadcast.
Chancellor insists he wants ‘most competitive’ business taxes
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said he wanted Britain to have ‘the most competitive business tax rates’ as he faced calls to scrap a planned hike in corporation tax.
Ahead of the Budget on March 15, Hunt said the increase in the main rate from 19 per cent to 25 per cent due in April would still leave the UK with a lower rate than ‘nearly all’ major rivals.
The Chancellor said he wanted to lower the tax burden on businesses, but ‘it’s not something we’re going to be able to do all in one go’.
Poll suggests stopping Channel crossings not public’s main priority
Fewer than a fifth of adults consider new laws on stopping Channel crossings to be among their main concerns – despite Rishi Sunak’s claim that it is the ‘people’s priority’, new polling has suggested.
Easing the cost of living, reducing NHS waiting lists, growing the economy and creating better-paid jobs are all seen as bigger concerns, according to research by Ipsos.
The online survey of 1,000 UK adults was carried out this week after the government announced its controversial new proposals to tackle small boat crossings under the Illegal Migration Bill.
Drivers accused of failing to take notice of weather warnings
Too many drivers ignored warnings to avoid non-essential journeys, National Highways suggested as many people spent hours stuck on the M62 in severe weather.
The government-owned company responsible for England’s motorways and major A roads insisted it ‘threw everything’ at keeping traffic moving but struggled due to the volume of traffic and drivers ignoring lane closures.
Asked if too many drivers ignored the weather warnings, National Highways operational control director Andrew Page-Dove told the PA news agency: ‘I think the volume of the traffic speaks for itself, particularly this morning. The M62 was queued back to Manchester.’
Friday’s Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
- Auto Trader identifies the three biggest forces of change facing car dealers
- MG boss calls agency model a ‘margin grab’ and believes many will fail due to manufacturer arrogance
- Big Motoring World boss praises Manheim as new deal struck
- MG4 scoops UK Car of the Year 2023 title
- Dodgy car dealer banned from running company after Mini Cooper scam cons customers out of almost £20,000
- New business in consumer car finance sector dropped by three per cent in January
Joe Biden and EU leader launch talks to ease rift on electrical vehicle taxes
US President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have agreed to open negotiations on the use of European minerals critical in the production of batteries for electric vehicles that are eligible for US tax credits, in a potential boost for EVs.
The two sides agreed to start talks on easing differences between the US and European Union over electric vehicle tax credits included in Mr Biden’s roughly 375 billion US dollar clean energy law that passed last year.
The legislation includes incentives for the purchase of vehicles — if they are largely manufactured in the United States.
Government plans £1bn per year for carbon capture technology
The government has announced a new plan to funnel around £1bn a year into technology which can help capture carbon emissions before they are released into the atmosphere.
The Chancellor will next week set out what he promises to be a ‘clean energy reset’ with extra money for carbon capture and new promises on nuclear power.
However in an announcement on Friday evening, the Treasury promised nothing new to help wind or solar developers.
Earlier this week, the Government’s official advisers in the Climate Change Committee forecast that around 70 per cent of British electricity will come from solar and wind farms by 2035.
Failure of US bank spooks markets in London
Malaise appeared to infect markets on Friday as some of London’s biggest banks and financial companies were spooked by the biggest failure of a US bank since the 2008 financial crisis.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said there was a ‘state of mild panic’ surrounding shares in the financial sector amid the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, which was put under government control on Friday afternoon.
It resulted in big falls for the two biggest international banks on the FTSE 100, HSBC and Standard Chartered, which dropped more than 4.5 per cent.
Mainly rain
Today there will be cloud and rain spreading northeast that will turn to snow over high ground of the west as well as low levels further north during the evening, according to the Met Office.
It will be cold but becoming much milder for the west and southwest.
There will still be some snow in low levels in the north this evening but it’ll be short-lived where it falls in central areas.
