6:41 am, February 14, 2023
University staff and civil servants to strike
University staff and civil servants will strike on Tuesday as the wave of industrial action continues to sweep the UK.
Members of the University and College Union (UCU) and the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union will mount picket lines outside universities and the British Museum in disputes over pay, pensions and working conditions.
More than 70,000 members of the UCU will begin the first of three successive days of strike action across 150 universities in the UK this week, which threaten disruption to students’ lectures and seminars Around 100 members of the PCS union at the British Museum working in visitor services and security teams are striking all week as part of a dispute over pay, pensions, redundancy terms and job security.
Nato defence ministers gather to discuss support for Ukraine, spy balloons
Nato defence ministers will gather in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday to coordinate weapons supplies for Ukraine and discuss the threat posed by spy balloons.
The meeting at the alliance’s headquarters in the Belgian capital comes ahead of the first anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
It also follows the shooting down of a series of objects in western airspace by the US military, including a suspected Chinese spy balloon. Defence secretary Ben Wallace, who is expected to join the Brussels meeting on Wednesday, has announced Britain will conduct a security review into the issue.
Search for earthquake survivors enters final hours in Turkey and Syria
The search for earthquake survivors in Turkey and Syria entered its final hours on Monday as rescuers using sniffer dogs and thermal cameras surveyed collapsed apartment blocks for any sign of life a week after the disaster.
Teams in southern Turkey’s Hatay province cheered and clapped when a 13-year-old boy identified only by his first name, Kaan, was pulled from the rubble.
Stories of such rescues have flooded the airwaves in recent days. But experts say the window for rescues has nearly closed, given the length of time that has passed, the fact that temperatures have fallen to minus 6C and the severity of the building collapses.
Sunak standing by BBC chairman amid ongoing inquiry
Rishi Sunak is standing by the under pressure BBC chairman while an investigation takes place, after a highly critical report by MPs into his appointment added to calls for Richard Sharp to stand down.
Downing Street said that Sharp retains the support of the prime minister, after MPs found the chairman made ‘significant errors of judgment’ by acting as a go-between for a loan guarantee for Boris Johnson.
Sharp is facing calls to quit, with the cross-party committee highly critical that Sharp failed to declare to MPs his role in facilitating the arrangement when he was applying for the job of BBC chairman and said he should ‘consider the impact his omissions will have’ on trust in the broadcaster. The PM on Monday said that he would await the outcome of the inquiry ordered by the Commissioner for Public Appointments, even as Labour and SNP suggested Sharp’s position is untenable.
Labour is ‘winning the argument on business’, former CBI chief says
Businesses across the UK are being ‘wooed’ by Labour, a leading businessman has said, in comments that will be a blow to Rishi Sunak’s Tories.
Paul Drechsler, former head of the Confederation of British Industry and current chair of the International Chamber of Commerce UK, said the Conservatives are ‘not just losing’ the argument on business, Labour is ‘winning it’.
There is a ‘seismic change’ in many boardrooms, with many bosses of big retailers and top firms starting to feel optimistic about Labour, he said. Writing in The Independent, Drechsler said: ‘Labour have set about convincing business that they are encouraging entrepreneurs and enterprise (and, whisper it quietly: profit).’
Three in four councils to increase council tax by maximum of five per cent from April
Millions of households face further cost-of-living pressures after research suggested three-quarters of councils will hike tax by five per cent from April.
The County Councils Network (CCN) has found 84 councils out of 114 who provide social care and have published their 2023/24 budget proposals plan to raise council tax by the maximum permitted which is 4.99 per cent.
The Labour vice-chair of CCN, and leader of Cheshire East Council, Sam Corcoran, said local authorities had ‘little choice’ but to propose increasing council tax.
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Amazon workers announce series of strikes at warehouse in pay dispute
Amazon workers have announced a series of strikes at one of the company’s warehouses in a dispute over pay.
The GMB said more than 350 staff at the fulfilment centre in Coventry will walk out on February 28, March 2 and from March 13 to 17.
The union said its members made history last month by becoming the first Amazon workers in the UK to strike in their campaign for a pay rate of £15 an hour. Amanda Gearing, GMB senior organiser, said the ‘unprecedented’ strikes showed the anger among Amazon workers in Coventry.
New buy now pay later regulations ‘set to protect 10m consumers’
Plans to strengthen rules around buy now pay later (BNPL) lending are taking another step forward, with the launch of a consultation looking at how firms would be brought under the scope of the City regulator.
Under government proposals, BNPL products will be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and customers will have new rights to take complaints to the ombudsman.
An eight-week consultation is being launched on Tuesday, looking at how firms would need to comply with FCA rules, including how they would need to spell out the key information about loans to customers. The government said the new regulations are set to help protect an estimated 10 million customers.
Monday Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
- Used electric car prices caught in vicious downward cycle as experts warn of trouble ahead
- Used car dealers urged to get creative as forecast points to bumpy recovery
- Lexus to lead Toyota’s move on electrification, says new boss
- Volvo aims for new car sales growth in 2023 as supply problems ease
Jet2holidays overtakes Tui to become UK’s largest tour operator
Jet2holidays has overtaken Tui to become the UK’s largest tour operator for the first time.
Data published by the Civil Aviation Authority shows Jet2holidays is licensed to provide package holidays to 5.9m people in the year to the end of September. That is compared with 5.3m for Tui.
Jet2holidays will operate its largest summer programme this year, featuring 65 destinations.
Weather outlook
Mist and fog will be slow to clear in southern and eastern areas before a day of sunshine, reports BBC Weather. It’ll be windy and cloudy in Northern Ireland and western Scotland.
A clear night for most parts, turning chilly. Rain will move into Northern Ireland and western Scotland towards dawn.
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