6:41 am, July 16, 2024
Prime minister launches review to strengthen UK’s defence
Sir Keir Starmer has launched a review of the UK’s defence to protect the country from a ‘more dangerous and volatile world’.
The prime minister said spending would be ‘responsibly increased’ to bolster Britain’s ‘hollowed-out armed forces’.
It comes after Sir Keir reaffirmed his commitment to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP (gross domestic product) at the Nato summit in Washington last week.
Business and trade secretary to tell G7 ‘Britain is back’ and ‘open for business’
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds will say a ‘confident, outward-looking’ UK is ‘open for business’ at the G7 trade ministers’ meeting.
He will set out the new Labour government’s strategy to reset relations and remove barriers to trade during his first international visit as business and trade secretary.
The trip comes in the same week that the new European Union relations minister heads to Brussels, and Sir Keir Starmer hosts the European Political Community summit at Blenheim Palace.
Body found in Tenerife search for missing Briton Jay Slater
A body has been found by Spanish police searching for missing Briton Jay Slater, it has been reported.
The 19-year-old, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, disappeared after setting off to walk back to his accommodation on the Spanish holiday island of Tenerife on June 17.
In a widely reported statement, Spanish police said a body had been found in the Masca area by the Civil Guard’s mountain rescue team. The statement said evidence suggested the remains were those of Jay and that he could have died because of an accidental fall.
Asylum seekers stage protest at Bibby Stockholm to end ‘limbo’ on barge
Asylum seekers living on the Bibby Stockholm have staged a protest calling for the government to end their wait in limbo and speed up decision-making on their claims for refuge in the UK.
Stand up to Racism Dorset said around 60 to 100 people accommodated on the Home Office-run barge took part in the action, including withdrawing from meals and organising a two-hour sit-in at the site’s outside compound.
A spokesperson said almost all of the men have been waiting more than a year, and ‘many much longer’, to know the outcomes to decide their futures which is causing a ‘significant deterioration in their mental health’.
Retailers under highest stress since Covid, research suggests
Stress across retailers and consumer business has hit its highest level since the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, according to research.
Research published by law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges found that weaker spending power and issues in supply chains have weighed on the sector in recent months. Nevertheless, the data also suggested some firms are cautiously optimistic about their economic recovery, with experts suggesting UK companies could benefit from post-election certainty.
The Weil European Distress Index found that retail and consumer goods firms reported particularly high levels of distress in the second quarter of 2024.
Trump receives enough delegate votes to be official Republicans’ nominee
The top of the Republicans’ presidential ticket came together on Monday, as Donald Trump swept a majority of votes from national convention delegates and announced Ohio Senator JD Vance as his vice presidential running mate.
After receiving the votes of enough delegates to clinch the nomination, former president Trump will lead the Republican party in a third consecutive election.
Trump has been the presumptive nominee for months. But it was the vote of Republican National Convention delegates in Milwaukee that made it official on Monday.
Monday Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
- Cawdor Cars owner must pay out more than £26,000 for deliberately coughing in disabled employee’s face during pandemic
- JLR will cut five Jaguar models to boost profits, says CEO
- Germany to abstain in first EU vote on Chinese EV tariffs, report claims
- How can car dealers really use AI in business? – Car Dealer Live video
- Only 1 in 7 of today’s Chinese EV brands will be profitable by the end of the decade, analyst claims
- Young people want to buy used cars but they are being ‘priced off the road’ – survey
Royal Mail bidder vows to maintain six-day service
Royal Mail’s prospective new owner has vowed to maintain the service’s requirement to deliver letters six days a week throughout the UK.
The postal service’s owner International Distribution Services (IDS) agreed to a £3.57bn takeover offer from Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group in May.
The move will see it taken off the public markets and into the hands of Kretinsky’s firm, which already has a 27% shareholding in the business. Royal Mail shareholders will vote on the deal at their next meeting on September 27.
Campaigners at Court of Appeal over Stonehenge road decision
Campaigners bidding to halt a planned road near Stonehenge have begun their latest legal challenge at the Court of Appeal.
Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site (SSWHS) previously brought a challenge over proposals to build a two-mile tunnel near the Salisbury landmark to overhaul eight miles of the A303 from Amesbury to Berwick Down in Wiltshire.
In a ruling earlier this year, Mr Justice Holgate dismissed the campaigners’ bid to overturn that decision, finding most parts of their case ‘unarguable’. SSWHS are now bringing an appeal against this decision at the Court of Appeal in London.
New Mercedes-AMG GT 63 Pro gets more power and track-focused features
Mercedes-AMG has revealed a more hardcore version of its GT 63 with the latest Pro model.
The ‘regular’ car’s 4.0-litre V8 bi-turbo engine has been tuned to develop 603bhp and 850Nm of torque – 26bhp and 50Nm more than before.
New aero features, including a fixed rear wing, while the Pro getsthe largest ceramic brake discs fitted to any AMG product. Pricing will be confirmed later.
Weather
A cloudy start with showers but these will clear later on, reports BBC Weather. The west will see sunny spells this afternoon, while the east will battle with heavy scattered showers. Highs of just 20 degrees.
It’ll turn drier tonight with clear spells for most, with some patchy cloud lingering in the north.
