6:55 am, October 15, 2022
Truss fighting to stay in power after day of chaos in Westminster
Liz Truss’s premiership remains in peril this weekend, after she sacked her chancellor and ditched a major chunk of her mini-budget in an extraordinary gamble to stay in power.
It was unclear late on Friday whether such drastic actions could be enough to keep her in Downing Street, with the markets remaining jittery and reports of Tory MPs plotting intensely to replace her.
After three weeks of turmoil on the financial markets in the wake of Kwasi Kwarteng’s £43bn mini-budget tax giveaway, Ms Truss ended days of frenzied speculation by forcing her friend out of office and U-turning on her commitment to drop the planned rise in corporation tax from 19 per cent to 25 per cent, a central plank of her leadership campaign.
Britain is on track for a £26bn mortgage hike, think tank predicts
More than five million households are predicted to see their annual mortgage payments rise by an average of £5,100 between now and the end of 2024, according to a think tank.
Some £1,200 of the average increase predicted reflects higher expectations of interest rate rises since the ‘mini-budget’, the Resolution Foundation said.
The number of mortgages on the market nosedived following the mini-budget. Lenders have gradually been bringing back new deals but have priced their rates upwards.
Hugh Laurie among stars remembering ‘exceptional’ Robbie Coltrane
Hugh Laurie and the James Bond producers are among the stars of film and TV who have paid tribute to the ‘exceptional’ Robbie Coltrane following his death aged 72.
The Scottish actor starred in a number of classic British franchises and shows during his career including 007, Blackadder and Harry Potter, where he starred as the beloved Hogwarts gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid.
An outpouring of messages and fond memories were shared on social media following the news from his agent of 40 years, Belinda Wright, announcing that Coltrane had died on Friday.
Pound falls further and bonds under pressure despite Government tax U-turn
The Bank of England bought just £1.5bn in gilts on Friday as its intervention to prop up the markets after the chancellor’s mini-budget came to an end on the same day as he lost his job.
The pound and UK Government bonds also came back under pressure despite the Prime Minister’s decision to reverse corporation tax plans as the financial markets seek further action.
It came after a turbulent day which saw Liz Truss oust Kwasi Kwarteng after a 38-day spell as chancellor which was marked by severe volatility across the financial markets.
FTSE 100 rises but tax policy reversal a ‘sticking plaster’ on market turmoil
London markets have closed in the green after an extraordinarily turbulent week that ended with the Chancellor ousted and the Prime Minister reversing a key policy in their fiscal plan.
It has been a difficult week for the FTSE 100 which closed at an 18-month low on Wednesday that shaved off 0.9 per cent of the index’s value. The index ended the session 0.12 per cent higher, or 8.52 points, at 6,858.79.
Elsewhere, the German Dax was up by 0.93 per cent and the French Cac was 1.18 per cent higher.
Friday’s Car Dealer headlines you might have missed
- Car dealer pay packets rocket by an average of £134k thanks to bumper bonuses
- ‘Unscrupulous’ car dealer fined for knowingly selling ‘unroadworthy’ Hyundai on the day it failed MOT
- The Price may be wrong: Council investigating ‘illegal’ car dealership at luxury home of former glamour model
- More tables are released for Ben Ball 2022 as it seeks to bring in vital donations
- New national scrappage scheme could be introduced if Labour wins power
Lamborghini needs to totally embrace electrification and not just ‘greenwash’ it, says boss
The boss of Lamborghini has spoken frankly about the need to become a more sustainable carmaker and not just ‘greenwash’ it.
Lamborghini is renowned for its wild cars, powerful engines and general ostentation. Its cars today all come with huge engines – there’s a V8 in the Urus SUV, a V10 in the Huracan supercar and V12 in the recently discontinued Aventador.
But 2022 marks the last time a Lamborghini will be launched without any electrification, as next year the as-yet-unnamed Aventador replacement will arrive with a plug-in hybrid, albeit one still featuring a V12, and then in 2024 the Urus will become hybrid-only.
Read the full story here.
Two protesters arrested after throwing soup on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers
Two Just Stop Oil supporters have been arrested after throwing tinned soup at one of Vincent van Gogh’s most famous paintings to protest against fossil fuels.
The protesters, wearing Just Stop Oil T-shirts, threw two tins of Heinz Tomato soup over the 1888 work Sunflowers shortly after 11am on Friday, before kneeling down in front of the painting and appearing to glue their hands to the wall beneath it.
Tomato soup covered the image, which is covered by glass, as well as parts of the golden frame.
One in seven drivers plans switch to electric vehicle, survey finds
One in seven drivers says their next car will be electric but the cost-of-living crisis is delaying many from making the switch, a new survey suggests.
Some 14 per cent of respondents to an RAC poll of 3,102 motorists said they will buy an EV the next time they change cars.
That is up from three per cent in 2018 and ten per cent in 2021.
Royal Mail to axe around 6,000 jobs amid fresh strikes
Royal Mail will consult on up to 6,000 redundancies as the delivery giant blamed industrial action for mammoth financial losses.
Bosses urged union chiefs to call off their latest strike action and come to the table over a deal but stressed the job cut plans cannot be avoided.
Royal Mail chief executive Simon Thompson said on Friday that the planned redundancies are a “minimum” and more could take place if current strike action is extended.
Weather outlook
Today will see overnight rain clear northwards. It will then be breezy with sunshine, variable cloud and blustery showers, mainly in western areas. The showers will be heavy at times, the BBC reports.
Tonight, it will be breezy with cloudy skies and further scattered showers in northern and western areas, becoming confined to Scotland and Northern Ireland later on. Clear spells elsewhere.
Tomorrow, west and north Scotland will see showers clear to the north, with sunny spells developing for much of the UK as the winds ease. Turning cloudy and wet in the south-west in the evening.
