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News
Bank of England hints at negative interest rates
One of the Bank of England's policymakers has described evidence surrounding negative interest rates as "encouraging", hinting that a move could be on the horizon. As recently as last week, the Bank's governor, Andrew Bailey, had distanced himself from the idea, insisting that the central bank needed to make sure ...
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Second Covid-19 wave would be 'knockout punch' for High Street
A sustained second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic would deliver a "knockout punch" to the UK's High Street, according to a new report. The Global Property Development Trends report found that as much as 12 million m 2 of retail space has been closed down since the start of the ...
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CBI: EU trade deal 'must be agreed'
A trade deal with the EU "can and must be made", the head of the CBI has warned as the latest round of negotiations begin in Brussels. With the Brexit transition period ending on 31 December, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that a trade deal must be agreed with ...
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Pub owners slam 10pm curfew
New government restrictions requiring pubs and restaurants to close at 10pm will be "the final nail in the coffin" for many businesses, pub owners have warned. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and First Minister Mark Drakeford announced the latest measures for England and Wales in national broadcasts last night, saying they ...
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Bank of England urges furlough 'rethink'
Image: Bank of England The governor of the Bank of England is calling on the government to "stop and rethink" its plan to halt the furlough scheme at the end of October. On a webinar hosted by the British Chambers of Commerce, Andrew Bailey repeated calls for targeted, industry-specific ...
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Governments urged not to cut spending and raise taxes
Governments around the world should not cut spending and raise taxes until after their economies have recovered from the Covid-19 crisis, according to the global think tank. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) believes governments should continue further borrowing into 2021 to ensure that the poorest households and ...
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'Redundancy floodgates' will open without new furlough
"Redundancy floodgates" will open if the government fails to extend the furlough scheme, according to the Unite union. With the government's Job Retention Scheme coming to an end on 31 October, the union is warning that many workers in the UK should expect a "miserable Christmas". The Chancellor Rishi Sunak ...
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CBI calls for green recovery
The government must focus on creating environmentally-focused jobs and projects as we recover from the Covid-19 pandemic in order to boost growth and productivity, according to one of the UK's most influential business lobby groups. Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the CBI, is calling on the government to turn ...
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Redundancies 'twice as bad' as last recession
The jobs crisis is understood to be twice as bad as during the last recession in 2009, according to new figures. The Institute for Employment Studies (IES) has found that employers in the UK planned 380,000 redundancies between May and July this year, compared with 180,000 between January and March ...
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NewsSocial distancing app trialled
An app that alerts users when they are not adhering to social distancing is being trialed by Network Rail. Mind the Gap, which has been developed by Hack Partners, is designed to help organisations bring staff back to the office while being able to maintain safe distances. It uses a ...
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Working from home 'damaging' economy, Raab says
The ongoing trend of working from home is "damaging" the UK economy, according to foreign secretary Dominic Raab. "The economy needs to have people back at work," he told the BBC. Speaking on the Andrew Marr programme, he said: "It is important to send a message that we need to ...
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Government planning law to override Withdrawal Agreement
The UK government has been accused of "self-defeating strategy" after a report suggested it was planning to introduce new laws that would allow it to override parts of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. According to the Financial Times, the Internal Market Bill would enable the government to "eliminate" areas of the ...
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Youth jobs scheme 'not enough' to beat recession
The UK will suffer a "lost generation" of young people if more is not done to support employers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). The government has created a £2 billion fund to protect and boost job creation for the 16-25 year olds, ...
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Sunak 'considering' 24% corporation tax
Businesses in the UK could be facing an increase in corporation tax as the Chancellor Rishi Sunak considers ways to pay off debt sparked by Covid-19. According to a report by the Sunday Times, Mr Sunak is considering raising the corporate rate of tax from 19% to 24% in a ...
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Will proptech see an uprising?
By Michael Baxter, Fresh Business Thinking It is changing slowly, but maybe proptech is close to seeing an uprising, at least that was one prediction from a recent proptech roundtable hosted by The Great British Entrepreneur Awards and haysmacintyre . Not much really, just an uprising. Proptech, it seems, has ...
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Ghost towns 'inevitable' if offices don't return
City centres are likely to become "ghost towns" if the government doesn't encourage workers back to offices, the head of the CBI has warned. Dame Carolyn Fairbairn acknowledged that allowing staff to work from home had helped to keep many businesses operating during lockdown. But she believes that thousands of ...
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Low-paid workers get £13 day for self-isolation
Low paid workers in parts of England with high rates of Covid-19 cases will be given £13 a day if they are required to self-isolate, as part of a trial launched by the government. From Tuesday, those claiming Universal Credit or Working Tax Credit and are unable to work from ...
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Two thirds of furloughed staff still worked
Two-thirds of staff placed on furlough continued to work in some capacity, according to a major study. The study by Oxford, Cambridge and Zurich universities suggests around six million furloughed staff have broken the rules which stated the Job Retention Scheme could only be claimed on the condition that staff ...
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Retail sales bounce back to pre-Covid levels
Image: Georgie Pauwels Retail sales in the UK bounced back to pre-pandemic levels in July, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figures showed a 3.6% rise in sales volumes between June and July, while sales are overall 3% higher than in February before the UK went ...
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Job losses may increase regional inequality
Job losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic will worsen regional inequality in the UK, Labour has warned. The party said areas with high percentages of workers in the sectors hardest hit by lockdown measures - aviation, retail and manufacturing - would feel the effects of job losses the most. The ...
