RMT union has announced "the biggest dispute on the railway network since 1989"

By Suzanne Evans, Director, Political Insight

The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union has announced "the biggest dispute on the railway network since 1989,” calling nationwide strikes on June 21, 23, and 25. More than 50,000 workers from Network Rail and 13 rail franchise operators will walk out on June 21 – a move that will coincide with a strike on the London Underground - and a further 40,000 union members will strike on the subsequent dates. Because signal workers from state-owned Network Rail have voted to strike, it will be impossible to run anything other than a skeleton service on those days. The Telegraph says the timing of the strikes is an attempt by “militant” union chiefs to pile pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson as the dates coincide with crucial by-elections. “The railway system will be crippled as voters cast their ballots in by-elections in Wakefield, in Yorkshire, and Tiverton and Honiton, in Devon, following the resignations of Conservative MPs Imran Ahmad Khan and Neil Parish,” the newspaper reports, adding that the industrial action will also “wreak havoc” for festival-goers travelling to Glastonbury, cricket fans heading to the third test between England and New Zealand in Leeds, and disrupt those making their way to Armed Forces Day celebrations on June 25.
 
The £3bn connection between HS2, the West Coast Main Line, and Scotland, has been “quietly” ditched, The Independent reports. The decision to axe the 13-mile high-speed Golborne link was announced by HS2 minister Andrew Stephenson on Monday night, just 30 minutes before the outcome of Boris Johnson’s crunch leadership vote. Engineers warned the government weeks ago that removing the Golborne link was “short-sighted” and “hobbles” the value of HS2, and Britain’s three rail industry bodies have strongly criticised its removal, saying it will cause a “bottleneck” that will “negatively impact outcomes for passengers, decarbonisation and levelling up.” In a joint statement, they said: “It is hugely disappointing to discover that, on a day when much political attention was focused elsewhere, the government confirmed that the Golborne link is to be removed from the HS2 project”. They added: “Given the government has now decided that it does not wish to proceed with the Golborne link, it is absolutely essential it confirms as quickly as possible how ministers intend to protect the benefits of HS2 investment, and does so without delay. Such an important, strategic question of how HS2 services connect into Scotland cannot be left open or uncertain”. Six months ago, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps scrapped the eastern leg of the project to Leeds, leading Labour leader Keir Starmer to accuse the government of “betraying the north” and to allege that the ‘levelling-up agenda’ was “just a slogan”.
 
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has reaffirmed his commitment to cut taxes for business in the autumn, in the year in a speech to the Onward think tank. “We will be setting out a range of tax cuts and reforms to incentivise businesses to invest more, train more and innovate more,” he said.
 
British Gas owner, Centrica, has warned that Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s windfall taxes will “damage investor confidence”. Centrica chairman, Scott Wheway, and its CEO Chris O’Shea, hit out at the chancellor’s 25% levy on oil and gas operators’ excess profits, which will be used to pay for measures to reduce soaring energy bills. Speaking at Tuesday’s annual shareholder meeting in Leicester, Wheway said: “We’ve got every empathy with the plight of many customers presently, that are facing difficulties in managing their energy bills, and we welcome action to help those customers. But we also share a lot of concern around choices that may be made to apply taxes to energy production, which – although they may derive short term benefits – can cause medium and long term problems, because we know that the industry that we’re in is a very long term industry. And we’d urge everyone thinking of those things to strike the right balance.” O’Shea said: “It’s clear that the energy market is going through rapid change. And the opportunities from this transition are enormous. However the recent intervention in the form of a windfall tax in the UK creates uncertainty and damages investor confidence”.
 
The cost of filling up the car has risen again – for the third time in six days the price of petrol and diesel have hit record highs. Petrol set a new record of 178.5p a litre yesterday morning, increasing by 0.6p in just 24 hours, while the price of diesel increased to 185.2p a litre. "The cost of filling a 55-litre family car with petrol has now topped £98 for the first time in history," said Simon Williams, a spokesperson for the RAC. The cost of a tank of diesel is now £101.86. Meanwhile, the BBC reports that soaring fuel prices have put the haulage industry in crisis with the cost of running one lorry up £20,000 on last year, according to one freight boss. Lesley O'Brien, director of Freight Link Europe, said "pretty much everything you buy comes on the back of a truck," meaning customers were paying more.
 
Boris Johnson’s infrastructure tsar has said gas boilers should be completely banned by 2035 to tackle the cost-of-living crisis and help Britain meet its green ambitions. Sir John Armitt, chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission, said "the soaring price of gas" has made the case for decarbonisation more urgent. “Government cannot remain cautious,” he said. “Ministers have made bold interventions to end the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles, showing what can be achieved. It’s time that the Government gives similar certainty to decarbonising heat by funding pathfinder projects to decarbonise 30,000 homes in the next five years and by banning the sale of natural gas boilers in the UK by 2035.” “A cut-off date with necessary milestones in place would provide certainty for investors in greener alternatives and provide a spur to industry to accelerate innovation which will in turn reduce upfront costs for consumers,” he added. Government sources told The Telegraph that Sir John’s invention failed to take account of the fact there is “no silver bullet” to wean households off natural gas but is aiming to phase out new installations from 2035 “to cheaper, more efficient alternatives”.
 
Growth in the UK services sector slowed sharply in May, dipping to its weakest point since early 2021 according to the S&P Global IHS Markit/CIPS UK services PMI survey. The survey returned a score of 53.4 in May, dropping from a 58.9 reading in April. S&P attributes the fall to fears about soaring costs and the risk of a recession, however any score above 50 still shows growth.
 
PwC has been fined a total of £5 million by the Financial Reporting Council(FRC) for auditing failures in its long-term contracts with Galliford Try and Kier Group. Claudia Mortimore, a lawyer at the FRC, said: “Rigorous auditing of long-term contract accounting is particularly important in the audit of construction companies, where many contracts are spread over a number of years. Auditors must not only ensure that they obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to support the accounting of the contracts, but also apply sufficient professional scepticism.”
 
JD Sports and Elite Sports, along with Rangers Football Club, have been accused of illegal price fixing by the Competition and Markets Authority(CMA), which alleges the three parties conspired to fix prices for club merchandise. Yahoo Finance UK says the CMA claims JD Sports agreed to raise its price for the Rangers adult short-sleeved home replica shirt by nearly 10%, from £55 to £60, to bring it in line with the prices being charged by Elite, between September 2018 and July 2019. The CMA said the three parties could expect heavy fines if found guilty. JD confirmed it had received a draft penalty notice from the CMA and said it would add a £2m provision for the fine in its financial statements. The CMA also believes that Elite and JD – this time without involvement from Rangers – worked together to fix the prices of Rangers-branded clothing – including training wear and replica kit – over a longer period.
 
FTSE 100 company Smiths Group, one of Britain's largest industrial companies, has ditched plans for a multimillion pound share windfall for top executives following an investor backlash. Sky News has learnt that Smiths Group consulted its top shareholders about a one-off award that City sources said on Tuesday would have been worth "a substantial sum" to the company's most senior managers. Smiths declined to comment.
 
Online car dealership Cazoo is axing around 750 jobs across the UK and Europe as part of a major cost-cutting programme aimed at saving £200m by the end of next year. Yahoo Finance UK says Cazoo, which was founded in 2018 and is based in London but listed in America, plans to slash its workforce by about 15% and slow the pace of new hiring, delay a number of planned investment projects and slow near-term growth aims as part of the cost-savings drive
 
Self-storage company Big Yellow has been given planning approval to develop nine industrial units with a total space of 99,000 square feet on the Causeway in Staines.
 
A British start-up that organises sports challenges and is backed by Serena Williams and Usain Bolt has raised $60m in funding to continue its global expansion, Sky News reports.  Let's Do This was founded in 2016 and has since amassed more than five million active users on its online platform, helping people to take part in races, bike rides, and triathlons - a market worth $18bn (£14.38bn). Some of those events include Hackney Moves, The Great North Run and the Oxford Half.
 
Marks & Spencer is to pay its first female CEO a £750,000 salary for working a four-day week, effectively almost £140,000 more than her male counterpart who will work full-time. Katie Bickerstaffe was announced as the high street stalwart’s co-chief executive alongside Stuart Machin in March. Machin, who is de-facto chief executive and whom Ms Bickerstaffe will report to, will receive an annual salary of £800,000. Meanwhile, former M&S boss Steve Rowe saw his pay packet for the last year more than double to £2.6m, including bonuses. CFO Eoin Tonge received a £1.85m package for 2021/22, representing a slight decrease on the previous financial year.
 
Insurance company LV= has appointed financial veteran Simon Moore as its new chairman, succeeding Seamus Creedon who will continue in his role as a non-executive director on the LV= board. The Evening Standard says the move will be seen as an attempt to steady the course of the ship as, customers of the company are calling for CEO Mark Hartigan to step down immediately following his abortive attempt to sell the mutual insurer to US private equity firm Bain Capital.
 
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has conducted a survey of almost 10,000 nursing staff and concluded that racism is “endemic” in health and care because white nurses are twice as likely as their black and Asian colleagues to get promoted.
 
More than two in five recent buy now, pay later (BNPL) shoppers relied on credit cards or other forms of borrowing to pay off what they owed, Citizens Advice has said, meaning shoppers are “piling borrowing on top of borrowing”. The charity underlined the urgent need for BNPL to be regulated, which the government has said it will do, via the Financial Conduct Authority, although this is unlikely to happen until later this year or in 2023. Citizens Advice wants regulation to including affordability checks by all participating firms, and clearer information at online checkouts.
 
The European Union has agreed in principle new rules which mean all smartphones sold in the bloc will be required to have a USB-C port for charging. The rules are set to come into effect by autumn 2024 and will have a substantial impact on Apple’s iPhone, which is the only major smartphone not to already use the connection, as it uses its own Lightning port for wired charging. The EU said the new rules aim to reduce hassle for consumers and curb electronic waste by removing the need to buy a new charger with a new device. The move is expected to be rubber stamped by the European Parliament and European Council later this year.

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