The price of gas rose 2% yesterday

By Suzanne Evans, Director, Political Insight

The Commonwealth Games begin in Birmingham this evening.
 
STRIKE NEWS:

• Labour leader Keir Starmer sacked his shadow transport minister Sam Tarry yesterday, after he had joined striking rail workers at Euston station. The party said he was fired for making unauthorised media appearances.
• The Guardian says unnamed senior shadow ministers have expressed private concern about the sacking, saying Labour's current policy of not allowing frontbenchers to join picket lines could become unsustainable.
• Aslef, the train drivers’ union, has announced its rail worker members have voted for further industrial action which will involve drivers walking out at nine rail companies in a dispute over pay on 13^th August. They are already set to strike on 30^th July. Meanwhile, Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union members at Network Rail and 14 train operators, as well as members of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association(TSSA) at Avanti West Coast, are still planning further strikes on 18 and 20 August. A strike is also still planned for the London Underground on 19 August.
• Meanwhile, as much of Britain’s rail network ground to a halt because of yesterday’s strikes, the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union chief, Mick Lynch, called for a general strike in retaliation to ministers’ threats to curb industrial action. The Guardian reports that he warned of “the biggest resistance mounted by the entire trade union movement” after both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, the two remaining Conservative Party leadership candidates, said they would ban strikes on essential public services.

The price of gas rose 2% yesterday, taking the price close to the record high set after Russia invaded Ukraine. The reason for the jump was Russia’s further cut in gas supplies to Germany and other central European countries via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. The pipeline is now operating at less than a fifth of its normal capacity. Before the Ukraine War, Germany imported over half of its gas from Russia, mostly via the Nord Stream 1.
 
A lesbian barrister who helped set up the LGB Alliance to challenge 'trans extremists' accused of trying to wipe out women's rights, yesterday won what is being called “a landmark free-speech battle”. Allison Bailey took her chambers, Garden Court, to an employment tribunal, saying her views wrongly resulted in her being labelled transphobic in 2019, because the set tweeted it would investigate her tweets rejecting the idea biological sex can change. The tribunal ruled Garden Court victimised and discriminated against her over her stand against LGBT lobby group Stonewall and awarded her £22,000. However, Bailey’s claim that she had lost income and been indirectly discriminated against was rejected, and a separate complaint against Stonewall that it had 'instructed, caused or influenced' the unlawful discrimination against her was also dismissed. Garden Court, which is a member of Stonewall’s "diversity champions" scheme, says it is considering an appeal.
 
TV cameras will film in some criminal courts in England and Wales for the first time from Thursday, the BBC reports. The major change in the law will allow the BBC, ITN, Sky and the Press Association to ask to film the final stage of a criminal prosecution when a judge sentences a convicted defendant. The move was first promised nine years ago. Broadcasting of entire trials will remain off limits however, and cameras will not be allowed to film victims, witnesses or jurors. The expected first broadcast will be from the Old Bailey on Thursday when a man who killed his own grandfather is sentenced.  
 
A new report from the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) says Britain's next prime minister should cut the red tape for energy, childcare and housing as they are costing stretched families £9,000 extra a year. Cash handouts to help Britons deal with spiralling costs are not appropriate, as they "act as mere sticking plasters" and drive up inflation, the IEA also says. The report claims that increased regulation in the childcare sector alone has left parents an estimated £4,000 poorer. It said UK childcare costs, which have risen to one of the highest levels in the developed world, could be cut by around 40%, or over £300 per child per month, by relaxing staff-to-children ratios and other rules. Matthew Lesh, IEA head of public policy said: "Parents should be freer to decide what sort of childcare is appropriate for their children, whether in a domestic or formal setting, the number of carers for each child and the appropriate educational qualifications."
 
The long-standing 99p price of a McDonald’s cheeseburger is soon to be no more. After 14 years, the fast-food chain is increasing the price to £1.19 as inflation soars.
 
British American Tobacco (BAT) reported a 25% drop in profits in the first half of the year yesterday, because of its exit from Russia. The FTSE 100 tobacco giant, which owns the Lucky Strike, Camel, Dunhill and Vuse vape brands, said transferring its Russian business had cost it £957m. BAT had controlled nearly a quarter of the Russian market.
 
Drinks maker Diageo reported a jump in full-year sales yesterday thanks to "resilient" demand and price increases. Net sales rose 21.4% to £15.5bn, with double-digit growth across all regions. Operating profit was up 18.2% to £4.4bn, Diageo said, adding growth had been particularly strong in its scotch, tequila and beer categories.
 
Clayton Dubilier & Rice's (CD&R) efforts to sell Motor Fuel Group are reportedly stalling. Bloomberg cites people familiar with the matter as saying that the private equity firm has seen negotiations with potential buyers falter over the asking price and the availability of financing. CD&R has been seeking a valuation of about £5bn, according to Bloomberg. The company says it is in no rush to sell the business.
 
Lloyds Banking Group says it will close a further 48 Lloyds sites and 18 Halifax branches between October 2022 and January next year. The bank says customers are shifting to online banking while visits to branches are falling: it has 19.1 million online banking customers and 15.6 million mobile app users, while visits to the branches that are closing have fallen by 60% in the last five years on average, and by 85% in some locations.
 
The US Federal Reserve hiked interest rates again yesterday. The central bank said it would increase its key rate by 0.75 percentage points, targeting a range of 2.25% to 2.5%.
 
Facebook and Instagram owner Meta has lost advertising sales, causing its first ever year-on-year revenue decline. total revenue slipped 1% to $28.8bn (£23.7bn), leading analysts to suggest the company's growth may have peaked after years of large gains, as it faces increased competition from rivals such as TikTok. Meta typically commands more than 20% of the global ad market but warned investors that ad sales were likely to fall again in the months ahead. It cited e-commerce spending falls from its pandemic boom and companies worried about inflation and the war in Ukraine spending more cautiously, the BBC reports.

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