Greg Hands MP has been appointed a minister of state for trade

By Suzanne Evans, Director, Political Insight

Greg Hands MP has been appointed a minister of state for trade, the prime minister's office said in a statement yesterday. “An honour and a great privilege to be in His Majesty’s Government,” Hands said in a tweet following his appointment, which comes after his predecessor Conor Burns MP was sacked on Friday and suspended from the parliamentary Conservative Party following a "complaint of serious misconduct" at its annual conference last week.

The Deputy Governor of the Bank of England (BoE), Dave Ramsden, hinted on Friday that he thought raising interest rates is the only way to tame inflation. Ramsden, who is also a member of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was discussing shocks, uncertainty, and the monetary policy response in a speech at the Securities Industry Conference. Inflation was running at 9.9% in August, nearly five times the Bank's 2% target. "Unlike earlier inflationary episodes, where we saw more persistence in inflation caused by ineffective policy and policy frameworks, this time we have a monetary policy framework which empowers us to take action," he said. "However difficult the consequences might be for the economy, the MPC must stay the course and set monetary policy to return inflation to achieve the 2% target sustainably in the medium term, consistent with the remit given to us." He also highlighted four shocks facing the UK economy in his address: the Russian invasion of Ukraine; the fall in UK labour market participation; UK fiscal policy and financial market turbulence. Ramsden also said chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's mini-budget may add materially to inflation as he signalled that all nine rate-setters on the MPC plan to act "forcefully" to tackle rampant price growth.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released statistics showing that British businesses are collapsing at the fastest pace since 2009. There were 5,629 insolvencies in England and Wales in the second quarter. The sharp jump in energy bills was cited by failing businesses as the biggest problem, with other difficulties including paying debt, the rising costs of raw materials and supply chain disruptions. Although the squeeze on finances has hit all sectors, construction, retail and accommodation and food services suffered the highest number of insolvencies in the first half of the year. Construction businesses accounted for 20% of all insolvencies, with the industry registering 2,083 failures, followed by the wholesale and retail sector at 14%.

The ONS has also published its latest labour productivity statistics, showing that it has stabilised at levels similar to pre-covid. Output per hour worked was 1.8% higher in Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2022 than the average level in 2019. Output per worker was 0.9% above the pre-covid level but 0.3% lower relative to Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2022. Output per job was 0.3% above the pre-coronavirus pandemic level. However, public service productivity is still 6.5% below the pre-coronavirus pandemic level.

A survey from KPMG and the Recruitment & Employers Confederation(REC) suggests that the labour market has lost steam as growth in demand for permanent and temporary staff weakened in September. Businesses are being more cautions when it comes to hiring amid a weaker economic outlook which has also discouraged workers from changing jobs, the report said. “Some employers, even those who anticipate that the recession may be short, are taking steps now to contain costs, including hiring freezes, ”Claire Warnes, head of education, skills and productivity at KPMG UK, said. London saw the biggest rise in permanent staff appointments, while the south of England saw the first reduction in 19 months.

The Post Office says it is handling increasing amounts of cash because high street banks are closing branches. In August, traditionally a month when cash usage falls, it handled £3.45bn in cash, the largest amount since it began keeping records five years ago. The September total of £3.35bn would have been even higher without the extra bank holiday for the Queen's funeral, it said. Martin Kearsley, banking director at the Post Office says the 11,500 local Post Office branches around the country are now “the only ones able to fulfil all the cash needs of their local communities and businesses".

Car manufacturers in India have proposed cutting to 30% the tax rate on imported cars as part of a trade deal with Britain, sources told Reuters, an unprecedented move that could ease access to one of the world's most protected automobile markets.

ScotRail has warned of widespread disruption as staff stage a 24-hour strike after the RMT union rejected the latest pay offer made to non-driving rail workers such as dispatchers, station staff, conductors, ticket examiners and cleaners. There are no services running between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Hackers have stolen around $100m (£90.18m) worth of cryptocurrency from a Binance-linked blockchain, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said in a tweet. Zhao said the tokens were stolen from a blockchain 'bridge' used in the Binance-linked blockchain called BNB Chain, known as Binance Smart Chain until February.

In the US, Twitter’s lawsuit against Elon Musk has been halted by a judge in Delaware, giving the billionaire time to finance his $44bn (£39.68bn) takeover of the social media platform.

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