Published: 06 February 2023
By Suzanne Evans, Director, Political Insight
Nurses and ambulance workers are on strike today, walking out simultaneously for the first time, and making the strike the largest in the 75-year history of the NHS. Around a third of NHS Trusts in England will be affected by the nurses’ strike. Most action planned for Wales was suspended after a new pay offer.
British employers' pay award increases are on course to hit a median of 6% in January, the highest reading in over 30 years, provisional data from human resources information provider XpertHR showed on Friday. The figures, provided to Reuters, follow a warning issued by Bank of England Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent on Thursday that settlements at this level were inconsistent with the central bank's 2% inflation target.
The Bank of England (BoE) and The Treasury think Britain is likely to need to create a central bank digital currency (CBDC) later this decade, the Telegraph said on Saturday, citing an unreleased government report. "On the basis of our work to date, the BoE and HM Treasury judge that it is likely a digital pound will be needed in the future," the newspaper quoted BoE Governor Andrew Bailey and finance minister Jeremy Hunt as saying in the joint report. "It is too early to commit to build the infrastructure for one, but we are convinced that further preparatory work is justified," the Telegraph quoted the report saying. The BoE declined to comment on the article, but said a joint consultation on CBDC issues would be published shortly. A government source said the report would be published next week.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) blocked more than 8,500 adverts last year, it said on Friday. The financial regulator said it had required firms to amend or remove a total of 8,582 promotions, 14 times more than in 2021. It also issued over 1,800 alerts about scams, a 34% increase on 2021. In particular, the FCA cited “growing concern” around the role of so-called fin-influencers, individuals who use social media to promote investments despite not being regulated. The FCA said it had acted against several social media influencers over the last year.
Meanwhile, MPs on the Treasury Committee have labelled new proposals to reimburse fraud victims as “fundamentally flawed” because a body sponsored by the banking industry would be in charge of making sure banks issue refunds. The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) is suggesting banks and building societies reimburse victims of authorised push payment scams within two days of the fraud being reported where the loss is over £100, but MPs argue there is a potential conflict of interest as, rather than taking control of implementing mandatory reimbursement itself, the PSR is proposing handing responsibility to a separate body – Pay.UK – which is guaranteed by the financial services industry. Harriett Baldwin, chair of the Treasury committee, said: “While these new proposals are a step in the right direction, the way the regulator plans to implement them is fundamentally flawed. Putting an industry body in charge of reimbursing scam victims is like asking a fox to guard the henhouse”.
Business Secretary Grant Shapps has said that energy regulator Ofgem had allowed itself to have "the wool pulled over their eyes" over last week’s scandal involving prepayment meters being fitted into the homes of vulnerable customers by force. Shapps accused Ofgem of taking the energy companies "at face value" instead of listening to customers. The Times broke the news that an agency working for British Gas was breaking into homes to fit the meters, which require advance payment. Ofgem said it shared Shapps' shock at that report.
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss blamed a left-leaning orthodoxy at the Treasury, as well as some MPs in the Conservative Party for derailing her premiership and "plan for growth". Truss's tenure was cut short last year after just over six turbulent weeks in power. Writing yesterday in the Sunday Telegraph, Truss said she still believed her recipe for cutting taxes and removing some regulation was the right one, but that she was unsuccessful, because she had underestimated "the blob of vested interests". “I am not claiming to be blameless in what happened, but fundamentally I was not given a realistic chance to enact my policies by a very powerful economic establishment, coupled with a lack of political support," she argued. "I assumed upon entering Downing Street that my mandate would be respected and accepted. How wrong I was. While I anticipated resistance to my programme from the system, I underestimated the extent of it." Truss also wrote that she had underestimated "the resistance inside the Conservative parliamentary party to move to a lower-tax, less-regulated economy" and a drive on the global stage to "limit competition" between major economies. "As I had spelled out during the leadership campaign, I wanted to go for growth ... But this was not in line with the instinctive views of the Treasury or the wider orthodox economic ecosystem."
New car registrations have risen for the sixth consecutive month, recording an about 14% annual rise in January, according to preliminary industry data released earlier today. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said it expects registrations to rise 11% to 1.79 million units in 2023, despite strained supply chains and inflationary pressures in the UK.
Ofcom said on Friday it was minded to back BT Group's planned Openreach wholesale prices, arguing they were not anti-competitive. "We consider that the offer is not anti-competitive and is consistent with the results we consulted on before introducing them under our market review in 2021," the telecoms regulator said. A consultation will now follow the provisional finding, however, with Ofcom's final decision due at the end of March. BT is currently building what will be the UK's biggest fibre to the premises network.
Australian firm Recharge Industries has been named as the preferred bidder for Britishvolt, the UK battery start-up which collapsed last month. Recharge is building a facility in Australia to produce batteries for electric vehicles. Britishvolt had planned to build a giant factory to make electric car batteries in Blyth, Northumberland, and had hoped to create 3,000 skilled jobs. Instead, more than 200 people lost their jobs when Britishvolt collapsed. EY, the accountancy firm and administrator to Britishvolt which has been overseeing the sale of the firm, said: "Completion of the acquisition is expected to occur within the next seven days," giving no further details.
Britain's blue-chip FTSE 100 index hit a record high on Friday, rising to 7,906.58 at 15:45 GMT, surpassing a previous record high of 7,903.50 hit on May 22 2018. It has fallen back 70.85% to 7,834.82 at the time of writing this morning.
FTSE 100 chemicals company Croda has agreed to acquire South Korean biomaterials firm Solus Biotech for KRW 350.0bn (£232m) on a cash and debt-free basis.
Thungela Resources has agreed to buy a controlling stake in the Ensham coal mine in Australia from Idemitsu to diversify its geographic reach. London-listed Thungela, which was spun off from Anglo American, will buy an 85% interest in the Ensham mine through a new company, Sungela Holdings. The acquisition comprises an AUD267m (£153m) subscription from Thungela, together with an AUD68m (£39m) loan from co-investors Audley Energy and Mayfair. The remaining 15% stake is owned by LXI.
FTSE 250 molten metal flow engineering and technology firm Vesuviushas said it has been hit by a cyber-attack involving "unauthorised access" to affected systems, which it has now shut down. "We are taking steps to comply with all relevant regulatory obligations in light of the information that emerges from our ongoing investigations," a statement said.
Shares in London-listed Nanoco Group tumbled on Friday after the London-listed tech firm, despite confirming it had struck a $150m (£124.43m) settlement with Samsung. Nanoco, a specialist in nano-materials with well over 500 patents, filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the Korean electronics group in early 2020, and last month confirmed it had reached an out of court settlement in its favour. Nanoco will retain over $90m (£74.66m) after litigation costs. Chair Chris Richards said the board would now look to allocate the proceeds, taking any investment needs into account alongside a "firm intention" to deliver a material return of capital to shareholders. However, by 1115 GMT, the stock had plunged 26% to 27.2p.
Japanese industrial company Daikin has signed a deal to deploy heat pumps in some of Manchester’s public buildings and act as a test bed for the technology, the company told Reuters. Daikin - one of the world's largest air conditioning manufacturers - will provide heat pumps and cooling systems to public buildings including social housing in the city that will be monitored and tested remotely. Manchester plans to become carbon neutral in 2038, 12 years ahead of the rest of Britain.
The Brit School in Croydon, south London, a renowned music school which launched Adele and Amy Winehouse is looking to expand to Bradford. It has submitted plans to the Department for Education (DfE).
A US jury has found that neither Tesla nor its boss Elon Musk were liable for misleading investors when he tweeted that funding was secured to take the electric car manufacturer private in 2018. 'Thank goodness, the wisdom of the people has prevailed,' Elon Musk said on Twitter, adding that he was 'deeply appreciative' of the decision. The jury came back with a unanimous verdict roughly two hours after beginning deliberations, clearly agreeing with Musk's lawyer Alex Spiro who, in his closing argument, said: "Just because it's a bad tweet doesn't make it fraud". Plaintiffs had claimed billions of dollars in damages.
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