Health Secretary threatens nurses with legal action; and the PM charms businesses

Steve Barclay, Secretary of State for Health, said on Friday he will take legal action to prevent upcoming strikes planned by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN). "Following a request from NHS Employers I have regretfully provided notice of my intent to pursue legal action to ask the courts to declare the Royal College of Nursing's upcoming strike action planned for 30 April to 2 May to be unlawful," he said in a statement. Last week, nurses in England rejected an offer of a 5% pay rise accepted by other health service workers. The RCN then said its members would stage the 48-hour strike and be joined in doing so for the first time by nursing staff from emergency departments, intensive care units, cancer care and other services that were previously exempt. Responding to Barclay’s announcement, the RCN said: “Bullying nurses and dragging us through the highest courts would not be a good look for government. It would show utter contempt for nursing staff."

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is hosting a conference for business leaders today, during which he will pledge to work with companies in the hope of reviving the economy and turning around his party's fortunes before an election expected next year, City A.M. reports. "Business Connect" will also feature as speakers Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Business Minister Kemi Badenoch. "We are bringing together some of the UK's biggest companies and investors for meaningful dialogue – and I'm a prime minister passionate about working with business to unlock opportunity and progress," Sunak said in a statement trailing the event. In what his office called his first ever LinkedIn Live event, business leaders will also have the opportunity to ask Sunak questions about business policy this morning, and this evening, he will unveil an innovation category at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards at Downing Street.

The government is struggling to attract investors to the Sizewell C nuclear power station, according to a report by fund managers at Legal & General and Aviva. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt proposed giving the project sustainable status to attract green-minded investors in his Spring Budget, and ministers have altered nuclear plant funding models to offer more of an up-front reward to investors, but this has not proved to be inducement enough, the Telegraph reports. “Our stance hasn’t changed,” a Legal & General Capital spokesperson told the newspaper, while an Aviva spokesperson told them the firm had “nothing to add” to chairman George Culmer’s comments that there was “ongoing debate” over nuclear waste environmental issues. NatWest and the BT Pension Scheme previously told pressure group Stop Sizewell C that they would not support it, and a source told the Telegraph large infrastructure was “risky”. Developer EDF is working on Sizewell C, which is set to cost between £20-30bn, with the government contributing £800m so far.

Britain is teaming up with The Netherlands to build Europe's biggest cross-border electricity link connected to an offshore wind farm, as part of efforts to boost energy security. The "LionLink" interconnector will be able to transfer 1.8 gigawatts (GW) of power to Britain from a Dutch wind farm, or the same volume of electricity produced in Britain to the Netherlands, a statement released ahead of a leaders summit on energy in Ostend, Belgium, said. The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Grant Schapps said both countries were "sending a strong signal to Putin's Russia that the days of his dominance over global power markets are well and truly over," while Dutch Energy Minister Rob Jetten said: “This new connection further boosts energy security and energy independence in Europe".

Outstanding bank loans to small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) in the UK fell by £14bn in the year to March with concerns that this figure could fall further due to March’s banking turmoil and mooted regulatory changes, City A.M. reports. In the year to March, outstanding bank loans fell to £195bn from £209bn according to Bank of England data sourced by debt advisory firm ACP Altenburg. The data suggests banks started to rein in funding about a year ago when interest rates began to rise. Altenburg’s Will Senbanjo suggests that the collapse of Credit Suisse and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) could further reduce lending as banks focus on reducing risk in their lending books.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is proposing new rules to allow apartment leaseholders to “claw back millions in rip-off insurance costs as part of a clampdown on scandalous overcharging by brokers working in conjunction with unscrupulous landlords,” Sharecast News reports. An investigation into brokers by the financial watchdog found that a third of brokers had not produced enough evidence to justify fee rises of almost 40% between 2019 and 2022. Brokers had also passed on £80.7m in commission to third parties and were "often unable to articulate" what landlords were doing to justify the costs being passed on, the FCA said. Brokers have now been instructed to stop passing on part of their commission to the managing agent or freeholder of the building being covered if it did not comply with the watchdog's fair value rule.

FTSE 350 CEOs have been exiting their roles at a doubly quick pace over the last year, driven by boards trying to insulate their firms from the economy being whacked by rising prices and interest rate hikes with a change in leadership, a new study out today shows. 38 CEOs left their roles in 2022, more than double the 18 that departed in 2021, according to advisory firm Russell Reynolds Associates.

Royal Mail and the Communications Workers Union (CWU) look set to end their dispute over pay and conditions. Royal Mail owner International Distributions Services announced on Friday it had reached an agreement with the CWU's Postal Executive Committee which will now be put to a ballot of the union's membership. The CWU has put forward a recommendation to approve.

1,300 offshore workers who are members of the Unite union begin a 48-hour strike today which could result in production shutdowns on offshore oil and gas platforms. The walkout hits oil and gas operators including BP, CNRI, EnQuest, Harbour, Ithaca, Shell, TAQA and Total.

FTSE 100 miner Glencore has suffered another setback in its attempt to take control of Canadian coal and metals rival Teck Resources.  Having just said it is willing to improve its second offer of £18billion for Teck, Norway's sovereign wealth fund now says it will back Teck's plan to spin off its metallurgical coal business and focus on copper and zinc and, by voting in favour of such a move at a meeting this week, the Norwegian fund – which has a 1.5% stake in Teck and is one of the world’s largest investors - is effectively rejecting Glencore's attempt to buy the group. However, Glencore said it would have no qualms about bypassing Teck's board and taking the increased bid straight to shareholders if it feels necessary, according to a report in the Daily Mail.

A bidding war has erupted for FTSE 250 payment company Network International, with Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management tabling a £2.1billion 400p a share counter offer to the 387p a share deal proposed by private equity groups CVC and Francisco Partners earlier last week. Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney is Brookfield’s chairman.

London-listed transport firm FirstGroup is considering a bid for the parts of Deutsche Bahn's international transport business Arriva which operate outside the UK, Reuters said on Friday, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. Infrastructure fund I Squared Capital is also considering an offer for the business, Reuters added. Neither FirstGroup nor I Squared commented on the report. Deutsche Bahn also declined to comment. Deutsche Bahn, Germany's state-controlled railway operator, acquired Arriva in 2010, but is now looking to offload the business, which is expected to fetch around €2bn. Deutsche Bahn first put it up for sale in 2019 but failed to secure a deal. Arriva operates various British rail franchises as well as London's buses and had sales of €4.2bn in 2022.

Jersey-based medical-grade cannabis producer Northern Leaf has reportedly hired bankers finnCap Cavendish bankers to work on a listing plan that could see its shares begin trading as soon as this summer. One source said the company hoped to attract a valuation of about £60m. Founded in 2019 by Gerald Snyman, an agricultural entrepreneur, Northern Leaf is partly owned by Chrystal Capital Partners and a consortium of Jersey-based private investors.

Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s is set to report a fall in annual pre-tax profits this week, posting up to £690 million, down from £730 million last year. According to the latest survey from retail consultants Kantar, Sainsbury’s reported a strong 12-week sales growth of 12% at the end of March, but fell short of rivals Aldi and Lidl who have gained market share as the cost of living crisis has fast pushed food price growth to 19.2%, its highest level in 45 years.

Andy Clarke, a former CEO of Asda has agreed to buy Farmison & Co, a premium online butcher which sells sustainable meat products from heritage and rare breeds to Fortnum & Mason and Harrods, among other customers. Sky News understands Clarke is partnering with Gareth Whittle, co-founder of branding agency Chilli Marketing, to buy Farmison, which collapsed into administration earlier this month. The value of the deal is unclear, Sky says.

In reporting what is expected to be its last ever financial results, collapsed banking giant Credit Suisse has revealed a run on the bank which saw 61.2bn Swiss francs (£55.2bn) leave in the first three months of the year. The run caused the 167-year-old lender to fail, triggering a state-backed rescue. Credit Suisse has been sold to rival Swiss bank UBS is expected to be completed soon.