Chaos at airports still: cancellations and delays continue after yesterday's air traffic control system…

At least 1,200 flights were grounded to and from the UK yesterday when Britain's National Air Traffic Service (NATS) was hit by a technical problem for several hours, affecting at least 200,000 people. The “network-wide failure” also led to severe disruption to flights using UK airspace, and the chaos is continuing this morning. Early in the day yesterday, NATS said in a statement: "We have identified and remedied the technical issue affecting our flight planning system this morning. We are now working closely with airlines and airports to manage the flights affected as efficiently as possible. Our engineers will be carefully monitoring the system's performance as we return to normal operations." The problem was fixed by yesterday afternoon - by which time 232 flights departing UK airports had been cancelled as well as 271 arriving flights, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium - but NATS Operations Director Juliet Kennedy said it would “take some time for flights to return to normal”. "Our absolute priority is safety and we will be investigating very thoroughly what happened today," she added. A spokesperson for London Heathrow, the busiest hub in western Europe, said schedules were significantly disrupted, as did British Airways, which was forced to make "significant changes" to its schedule. Other airlines, including Ryanair, said some flights to and from the UK were delayed or cancelled. Manchester Airport, London Stansted and London Gatwick were among other airports affected and who warned of delays and cancellations. Irish air traffic control provider AirNav Ireland said the issue led to "significant delays for flights across Europe that are travelling to, from or through UK airspace". The Government said it does not believe the disruption was caused by a cybersecurity incident, but there will be an independent review, Transport Secretary Mark Harper said earlier today. Two weeks’ ago, BT landed a major seven year network and cyber security deal with NATS to strengthen its technology infrastructure.

Food price inflation fell to 11.5% from July's 13.4%, driven by slower increases for meat, potatoes and some cooking oils, according to the latest industry data from The British Retail Consortium (BRC). "These figures would have been lower still had the Government not increased alcohol duties earlier this month," BRC Chief Executive Helen Dickinson said. Meanwhile, overall shop price inflation rose by 0.5% in August, to 6.9%, but at the slowest pace in nearly a year to its lowest since October 2022, and weakening from 7.6% in July. Non-food inflation has stuck this time at 4.7%/ The BRC notes that inflation for clothing and footwear in particular has increased as the summer sales have ended. The retail trade association also warned that the "potential £400m hike to business rates bills from next April” is likely to “jeopardise efforts to tackle inflation unless the Chancellor intervenes."

According to polling data from Public First, only 18% of people think the Bank of England (BoE) is doing a good job, but 56% don’t think politicians could do any better, saying the Bank should maintain its independence over monetary policy.  Just 23% said control over interest rates should return to The Government, as was the case before 1997. 36% of respondents said they thought the BoE was performing poorly, while the remaining 46% had no opinion either way.

Over the weekend, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves told The Daily Telegraph that the Labour Party is ruling out any version of a wealth tax under a Labour government. Such a tax, as well as levies to target wealth or expensive properties are off the table, she said, while also ruling out an increase in capital gains tax. “I don’t see a route towards having more money for public services that is through taxing our way there,” she said, adding: “It is going to be through growing our way there. And that’s why the policies that we’ve set out are all about how we can encourage businesses, big and small, to invest in Britain.” The party also announced that it has attracted a surge of interest from businesses to its annual conference in October. The latest figures show the number of attendees at its business forum has risen by 50% in a year, it said. Party donations for the event are also increasingly coming from businesses: Labour said it expects to make up to half a million pounds from business sponsorship this year, up from £200,000 in 2022.

The UK’s two largest trade unions, Unite and Unison have backed calls for a review of what they say is the “immoral” system whereby pregnant workers lose a portion of their maternity pay if they go on strike. They are calling on the Government to exempt strike days from maternity pay calculations so that new parents are not “penalised twice” for taking part in industrial action. Statutory maternity pay and some contractual maternity pay is currently based on an average of the person’s earnings during the eight-week period running up to the 15th week before the due date. Any missed days, such as for strikes, jury duty or sickness, bring down this average, and can leave parents with a shortfall of hundreds or even thousands of pounds during maternity leave, The Guardian reports.

Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: “It is totally immoral to penalise pregnant women who stand up for decent pay against greedy employers by cutting their maternity pay. The current rules on this are a disgrace and amount to yet another attempt to undermine the right to strike. I can assure you that Unite will not allow our members to be attacked in this way.” Unison’s general secretary, Christina McAnea, said strike action was a last resort but represented “a basic human right”. “Pregnant workers and new mothers already struggle with spiralling costs, workplace discrimination and threats to their jobs. They shouldn’t face a financial penalty for exercising their rights. This loophole has to be closed,” she added. In a letter seen by the Guardian, the parliamentary under-secretary of state responsible for maternity benefits, Lord Younger, said the Government did not plan to change its position.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has identified five areas it wants to look into in greater detail regarding the housebuilding market, after announcing an investigation in February. They are estate management charges (when homeowners have to pay private companies to maintain roads, parks and street lighting); land banks (whether the size of some builders' portfolios is limiting competition or slowing building in some areas); planning rules (if complex planning rules were holding back the delivery of new homes); competition between builders (how markets operate when large builders compete against smaller, regional firms); and the barriers for new businesses wanting to build homes (looking into the issues smaller builders face when developing new home, like access to land). "The CMA will investigate each of these issues further - while considering the economic conditions affecting the sector - and will provide updates on its work later in the autumn," the statement said.

Meanwhile, “the breakneck pace of interest rate rises has stripped more than £15bn off the value of the UK's largest housebuilders”, The Mail on Sunday said at the weekend. Since the first rate hike, shares in Persimmon have dived by 64%, while its closest rival Barratt has dropped 40% and fellow blue chips Taylor Wimpey and Berkeley have declined by about a third and 17% respectively. Things are little better among the mid-tier players, with Redrow falling by a third, Bellway and Vistry shedding around 35% each and Crest Nicholson losing over half its value, according to data from broker AJ Bell, the newspaper said. 4,280 construction firms went bust in the year to June – the fastest rate of insolvencies in a decade and 16.5% higher than a year ago.

Octopus Energy has emerged as the leading candidate to buy Shell Energy Retail, nearly three months after the division was put up for sale, according to Sky News. If it progresses, the takeover would make Octopus the second largest energy firm, with over 6m customers. It would also take the share of the country’s customer base held by the ‘Big Six’ energy firms to well over 90%. Last year, Octopus bought Bulb Energy, taking over its 1.6m strong customer base, taking it from fifth to third in the retailer rankings. Centrica-owned British Gas is the UK’s largest energy firm, supplying 10m homes and businesses.

The Guardian reports that a last-minute bid worth £90m has been made for Wilko by restructuring specialist M2 Capita. It is believed M2 wishes to keep the entire chain trading. The newspaper also says GMB national secretary Andy Prendergast has written to Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch seeking an urgent meeting after being told by potential rescuers of the business of “difficulties” in engaging with administrators PwC, who said: “As administrators, we’re intent on achieving the best outcome for everyone involved while preserving as many jobs as possible and adhering to our statutory duty to act in the best interests of the creditors as a whole.” The statement added it would be “inappropriate to comment on individual bidders or interested parties at this stage in the process”.  Meanwhile, the granddaughter of Wilko's founder has defended the firm's multi-million dividend pay-outs in the run-up to its collapse. Lisa Wilkinson, who helped manage her family's discount retail empire for 20 years, dismissed criticisms of the £77m dished out to former shareholders, as first reported by The Mail on Sunday. She told The Sunday Times: “The board checked... there was sufficient cash, we went through the right governance, the auditors checked it off”. She added: “Is there a bit of me lying awake at night saying I wish we'd never taken a penny of dividends out? It might have made us survive a couple of months longer. What we have taken out really wouldn't have made a difference”.

British private hospital operator Circle Health Group has been bought by PureHealth, an Abu Dhabi-based holding company in a deal worth $1.2bn (£953m). It is the first foray into the UK market for the firm, which is the largest healthcare firm in the Middle East. It will gain Circle Health’s entire portfolio including specialties such as orthopaedics, oncology, cardiothoracic surgery, ophthalmology, neurosurgery and general surgery, as well as its 50-plus hospitals, including the UK’s first purpose-built rehabilitation hospital in Birmingham. Circle Health currently employs over 8,000 workers and has partnerships with 6,500 consultants.

The Barclay Brothers, the former owners of The Daily Telegraph have lined up hundreds of millions of pounds from unnamed Middle Eastern investors in a bid to wrest back control of the newspaper from Lloyds bank, according to Sky News. The broadcaster says the family last week lodged a proposal to buy back roughly £1bn of debt it owes Lloyds Banking Group, the latest in a series of offers it has put to Lloyds since the Telegraph's holding company was placed into receivership in June. However, the bank is understood to have rejected the Barclays' bid, and intends to pursue a full auction of the daily newspaper, its Sunday sister title and The Spectator magazine, whose parent company was also placed into receivership. A formal sale process, run by the Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs, is expected to kick off in the autumn.

Shares in Watches of Switzerland fell as much as 28% on Friday after it emerged that Rolex was buying one of its key rivals, Bucherer, for an undisclosed sum.

The founder and former chair of Metro Bank and Atom Bank has launched a business designed to support the next generation of fintech startups. Anthony Thomson’s latest venture, known as Archie, aims to identify and back high-potential, early-stage technology firms, City AM reports. Initially, the focus will be on partnering with fintechs in Thomson’s home country of Australia, as well as startups in the UK and in the Middle East, he said. Together with co-founder Steve Brennen, who has held senior marketing roles at Uber and PayPal, Thomson wants to provide fintech founders with the experience, expertise, and toolkits to get them “into hyper-growth”. His plans for Archie involve providing access to a suite of top business leaders from companies including Equifax, Virgin Money and venture capital firm Silicon Badia, to give expert advice and guidance.

The scandal-hit Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which is attempting to recover from sexual misconduct allegations and a workplace culture described as “toxic,” has issued new rules around behaviour in the office and at its events. These include a ban on “inappropriate physical contact, sexual attention or innuendo” and an insistence it “will not tolerate bullying, harassment or sexist, racist, or exclusionary comments or jokes”. There are also new “principles” around alcohol consumption and drug use, which is banned, and creating a “safe and secure working environment”.

June Felix, CEO of FTSE 250 British online trading platform IG Group is to step down immediately due to health reasons. She has been on medical leave since early July, with CFO Charlie Rozes stepping in as acting CEO. He will continue in the role while the board expects to appoint a permanent CEO in the coming months, the company said. American national Felix, 66, has led the spread betting firm for almost five years. During her tenure, IG Group recorded for the first time an annual revenue of £1bn and ventured into North America, purchasing US trading platform tastytrade for $1bn (£79m) in 2021, as part of her diversification strategy.