Category Archives: Business

UK accused of caving-in to British Virgin Islands over access to companies register

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Parliamentary group urges government to clamp down on overseas territories before flagship anti-corruption summit

The UK government has been accused of caving-in to pressure from the British Virgin Islands by allowing it to limit access to a register of company share ownership to only those deemed to have a legitimate interest.

The restriction, to be discussed at talks starting on Tuesday between Foreign Office ministers and leaders of the British overseas territories (BOTs) in London, is in defiance of legislation passed by the UK government as long ago as 2008 that would make the register available to all.

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UK to extend sugar tax to cover bottled milkshakes and pre-packaged lattes

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Levy will also apply to more fizzy drinks as health secretary says government ‘will not look away as children get unhealthier’

Sweet-toothed consumers face paying more for bottled milkshakes and some fizzy drinks after the government confirmed plans for a tougher sugar tax.

Designed to tackle obesity, the levy currently applies to drinks with a sugar content of 5g per 100ml. However, after a public consultation this is being cut to 4.5g per 100ml, meaning it could cover hundreds more products.

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Criminal charges against Australian debt collection company Panthera Finance dismissed

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Consumer Affairs Victoria ordered to pay costs after firm successfully argues it is not technically engaged in debt collection owed to another person

Criminal charges against one of Australia’s biggest debt collection firms have been dismissed after the company successfully argued it was not technically engaged in debt collection.

In a committal hearing at the Melbourne magistrates’ court on Tuesday, magistrate Michelle Hodgson dismissed the charges against Panthera Finance and ordered that Consumer Affairs Victoria pay costs.

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Motability scheme to drop BMW and Mercedes as it aims to buy UK-made cars

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Rachel Reeves says changes to subsidised scheme for disabled drivers will help support thousands of jobs

The Motability scheme to provide disabled drivers with subsidised cars has said it will remove expensive cars such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz and aim to buy more British-built cars.

Motability said it hopes that 50% of the vehicles it offers will come from British factories by 2035. The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said the changes to the scheme would “support thousands of well-paid, skilled jobs”, before the budget on Wednesday.

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Not-for-profit disability services are closing due to untenably low price caps, NDIS architect warns

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Providers report a median operating loss of nearly 4% in the last financial year – with losses totalling about 12% over five years

Not-for-profit disability services that support some of the most vulnerable Australians are being forced to close and exit the national disability insurance scheme because of untenably low price caps for NDIS services, one of the architects of the scheme has warned.

“For some years, many of us in the sector have been telling the National Disability Insurance Agency that flaws in their pricing are contributing to not-for-profit registered providers of disability services going broke,” warned Martin Laverty, who is now the CEO of not-for-profit disability provider Aruma.

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Safe haven to sanctions: how Jersey sheltered Roman Abramovich’s billions

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Court papers show the island cautiously welcomed the oligarch – with London’s approval – before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

For decades the Channel Islands tax haven of Jersey has played a big role in moving fortunes made in some of the world’s most despotic countries into the west, attracting overseas oligarchs with a mix of low tax and high levels of financial secrecy.

It is a secrecy that extends to Jersey’s relationship with the UK government. As a crown dependency, Jersey has its own parliament, but belongs to the king. The relationship between the two jurisdictions remains something of a black box, with very little public information on how the big decisions are made, or to what extent Westminster is consulted.

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Lord Rothermere’s Telegraph takeover strengthens UK media’s rightwing tilt

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Many fear competition and diversity will be diminished as Daily Mail owner wins race to buy newspaper

As the dust settles from the battle for the ownership of the Daily Telegraph, one man has been left standing: Lord Rothermere, whose family have been a mainstay of British newspapers for more than a century.

“This is a very British stitch-up,” said Lionel Barber, the former editor of the Financial Times. “Lord Rothermere has played a very astute poker hand, he’s shown patience and he’s the big winner.”

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Europe’s economy is geared towards a disappearing world, says ECB’s Lagarde

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Central bank chief warns that the bloc’s dependence on third countries for trade and security has left it vulnerable

Europe’s economy is “geared towards a world that is gradually disappearing”, according to a warning from Christine Lagarde that the EU needs reforms to spur growth.

The president of the European Central Bank (ECB) said the EU’s dependence on international trade had left it vulnerable, as major partners had turned away from the trade that made the bloc’s exporters wealthy.

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UK government borrows more than expected in setback before budget

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October figures represent final snapshot of public finances before Rachel Reeves’s tax and spending statement

Rachel Reeves was urged to use next week’s budget to create significantly more headroom against her fiscal rules, after official figures showed the UK government borrowed almost £10bn more than forecast in the year to October.

In the final snapshot of the public finances before the chancellor’s crunch budget, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said borrowing – the difference between public spending and income – was £17.4bn last month.

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Wetherspoon’s to open first pub in Spain – offering garlic prawns and beer from 6am

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Opening in Alicante airport is the chain’s first move into mainland Europe, and will offer outdoor drinking

Wetherspoon’s is to open its first pub outside the UK and Ireland, serving alcohol from 6am every day to sun-seeking Britons waiting for their plane in the departure lounge at Alicante airport.

The opening in Spain, scheduled for January, will be the first foray on to continental European soil for the pub chain, which said it expects to pursue more footholds on the continent in the coming years.

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British Museum ends ‘deeply troubling’ sponsorship from Japanese tobacco firm

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Critics of deal welcome move, which has been called for since 2016 when experts said it was morally unacceptable

The British Museum has ended a controversial sponsorship deal with a Japanese tobacco firm after reports that the government had raised questions about the deal, which some critics said was “deeply troubling”.

The Guardian understands that the museum’s board chose to not renew the 15-year partnership with Japan Tobacco International (JTI), which ended in September.

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Harvard to investigate Larry Summers’s Epstein ties as he exits OpenAI board

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Newly released Epstein documents drag the ex-treasury secretary into deeper scrutiny as Harvard widens its review

Harvard is set to launch a new investigation into former university president and Bill Clinton economic adviser Larry Summers about his ties to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as it also emerged Summers has resigned from the board of OpenAI.

The moves comes after Summers said he would be stepping back from public engagements after emails revealed the extent of his relationship with the late sex offender.

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Wimbledon to get exemption from ticket resale crackdown for seats that can cost thousands

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Organisers claimed proposed ban on reselling tickets for more than face value would dent investment in facilities

Wimbledon will be given an exemption from the clampdown on ticket resales for its “debenture” tickets, the Guardian understands, in what would be a victory for the organisers of the annual tennis tournament.

The championship organisers, the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC), had previously said ministers’ proposed ban on reselling tickets for more than face value would prevent it from being able to reinvest debenture proceeds in maintenance of its facilities.

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China suspends seafood imports from Japan as Taiwan row escalates

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Beijing reimposes 2023 ban, citing Japan PM’s comment that military would respond to Chinese attack on island

China has suspended imports of Japanese seafood again, as the fallout over the Japanese prime minister’s comments about Taiwan continues to escalate in one of worst bilateral disputes in years.

The ban was first reported on Wednesday by the Japanese outlets Kyodo News and NHK, and appeared to be confirmed by China’s foreign ministry, which said there was “no market for Japanese seafood in the current climate”.

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Eight firms under investigation in crackdown on additional online fees

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Competition watchdog examines StubHub, Viagogo, AA Driving School and BSM Driving School and others

Britain’s competition watchdog has begun investigations into eight companies about their online pricing practices, expressing concern over additional fees and sales tactics such as “drip pricing” and “pressure selling”.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was looking into the ticket sellers StubHub and Viagogo; AA Driving School and BSM Driving School; the US gym chain Gold’s Gym; and the retailers Wayfair, Appliances Direct and Marks Electrical.

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Reselling tickets for profit to be outlawed in UK government crackdown

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Touts, and ordinary consumers, will no longer be able to charge anything more than price at which they bought ticket

Reselling tickets for profit is to be outlawed under plans due to be announced this week, the Guardian has learned, as the government goes ahead with a long-awaited crackdown on touts and resale platforms such as Viagogo and StubHub.

Ministers had been considering allowing touts – and ordinary consumers – to sell on a ticket for up to 130% of face value, as part of a consultation process that ended earlier this year.

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GWR train fitted with F1 tech for two-month superfast wifi trial

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Tryout of system, which switches between signals from 5G masts to low Earth-orbit satellites, could lead to wider rollout

Train wifi in the UK, long a source of frustration for passengers, is about to get radically faster – for a lucky few at least.

A two-month trial has begun on one Great Western Railway (GWR) train, fitted with technology from Formula One that switches between the signals from 5G masts to low Earth-orbit satellites to provide almost seamless, superfast wifi.

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South Korean decision to close all coal-fired power plants by 2040 sounds alarm for Australian exports

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Decision announced at Cop30 climate conference signposts risks for Australia’s reliance on fossil fuel exports, analysts say

The Australian government has been urged to prepare for a shift away from thermal coal exports and accelerate green industries after one of its main international customers signed up to close all coal-fired power plants by 2040.

South Korea, Australia’s third-biggest market for coal burned to generate electricity, announced at the Cop30 climate conference in Brazil that it was joining the “powering past coal alliance”, a group of about 60 nations and 120 sub-national governments, businesses and organisations committed to phasing out the fossil fuel.

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Asking prices fall as UK housing market hit by budget speculation, Rightmove says

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November drop of 1.8% is biggest for this time of year since 2012, with chancellor’s plans looming

Budget speculation has depressed the UK property market, figures from a leading property website have suggested, with asking prices slipping in the run-up to Rachel Reeves’s much anticipated fiscal set piece on 26 November.

The average new seller asking price fell by 1.8%, or £6,589, month on month in November, the figures collated by the property website Rightmove set out, taking the average price tag on a British home put up for sale to £364,833.

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Roman Abramovich makes claim of ‘conspiracy’ against Jersey government

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Move threatens to throw open parts of secretive legal battle on Channel island about ex-Chelsea owner’s wealth

The former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is making a claim of “conspiracy” against the government of Jersey after the crown dependency launched a criminal investigation into allegations of corruption and money laundering in connection with the original source of the oligarch’s wealth.

The latest move threatens to throw open parts of a secretive legal battle on the Channel island about the tycoon’s rise to become one of the world’s richest people, which emerged in September after a Switzerland federal criminal court ordered the release of a cache of Swiss banking records requested by the Jersey attorney general.

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