Companies declared insolvent in England and Wales jump by 43%

Businesses may struggle as consumers cut back spending amid high inflation and rising fuel costs, economists warn

The number of companies in England and Wales declared insolvent jumped by 43% in August, according to government data, which adds to concerns for the health of the UK economy.

There were 1,933 insolvencies in August, compared with 1,348 in the same month last year, the Insolvency Service said. It was 42% above the level in August 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

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Germany takes subsidiary of Russian oil giant Rosneft under state control

Three refineries put into trusteeship ahead of partial European embargo on Russian oil later this year

Germany has taken the German subsidiary of the Russian oil giant Rosneft under state control, putting three refineries into a trusteeship ahead of a partial European embargo on Russian oil at the end of the year.

The federal network regulator will become the temporary trust manager of Rosneft Germany and its share of refineries in Schwedt, near Berlin, in Karlsruhe and in Vohburg, Bavaria, Germany’s ministry for economic affairs announced on Friday.

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World Bank warns higher interest rates could trigger global recession

Study says global economy is in steepest slowdown after a post-recession recovery since 1970

The world may be edging toward a global recession as central banks simultaneously raise interest rates to combat persistent inflation, the World Bank has warned.

The three largest economies, – the US, China and the eurozone – have been slowing sharply, and even a “moderate hit to the global economy over the next year could tip it into recession”, the bank said in a study.

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Lenders urged to cancel Zambia debt as country faces economic collapse

Economists accuse bondholders of standing to make huge profits at the expense of the crisis-hit country

More than 100 economists and academics have urged international lenders to crisis-stricken Zambia to write off a significant slice of their loans during financial restructuring talks this month.

Zambia is seeking up to $8.4bn (£7.3bn) in debt relief from major lenders, including private funds run by the world’s largest investment manager, BlackRock, to help put its public finances back in order.

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Kwarteng plan to lift cap on bankers’ bonuses infuriates unions

Unite leader deplores prospect of post-Brexit deregulation drive ‘when millions are struggling’

Unions have reacted with fury to the prospect of the government scrapping a cap on bankers’ bonuses, as ministers geared up for a return to near-normal politics next week, topped by an emergency mini-budget on Friday.

Kwasi Kwarteng, the chancellor, who will set out plans for tax cuts and give more details about the government’s plans to limit rising energy bills, is also considering whether to shed the legacy of an EU-wide cap on bonuses of twice an employee’s salary, imposed after the 2008 financial crash.

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People race to exchange paper banknotes before deadline

Queues form at Bank of England to swap old £20s and £50s before they stop being legal tender

Consumers are racing to exchange their old paper banknotes for new plastic versions, just over a fortnight before they cease to be legal tender at the end of September.

The Bank of England has warned people to expect long queues at its headquarters at Threadneedle Street in the City of London as they try to swap paper £20 and £50 notes.

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Luis Vuitton reduces thermostat and light use in shops to save energy

LVMH announced measures after Emmanuel Macron urged France to reduce power consumption

LVMH, the owner of Louis Vuitton, plans to lower the thermostat at its stores around the world as part energy-saving measures this winter.

The French conglomerate will also turn off the lights at its stores earlier, starting in France in October before being deployed worldwide.

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One in seven buy now, pay later customers had more than 20 loans last year, Choice survey shows

Use of BNPL services to cover essential bills raises concerns as Albanese government prepares to consult on regulating the sector

One in seven users of credit from buy-now-pay-later providers such as Afterpay or Zip had more than 20 loans last year, according to new data from consumer group Choice.

The Choice survey also found that consumers were using BNPL services to cover essential bills, with one in six using the short-term loans to cover supermarket purchases and 14% to pay for power.

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Kwasi Kwarteng planning to scrap caps on bankers’ bonuses

Critics question chancellor’s idea of abolishing rules imposed after 2008 financial crash during cost of living crisis

The UK chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, is reportedly planning to scrap caps on bankers’ bonuses in a controversially timed move to attract more talent to the City of London.

A source close to Kwarteng confirmed the chancellor was considering lifting the cap but emphasised that no decision had been taken.

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John Lewis suffers first half loss of £99m and warns of risk to staff bonuses

Outlook ‘uniquely uncertain’, says Partnership as it announces cost of living support for staff

The John Lewis Partnership has warned its annual staff bonus is at risk this year after it slumped to a first half loss of £99m and said the outlook in the run-up to Christmas was “uniquely uncertain”.

The group, which is staff-owned and includes the Waitrose supermarket chain, blamed soaring inflation for the loss in the 26 weeks to 30 July, which compared with a £29m loss before tax in the same period last year.

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Liz Truss faces backlash over plan to lift cap on bankers’ bonuses – UK politics live

Latest updates: Kwasi Kwarteng’s plan to lift cap criticised as ‘very bad timing’ during cost of living crisis

In its response to the legal proceedings launched by the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol (see 11.54am), the UK government has said that it has unilaterally decided to continue suspending border checks on farm produce and other goods entering NI from Great Britain, my colleague Lisa O’Carroll reports.

The European Union is considering its next steps after receiving the UK’s response to legal threats over the failure to comply with the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol, PA Media reports. PA says:

Despite politics as normal being paused while the nation mourns the Queen’s death, the government responded to the action ahead of today’s deadline.

The bloc had requested a response to its raft of infringement proceedings over the UK’s failure to comply with the rules before the end of the day.

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Patagonia’s billionaire owner gives away company to fight climate crisis

Founder Yvon Chouinard announced that all the company’s profits will go into saving the planet

Setting a new example in environmental corporate leadership, the billionaire owner of Patagonia is giving the entire company away to fight the Earth’s climate devastation, he announced on Wednesday.

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, who turned his passion for rock climbing into one of the world’s most successful sportswear brands, is giving the entire company to a uniquely structured trust and nonprofit, designed to pump all of the company’s profits into saving the planet.

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Bank of England will not take foot off throttle despite drop in inflation

MPC members will look at other developments in UK and abroad in mission to increase interest rates

The drop in inflation from 10.1% in July to 9.9% last month is not going to trouble the Bank of England’s policymakers when they meet next week to set interest rates. Its monetary policy committee (MPC) is on a mission to increase the cost of borrowing to bring down inflation to 2%. Prices growth that sticks at almost 10% is still too high. One month’s figures are not a trend.

The nine MPC members will also ponder several other developments at home and abroad that can be considered reasons to increase interest rates.

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EU calls for money to be clawed back from energy firms, saying profits must go ‘to those who need it most’ – politics live

Liz Truss has stated her opposition to windfall taxes but the European Commission says energy profits must be shared

Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, says the UK is facing a “crisis of income”. She says workers should get a better share of corporate profits.

This has parallels with the point Ursula von der Leyen was making about profits in her speech this morning (see 9.35am), although von der Leyen, a German Christian Democrat who has little in common with Graham, was just talking about the energy sector.

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Indigenous protest planned on national day of mourning – as it happened

New Covid variant is probably inevitable in northern winter, says Monique Ryan

The independent MP for Kooyong, Dr Monique Ryan, says we need to “rejig” how we are dealing with Covid.

I think we need greater transparency about the federal and state government’s approach to Covid and their plans for what is probably an inevitable new variant emerging over the northern winter.

I think workplaces and schools and aged care childcare facilities lack clarity about what the plan is for the inevitable next outbreaks of Covid and there’s a lot of uncertainty and anxiety about the fact that the government seems to have been winding back the mitigation strategies, whether we’re talking about mask-wearing, social isolation, quarantine, without really a plan for how this is going to affect people going forward.

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British firms warned of delay in energy bills support, reports say

Businesses may have to wait until November, although package could still be activated next month

British businesses have been warned by government officials that they will have to wait longer than households for financial support with their energy bills amid delays in launching the £150bn scheme, according to reports.

Company bosses are increasingly worried about the prospect of delays to the arrival of support because fixed energy contracts come to an end in October for hundreds of thousands of firms.

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US railroad workers prepare for strike as rail companies see record profits

As Biden’s recommendations fall flat, negotiations between management and unions are at an impasse – and workers are prepared to walk

US freight railroad workers are close to striking over claims that grueling schedules and poor working conditions have been driving employees out of the industry over the past several years.

Heated negotiations over a new union contract between railroad corporations and 150,000-member-strong labor unions have been ongoing for nearly three years. A “cooling off” period imposed by the Biden administration after it issued recommendations to settle the dispute ends on Friday. If no deal is reached, unions are threatening industrial action – the first since 1992 – and workers say they will quit an industry already facing staff shortages.

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Extra trains planned as people head to London to mourn Queen

South Western, Southeastern and Greater Anglia among operators expected to run more late services

Extra late-night trains will run from the capital from Wednesday to help people pay their respects to the Queen, as Transport for London predicted that the late monarch’s funeral would be a bigger logistical challenge for public transport than the 2012 Olympics.

TfL has set up a dedicated command centre and enlisted a large number of volunteers from its ranks as it anticipates handling more than 1 million people travelling to attend the lying in state of the Queen in Westminster Hall and her funeral.

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Kwarteng ‘tells Treasury to focus entirely on growth’ as Tory peer defends sacking of senior civil servant – as it happened

The new chancellor is reported to have told Treasury staff there was a need to ‘do things differently under fresh leadership’. This live blog is now closed

At the lobby briefing yesterday Downing Street admitted that Liz Truss had not completed her government reshuffle. New appointments were suspended following the death of the Queen.

According to an analysis by Arj Singh for the i, 55 posts remain unfilled. Singh says that, to fill all the posts that Boris Johnson had in his government, Truss will need to appoint 21 junior ministers in the Commons, nine Commons whips and 25 Lords ministers.

The removal of Sir Tom Scholar as the lead permanent secretary at the Treasury should be a cause for celebration.

Having worked in his department for nearly two years I saw at first hand the malign influence of the Treasury orthodoxy at play. Whether it was foot-dragging and passive resistance to creating a Treasury office in the north (in Darlington), which he fiercely resisted, or the botched arrangements in the construction of the bounceback loans during the pandemic, all roads led back to him.

I hope very much that our new prime minister will build on her excellent decision and remove responsibility from the Treasury for driving economic growth. It has no idea how to deliver this. The system obsesses about measuring inputs, counting out the money distributed to departments, but has little clue of how to measure outcomes. Departments are infantilised in their management of money, with savings being automatically clawed back to the centre. This of course removes any incentive to think innovatively, creatively or cost-effectively.

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How is Liz Truss’s government challenging ‘Treasury orthodoxy’?

Sir Tom Scholar’s removal as Treasury’s top mandarin signals attempt to change department’s view of the world

Sir Tom Scholar’s removal as the Treasury’s top mandarin was a brutal statement of intent by Liz Truss’s new government. The message was clear: the days when Britain’s economic strategy would be determined by bean counters were over. From now on, growth rather than balancing the books would be the priority.

That is the theory. In practice, removing what Truss sees as the “dead hand” of Treasury orthodoxy from the running of the economy is likely to prove difficult. The fact that all four deputy governors of the Bank of England are Treasury old boys is an example of its influence on the economic policy-making machinery. There have been attempts in the past to cut Whitehall’s most powerful department down to size. Sooner or later, all have failed.

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