The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has reinstated penalties that could cost manufacturers hundreds of millions
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has reinstated a sharp increase in penalties for automakers whose vehicles do not meet fuel efficiency requirements for model years 2019 and beyond.
The decision is a win for Tesla that could cost other automakers hundreds of millions of dollars or more.
Continue reading...Bank has softened language in research documents, according to report, amid pressure to exit Russia
HSBC has reportedly removed references to a “war” in Ukraine from research reports, amid calls for the British bank to close its operations in Russia.
Russia’s government refers only to a “special military operation” in Ukraine, and Vladimir Putin’s regime has criminalised reporting on its invasion that contains any information from non-official sources, with prison sentences of up to 15 years.
Continue reading...UK government sells more of stake in group formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland at a loss over 2008 price
NatWest Group has returned to majority private ownership after it agreed to buy back £1.2bn of shares from the UK government, more than 13 years after the company was bailed out by taxpayers at the height of the financial crisis.
The company, formerly known as Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS), said it had agreed to make an off-market purchase of 550m shares, or 4.91% of its share capital, from HM Treasury at Friday’s closing price of 220.5p, in a statement to the stock market on Monday.
Continue reading...The transport secretary is expected to close loopholes to ensure ferry companies pay the UK minimum wage
Grant Shapps is writing to the chief executive of P&O Ferries urging him to announce a U-turn on the decision to sack 800 workers without notice, as unions pledged to “ratchet up the fight” after a weekend of protests.
The transport secretary is expected to present a package of legislation on Wednesday to close loopholes and ensure ferry companies running regular services to and from the British Isles pay their crew the UK minimum wage.
Continue reading...Men earn $2.67 per hour more than women on average, but 40% of workers don’t know hourly rate
A new report commissioned by the Victorian government has found gender inequality is entrenched in the gig economy, with women earning up to 37% less than men.
The report, produced by a Queensland University of Technology research team and released on Monday, summarises Australian and global studies and found the gig economy can “both reproduce and exacerbate existing gender inequalities in work”.
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Continue reading...Timepieces worth millions of dollars were taken by FSB agents in Moscow, according to a Swiss paper
Russian agents seized millions of dollars worth of Audemars Piguet watches in Moscow in an apparent retaliation for Swiss sanctions banning luxury goods exports, Bloomberg reported, citing Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag.
The watches, which can cost more than £700,000 apiece, were seized from the firm’s local premises by agents from Russia’s FSB security service on Tuesday, the newspaper said. It cited independent sources and a confidential Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs memo written for members of parliament that apparently gave details of the raid.
Continue reading...Demonstrations come after the firm sack 800 staff and the European Causeway ship is detained for being ‘unfit to sail’
Protests are taking place at UK ports over the sacking of hundreds of seafarers, as calls grow for a P&O Ferries’ boss to quit.
The demonstrations come after a ship operated by the ferry firm was detained for being “unfit to sail”.
Continue reading...A local partner of one British brand says his hopes are fading and risks deepening as stock dwindles
Western brands have swiftly moved to shut down operations in Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, wiping well-known goods from the shelves. But what does it feel like for those trying to run businesses in the country?
The Russian partner of one western brand shares their story.
Continue reading...Milk production is starting to fall as sharp rises in cost of fuel, feed, and fertiliser outstrip increases in farm-gate prices
“Something has to give and if the milk price doesn’t give, then the producers will,” says Oxfordshire dairy farmer David Christensen in a stark assessment of the peril his industry is facing as soaring costs push farm finances into the red.
Christensen, whose family business manages a herd of about 1,000 cows, says costs were already going up as a result of the upheaval caused by the pandemic and Brexit, but the war in Ukraine has “turbocharged inflation to levels the like of which I’ve never seen in 30 years of farming”.
Continue reading...New target comes after criticism of infrastructure rollout for failing to match surging vehicle sales
The UK government has set a new target to increase the number of electric car chargers more than ten times to 300,000 by 2030 after heavy criticism that the rollout of public infrastructure is too slow to match rapid growth in sales.
The Department for Transport (DfT) said it would invest an extra £450m to do so, alongside hefty sums of private capital. Sales of new cars and vans with petrol and diesel engines will be banned from 2030.
Continue reading...Analysis: Britain has ceased to be a country where workers can expect to get better off year after year
Much has been written about the year of economic misery ahead. Rishi Sunak’s attempts to mitigate the impact of the squeeze on living standards have been pored over and – generally – found wanting. The postmortem examinations carried out on the chancellor’s spring statement were unflattering.
There was plenty for the thinktanks that specialise in analysing tax, spending and living standards – the Resolution Foundation and the Institute for Fiscal Studies – to mull over.
Continue reading...Latest updates: transport committee chair calls on Peter Hebblethwaite to resign after admitting company chose to sack staff without consultation
Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, has delivered his considered verdict on the spring statement at a briefing.
He dismissed Rishi Sunak as a “fiscal illusionist” and warned that public sector workers face “hefty” real-terms pay cuts in the future under Sunak’s plans. He said:
Mr Sunak has proved to be something of a fiscal illusionist. He told us that he cut taxes yesterday. In a sense he did. He increased the floor for NICs and promised a cut in income tax in 2024. So Mr Sunak’s statement contained big new tax cuts. But it also allowed taxes to rise. He can now expect to raise more in tax as a share of national income by 2025 than he expected last October. In fact, taxes are set to rise to their highest level as a fraction of national income since Clement Attlee was prime minister. Not my comparison, that comes directly from the OBR.
[Sunak] is also effectively cutting spending on public services in real terms relative to previous plans. Yesterday he offered them no extra cash at all to deal with higher inflation. The exact scale of this cut relative to previous plans is a little uncertain, but it is significant. It will almost certainly mean some more hefty real pay cuts across the public sector, coming on top of cuts both in real terms and relative to the private sector over the last 12 years.
This is a tax raising chancellor. The tax burden is the highest it’s been since the 1940s.
The chancellor can say as many times as he likes that he’s a tax-cutting chancellor but it’s a bit like a kid in his bedroom playing air guitar – he’s not a rockstar.
The problem is for this chancellor, is that by the end of this parliament seven out of eight people will be paying more taxes – only one in eight will be paying less taxes.
That’s a disaster for working people, for the poorest people in society who are struggling with rising food prices, rising petrol prices and most of all the big increases in tax and electricity bills.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says impact of conflict on food prices and hunger could be substantial
Rocketing global food prices as a result of the war in Ukraine could trigger riots from those going hungry in poor countries, the head of the World Trade Organization has said.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala warned food-producing countries against hoarding supplies and said it was vital to avoid a repeat of the Covid pandemic, when rich countries were able to secure for themselves the bulk of vaccines.
Continue reading...Analysis: Clunky media appearances highlight an awkwardness with ordinary voters that was invisible during the pandemic
One of Gordon Brown’s few and oft-repeated jokes was that there are two kinds of chancellor: those who fail, and those who get out in time.
Despite having served little more than two years in the job, Rishi Sunak may have missed the moment to quit – or move next door – while he was ahead, according to Thursday’s front pages at least.
Continue reading...Claims dropped by 28,000 for week ending 19 March as at least a dozen states consider checks to ease burden of inflation
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week fell to its lowest level in 52 years as the US job market continues to show strength in the midst of rising costs and the pandemic.
Jobless claims fell by 28,000 to 187,000 for the week ending 19 March, the lowest since September of 1969, the labor department reported on Thursday. First-time applications for jobless aid generally track the pace of layoffs.
Continue reading...Action comes as Lloyd’s of London returns to profit but warns Ukraine war will present ‘major claim’
• Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates
Lloyd’s of London has said it is working with the UK government to implement sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine as fast as possible, including cancelling Russian firms’ insurance cover.
Announcing a swing back to an annual profit as it recovers from the pandemic, the world’s biggest insurance market warned that the war will present a “major claim” for the insurance market this year, but said it was “manageable”.
Continue reading...Hospitality, manufacturing and haulage sectors say spring statement falls far short of the help needed
The spring statement did not deliver much to help Lesters, a small but growing packaging company struggling with rising costs.
The Staffordshire-based firm’s energy bills will rise from £7,000 a month to £18,000 when the current contract runs out. Speaking after Rishi Sunak’s spring statement, Lesters’ managing director, Billy Hutchinson, said the chancellor had offered nothing to help on this key issue.
Continue reading...Pact ends months of tensions but talks on full free-trade agreement remain far off
The UK has struck a deal with the US to remove tariffs on British steel exports, although trade experts warned a broader trade deal between the two countries remains far off.
The agreement was struck after UK’s international trade minister, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, met her counterpart, the US commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo, on Tuesday evening in Washington.
Continue reading...Analysts say chancellor has wriggle room for limited package of measures in Wednesday’s mini-budget, as US Fed chair signals more aggressive rate rises to tame inflation
Bethany Beckett, UK economist at Capital Economics, has looked at what the chancellor might do tomorrow.
Notwithstanding the deterioration in the public finances in February, large revisions to the back data mean that borrowing in 2021/22 is on track to undershoot the OBR’s October 2021 forecast by a huge £23bn.
Even so, we suspect the sharper rise in debt interest costs in February than many expected may embolden the chancellor to keep a fairly tight grip on the public finances in tomorrow’s spring statement.
Continue reading...Figures improve chances of fuel duty or other tax cuts but inflation drives up cost of government debt
Rishi Sunak has been handed a boost from figures showing lower government borrowing than official estimates on the eve of the spring statement.
The figures come despite a sharp rise in debt interest payments last month amid soaring inflation.
Continue reading...