Press Round-Up Short (Premium)
Tuesday newspaper round-up: UK start-ups, Wirecard, consumer confidence
The chancellor is expanding a £500m fund for UK startups hit by the coronavirus crisis, to ensure firms that shifted their headquarters abroad can still access the scheme. The Future Fund will now benefit companies that are seen as British in all but name, having moved their parent company to tap US investors or take advantage of so-called accelerator programmes. Accelerators like US-based Y Combinator often ask firms to set up a US entity in order to access financing, mentorships and expert networks overseas.
Monday newspaper round-up: Landsec, UK customs, retailers
The biggest job creation package in peacetime is needed to prevent the worst unemployment crisis in Britain for a generation, a leading thinktank has warned. Sounding the alarm as job losses mount, the Resolution Foundation called on the government to continue subsidising the wages of workers in the sectors of the economy hardest hit by the Covid-19 crisis until at least the end of next year. - Guardian.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Coronavirus, British Airways, BT Group
Britain is on a "knife edge" and likely to see an increase in coronavirus cases by July, a Government adviser has warned. Sir Jeremy Farrar, the director of the Wellcome Trust and a member of the Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said he was concerned that there will soon be a surge of new infections caused by lockdown restrictions being eased towards the end of May. - Sunday Telegraph.
Friday newspaper round-up: Holiday scams, retailer rent, British Airways
Consumers are being warned about a sharp rise in coronavirus-related holiday scams, including a spate of fake caravan and motorhome listings targeting those planning a summer staycation. The warning from UK Finance, the banking industry body, comes three days after the government announced an easing of the lockdown rules in England aimed at helping to get the tourism sector back up and running. - Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Wage subsidies, Tata Steel, Quiz
Labour has warned Rishi Sunak that the Treasury’s one-size-fits-all approach to ending wage subsidies risks a period of mass unemployment that will reverse much of the good done by the furlough. Writing for the Guardian, the shadow chancellor, Anneliese Dodds, called on Sunak to use his planned summer statement next month to extend financial support to vulnerable sectors beyond the October deadline for winding up the scheme. - Guardian.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: lockdown inconsistencies, Boots, hotels
Bars, restaurants, hairdressers and churches face a minefield, privacy campaigners have warned, after the government instructed them to record people’s contact details in case they need to assist with test-and-trace efforts. From 4 July, hospitality businesses and other venues in England will be able to reopen. To minimise customer contact, restaurants will be limited to table service inside, Boris Johnson said on Tuesday, and will be asked to help NHS Test and Trace “by collecting contact details from customers, as happens in other countries”.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Oil, UK pubs, Wirecard
The White House’s stance on China was thrown into confusion on Monday night after trade adviser Peter Navarro announced a trade deal between the two countries was “over”, only to be quickly contradicted by Donald Trump. Navarro told Fox News the “turning point” came when the US learned about the coronavirus only after a Chinese delegation had left Washington following the signing of the phase one deal on 15 January. – Guardian.
Monday newspaper round-up: VAT cuts, energy suppliers, takeover rules
The former chancellor Alistair Darling has urged the government to consider an emergency cut in VAT amid growing speculation that the Treasury will make a tax cut on consumer spending the centre of a plan to boost Britain’s post-Covid-19 recovery. Rishi Sunak will announce a package of measures in early July intended to help those sectors of the economy, such as retailing, recover from the impact of a three-month lockdown. - Guardian.
Sunday newspaper round-up: One metre plus, Aviva, Huawei
Boris Johnson is poised to announce a new "one metre plus" rule for all venues, including shops, restaurants, schools, offices, and parks, in an overhaul designed to unlock swathes of the economy. The move, which would take effect from July 4, is understood to entail allowing people to remain a metre away from others if they take additional measures to protect themselves, such as wearing a mask or meeting outdoors. In restaurants, pubs and bars, firms will be expected to introduce measures such as partitions between tables that are less than two metres apart.
Friday newspaper round-up: Bicycle sales, homeworking, UK consumer confidence
Bicycle sales could be set to fall by 10% this year despite a surge in demand during the coronavirus lockdown. Spending on bikes is expected to drop to £842m from £940m last year, when 2. 5m new bikes were saddled up in the UK, according to market research firm Mintel. Mintel said the switch from public transport and cars to two wheels during the coronavirus pandemic was likely to be offset by a downturn in consumer spending prompted by the likely recession caused by the lockdown.
Thursday newspaper round-up: DPD, pensions triple lock, Woodford fund
The delivery firm DPD and the B&Q owner Kingfisher are hiring a total of more than 7,500 staff in the UK to cope with surging demand for home deliveries during the coronavirus pandemic. DPD is to hire 6,000 workers, including HGV drivers, warehouse staff, managers and support staff such as mechanics as part of a £200m investment in expanding its next-day parcel-delivery service. – Guardian.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: UK Finance boss, gambling ads, stock markets
The boss of the banking lobby group UK Finance has resigned just weeks before his alleged sexist remarks about the financier Amanda Staveley are due to be revealed in the high court. Stephen Jones, a senior Barclays executive during the financial crisis who became the first chief executive of UK Finance in 2017, said he had also apologised to Staveley and the body’s staff about the comments, which were made as the bank scrambled to save itself from nationalisation in 2008.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Gambling advertising, Willie Walsh, Staveley
Deliveroo and the bosses of major chains including Pizza Hut, Pret a Manger, Itsu and Wagamama have asked the prime minister for urgent support to prevent mass closures, as physical distancing rules threaten the future of the restaurant industry. The food delivery firm and 90 of its partners, representing more than 1,000 restaurants across the UK, have written a letter to Boris Johnson outlining a range of measures they say are needed to weather an extended period of reduced capacity.
Monday newspaper round-up: Retailers, UK economy, Travelodge
The Treasury should act to help more than a million people who have fallen through the cracks in the government’s Covid-19 income support schemes, according to a report by an influential group of MPs. The all-party Treasury select committee said large numbers of people are enduring financial hardship and are unable to benefit from the chancellor’s schemes for salaried employees and the self-employed. – Guardian.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Two meters, Rolls Royce, Clinigen
Senior scientists have reported flaws in an influential World Health Organization-commissioned study into the risks of coronavirus infection and say it should not be used as evidence for relaxing the UK’s 2-metre physical distancing rule. Critics of the distancing advice, which states that people should keep at least 2 metres apart, believe it is too cautious. They seized on the research commissioned by the WHO, which suggested a reduction from 2 metres to 1 would raise infection risk only marginally, from 1.
Friday newspaper roundup: Furlough, UK beer sales, Ocado
More than a third of employees in some towns in Britain have been furloughed due to coronavirus, according to figures that also reveal the government’s job retention scheme has now cost almost £20bn. Crawley in Sussex, which sits next to Gatwick airport, had 33. 7% of employees furloughed last month while in contrast Cambridge had just under half that proportion at 17. 4%. – Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Housing market, British Airways, Wizz Air
Britain’s housing market remains depressed despite a pick-up in enquiries from people looking to buy, but estate agents are expecting a sharp increase in demand for homes with gardens over the next two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite estate agents being allowed to reopen in England on 13 May following an eight-week shutdown, sales and house prices continued to fall across the UK in May, according to a monthly survey of surveyors and estate agents from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Selfridges, property sales, Aviva
Personal after-hours shopping trips, online beauty appointments and entertainment for those queuing outside will form part of Selfridges’ coronavirus-era shopping offer when the retailer reopens on 15 June. The luxury department store group, which operates four shops in the UK, including its London flagship on Oxford Street, will not be able to reopen services such as beauty makeovers, hairdressing or its cafes and cinema because of Covid-19 restrictions. It is hoping a mix of virtual experiences and live entertainments – such as DJs – will help shoppers feel no less pampered.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Retailers, debt, Centrica, TUI
Britain’s retailers suffered a second successive slump in monthly sales during May as the coronavirus shutdown took its toll on the high street. Price cutting by furniture and homewares shops, which were among the worst hit, failed to entice customers to open their wallets, leaving last month’s sales figures down by 5. 9% compared with the same month last year. – Guardian.
Monday newspaper round-up: Brexit, BT, AstraZeneca
Downing Street fears that Michel Barnier has lost his grip on the fishing negotiations, throwing doubt over Boris Johnson’s hopes of a summer of swift and definitive progress towards a trade and security deal with the EU. The bloc’s chief negotiator had been expected to present a compromise proposal on access to British waters during the talks last week but was blocked at the last minute by member states with large fishing communities. – Guardian.