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The value of food exports to the EU dropped by £2. 4bn in the first 15 months after Brexit, according to analysis of HMRC data. However, overall exports, which were hit by the double whammy of Brexit red tape as well as decreased demand in hospitality due to the pandemic in 2021, recovered in the first three months of this year, the figures show. Data tracking exports since 1 January 2021, when the Brexit transition year ended, show UK food exports dropped by 19% to £10.
More than 2m households have missed a bill payment every month this year as people struggle to keep their heads above water in a “relentless cost of living crisis”, according to new research from consumer group Which?. In June an estimated 2. 1m households missed or defaulted on at least one mortgage, rent, loan, credit card or bill, according to the consumer champion’s monthly insight tracker. This figure has been above 2 million every month so far this year, it said.
Customer service complaints have hit their highest level on record and are costing British businesses more than £9bn a month in lost staff time, research has found. As firms struggle to cope with global supply issues and a staffing crisis, the Institute of Customer Service found more consumers were experiencing service issues than at any point since its customer satisfaction index began in 2008. – Guardian.
A Cheshire chemicals factory is to start capturing carbon dioxide on an industrial scale from energy generation in what is described as the UK’s first major use of the emissions-reduction technology. Tata Chemicals Europe (TCE) hopes to capture 40,000 tonnes of the greenhouse gas per year, reducing its annual emissions by 10% and providing it with a supply of high-purity carbon dioxide that could be used in products ranging from glass and washing detergents to pharmaceuticals and food.
Almost a third of shoppers who use buy now, pay later credit say repayments on the loans have become “unmanageable”, with the cost of living crisis pushing them into a debt spiral, new research has found. Consumers are spending more via the controversial form of credit, with shoppers who use BNPL now paying off an average of 4. 8 purchases – almost double the 2. 6 purchases in February, the research found. The average BNPL user’s outstanding balance currently stands at £254.
Annual pay growth stalled at 4% in May, leaving most workers with a rise in earnings worth less than half the 9% increase in prices. Figures from XpertHR, a pay and personnel data publisher, said employer pay deals for the three months to May failed to increase on April’s median 4%, undermining concerns that workers would push for inflation-busting rises in earnings that could start a wage-price spiral. - Guardian.
The UK’s biggest mobile and broadband companies have agreed a plan to help customers struggling to pay bills amid the cost of living crisis, including moves to allow switching to cheaper deals without paying a penalty. The package was agreed at a summit at Downing Street, co-chaired by the culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, and the cost of living business tsar, David Buttress, and attended by the top executives of the country’s biggest telecoms firms, including BT, Virgin Media O2, Vodafone, Three, Sky and TalkTalk.
The Queen’s bank, Coutts & Co, and the Coal Pensions Board have joined a group of investors backing a resolution calling for Sainsbury’s to pay the independently set living wage for all staff and contracted workers. The vote at the UK’s second-largest supermarket’s annual shareholder meeting on 7 July will be the first on a resolution committing a UK company board to pay the living wage. ShareAction, the responsible investment campaign group, said the resolution would be a “litmus test for investors’ social commitments amid the cost-of-living crisis”.
Gatwick airport will reduce its summer capacity to ward off potential chaos, after dozens of last-minute cancellations wrecked the travel plans of holidaymakers over the platinum jubilee and half-term holiday. London’s second busiest airport will limit the number of daily take-offs and landings to 850 in August – about 50 more than the average in early June, but more than 10% below its pre-pandemic maximum. - Guardian.
Labour has launched a review of business startup funding driven by a group of industry leaders including the former Goldman Sachs chief economist and Conservative Treasury minister Jim O’Neill as it attempts to improve its credentials with business. Announcing the review amid concern over the strength of the British economy, Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said Labour wanted to make Britain the best place in the world to start and grow a business. - Guardian.
Global fossil fuel company BP has bought 40. 5% of a renewable energy hub in the Pilbara, billed as having potential to become one of the biggest suppliers of green hydrogen in the world. The company will also operate the Asian Renewable Energy Hub, which has plans to generate up to 26GW of wind and solar energy – about a third of the electricity generated in Australia today. - Guardian.
The energy price cap could reach nearly £3,000 in the Britain at the beginning of October, with the planned increase possibly being more than £1,000 according to a new forecast. It is expected to rise to £2,980. 63 for the next period, which runs between October and December, after another spike in wholesale demand prices last week. – Guardian.
House prices in Great Britain hit a record high in June but are likely to start falling during the next few months as five interest rate rises and a worsening cost of living crisis finally start to put the brakes on the property market’s record-breaking run, according to Rightmove. The property website said asking prices hit a record for a fifth consecutive month in June, rising by 0. 3% – or £1,113 – to reach £368,614. However, this was the smallest monthly increase since January, with the site saying: “The exceptional pace of the market is easing a little.
Truss told MPs last week she was supportive of the idea that the government could seize frozen Russian assets in the UK and redistribute them to victims of Russia’s war in Ukraine. She said: “I am supportive of the concept. We are looking at it very closely. The Canadians have in fact just passed legislation This is an issue that we are working on jointly with the Home Office and the Treasury, but I certainly agree with the concept. We just need to get the specifics of it right.
Rolls Royce failed to sell its Spanish unit ITP last week as planned, although Spanish regulators are expected to sign off on the transaction in the next few weeks. The engineer's proposed £1. 5bn sale of the unit to US private equity outfit, Bain Capital, is a "crucial" part of its recovery plan. Holding up the deal is the Spanish government's desire to bring local investors on board. Talks between officials in Madrid and Bain are ongoing. The delays come even as Rolls Royce is facing a leadership vacuum due to the impending exit of its chief executive officer.
Customer service standards have fallen to record lows at energy companies, with suppliers Utilita and Ovo Energy among the worst offenders, according to a new report. Customers have had to wait longer for their calls to be answered and have regularly been unable to get hold of their supplier, research by Citizens Advice has found. – Guardian.
Ministers’ plans for reforming Britain’s gambling laws were in disarray on Wednesday as a rift emerged at the top of the Conservative party over whether to ban football shirt sponsorship and impose a levy to fund addiction services. Multiple sources said the process of putting the finishing touches to a white paper on gambling reform had driven a wedge between departments and senior MPs, with the publication deadline just weeks away. - Guardian.
EU countries clinched deals on proposed laws to combat the climate crisis in the early hours of Wednesday, backing a 2035 phase-out of new fossil-fuel car sales and a multibillion-euro fund to shield poorer citizens from the costs of carbon dioxide emissions. After more than 16 hours of negotiations, environment ministers from the 27 member states agreed their joint positions on five laws, part of a broader package of measures to slash planet-heating emissions this decade.
France and the UK will organise a summit to bolster ties. The announcement follows a pledge from the leaders of both countries to help Ukraine through a military surge to stop Moscow. A day before, Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson had agreed that an outright defeat of Russian forces was still the best outcome. Failing that, Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskiy needed to be in the best possible position to reach a deal. - The Sunday Times.
The Prime Minister called on the West's leaders to steel themselves for a prolonged war in Ukraine, saying that if not they risked the "greatest victory for aggression in Europe since the Second World War". He also pushed Britain's allies to hold their nerve and make sure that Kyiv had the "strategic endurance to survive and eventually prevail. " According to Boris Johnson, the price of a rushed settlement in Ukraine would not be worth paying. "Imagine for a moment that Vladimir Putin’s visions of glory were to come true.
