Strikes: Sunak convenes cabinet as Number 10 tells RMT to reconsider pay offer December 6, 2022 Rishi Sunak has sent a fresh warning to unions ahead of upcoming Christmas strikes, with Number 10 urging transport union bosses to reconsider the current pay offer. Number 10 said National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) boss Mick Lynch should take the current pay offer “seriously” as it is “generous and fair”. [...]
Michelle Mone takes leave of absence from Lords amid PPE controversy December 6, 2022 Under fire Baroness Michelle Mone has taken a leave of absence from the House of Lords in the wake of a controversy involving PPE contracts. Mone is at the centre of a controversy involving the awarding of £200m of PPE contracts that were awarded to a firm linked with the Conservative-affiliated life peer. A spokesperson [...]
Fraud crackdown saves £400m for public purse, enough for 130k people’s healthcare December 6, 2022 The government’s fraud-fighting efforts have saved more than £400m, enough to cover 130,000 people’s healthcare. New figures released by the cabinet office show the cash was kept in the coffers thanks to new state-of-the-art data matching technology. The fraud clampdown comes after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in the Autumn statement, the UK would set aside [...]
Online safety makes return as concern over fraud adverts mount December 6, 2022 The online safety bill returned to parliament yesterday after five months in limbo and a tide of rallying cries from campaigners. The bill aims to better regulate big tech firms, threatening hefty fines for non-compliance, covering illegal and harmful content, as well as fraudulent advertising. Although consumer group Which? praised the inclusion of online scam [...]
UK’s new flexible working laws still give employers right to reject requests, employment lawyers say December 5, 2022 New rules aimed at boosting uptake of flexible working arrangements still give employers’ significant discretion to reject those requests, lawyers have told Morning Wire New laws aimed at increasing flexibility in the workplace, by giving low paid workers the legal right to ask for a more flexible arrangement and letting all staff ask for flexible [...]
Reports: UK set to unveil post-Brexit financial services reforms on Friday December 5, 2022 The UK is reportedly set to bring forward long awaited post-Brexit reforms to the UK’s financial services rulebook on Friday. Bloomberg reported this morning that the Treasury is now completing the final details of the package, with cabinet sign-off expected this week, and that an announcement is pencilled in for the end of the week. [...]
Starmer vows to scrap House of Lords ‘as quickly as possible’ December 5, 2022 Sir Keir Starmer has vowed that a Labour government would scrap the House of Lords “as quickly as possible”, but refused to confirm a timeline. The Labour leader would not say if his party would make the change in the first term of a potential future government, after a new report by Gordon Brown called [...]
More Tory MPs expected to announce exit from politics this week December 5, 2022 Today is the deadline for Tory MPs to confirm if they will stand at the next election, with more expected to announce their exit from frontline politics over the next week. A growing number of Conservative MPs have announced their intention to step down at the next election, which is expected by the end of [...]
‘Government can change’ UK economic stagnation, CBI urges December 5, 2022 The UK risks another “lost decade of growth” unless the government takes action to strengthen companies’ confidence in the economy, the country’s top business group warned today. Rishi Sunak must create an environment that incentivises business investment to avoid prolonging the UK’s growth malaise since the financial crisis, according to the Confederation of British Industry [...]
Rail strikes: RMT rejects eight per cent pay rise offer December 4, 2022 Rail union the RMT has rejected an 8 per cent pay rise offered by rail operators, aimed at heading off strikes planned for next week. “We have rejected this offer as it does not meet any of our criteria for securing a settlement on long term job security, a decent pay rise and protecting working [...]