Slow but steady growth has finally lifted productivity above its level before the 2008 financial crisis, but years of stagnation known as the “productivity puzzle” mean it still has much lost ground to make up. The ONS said the latest growth figures were weak by pre-crisis standards. … [Read more...] about Weak UK productivity spurs warnings of living standards squeeze
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Mortgage prisoners: Key workers in ‘financial nightmare’
The Treasury then allowed NRAM to make bigger profit margins on standard variable rate mortgages, preparing the way for the sale of a portfolio of mortgages to private investors who could make large profits from the repayments Kevin and Melissa were making. … [Read more...] about Mortgage prisoners: Key workers in ‘financial nightmare’
E.ON price rise branded ‘monstrous’ as users face £97 a year extra
Tony Cocker, the company’s chief executive, said: “It is an announcement we never want to make, but is due in large part to the fact that many of the costs we don’t directly control, such as policies including EMR [energy market reform], RO [the renewables obligation] and the energy company obligation [ECO], which are paid for via people’s energy bills, are increasing. … [Read more...] about E.ON price rise branded ‘monstrous’ as users face £97 a year extra
MPs lash out at HSBC and other UK firms for supporting Hong Kong crackdown by China and ‘backing repression of liberties’
Matthew Henderson, Asia Studies director at foreign policy think tank, the Henry Jackson Society, said: 'It is disappointing that an international institution that — throughout its existence — has benefited from Hong Kong's freedoms and opportunities, now feels obliged to collaborate with forces that are bent on the destruction of those same freedoms. … [Read more...] about MPs lash out at HSBC and other UK firms for supporting Hong Kong crackdown by China and ‘backing repression of liberties’
Britain’s energy supply is in jeopardy after Brexit, warn MPs
The cross-party group of MPs said it shared the nuclear industry’s concern that it would take more than two years to hammer out a new deal for regulating nuclear power stations and trade. It urged the government to delay exit from the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) or set up transitional arrangements, which may need to be longer than the three years proposed by the European parliament. … [Read more...] about Britain’s energy supply is in jeopardy after Brexit, warn MPs
