IN THE NEWS TODAY: It's not all about the pasties & pumps today. There's complaints, cuts and Thomas Cook
FINANCIAL TIMES
OSBORNE BATTLE OVER £10BN WELFARE CUT
By Sarah Neville and Kiran Stacey
Plans by the chancellor to take £10bn-a-year, or almost £1 in £20, out of the welfare budget are being openly resisted by the department for work and pensions in the first sign of government infighting over the coming spending round.
George Osborne made clear in last week’s Budget that further welfare savings were crucial if other departments were to be spared even deeper cuts after 2015. He told MPs: “If in the next spending review we maintain the same rate of reductions in departmental spending as we have done in this review, we would need to make savings in welfare of £10bn by 2016”.
But, speaking to the Financial Times, Chris Grayling, employment minister, said: “What the chancellor did in his budget was set out a framework for government as a whole and that £10bn is a figure that applies across government. He expressed the desire that we make further savings in welfare as part of that, but ... we haven’t begun that kind of discussion yet.”
THE GUARDIAN
PASTY ROW HOTS UP FOR DAVID CAMERON
By Patrick Wintour and Martin Wainwright
David Cameron's efforts to show he loves a hot takeaway far more than a private dinner with his rich backers came to a crumbly end when his fond memory of eating a large Cornish pasty at Leeds railway station turned out to be somewhat faulty.
The prime minister's problems began at the Treasury select committee on Tuesday when the fiercely independent and somewhat lugubrious Labour MP John Mann asked George Osborne why he was imposing VAT on hot foods such as pasties. He asked the chancellor when he had last eaten a pasty at Greggs the bakers.
Osborne – more interested in the dynamic modelling of tax reforms than hot food VAT anomalies – looked nonplussed, and said he could not recall.
DAILY EXPRESS
UK ECONOMY SHRINKS BY MORE THAN WAS FEARED
The UK economy shrank by a larger than previously estimated 0.3per cent between October and December, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said yesterday.The third and final estimate from the ONS means the economy entered 2012 in a worse position than previously thought.However, most economists think the UK will avoid another recession – defined as two quarters of back-to-back contraction – by returning to growth in the first quarter of 2012 after stronger industry data in recent months.
FINANCIAL TIMES
COMPLAINTS TO FINANCIAL GROUPS UP 21%
By Lucy Warwick-Ching
Barclays Bank attracted more customer complaints than any other UK financial institution in the second half of 2011, according to data issued by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), with 146,316 disputes recorded in the last six months to December.
However, the data appeared to show Barclays making some progress, with the number of complaints filed with the business down over compared to last year.
Antony Jenkins, chief executive of Barclays retail and business banking, said the bank has made progress in getting banking complaints down by over 30 per cent compared to 2010. “Complaints are still higher than our customers should expect, but we are on the right track in bringing them down,” he said.
By banking group, Lloyds TSB, which includes Halifax and Bank of Scotland, took the biggest share of complaints with just under 241,000 disputes, a huge rise from the 182,000 it had received in the first half of 2011.
THE SUN
CAM OFF IT
By Steve Hawkes, Business Editor
The boss of theme park giant Merlin has urged the PM to ditch photoshoots and start cutting youth unemployment. Nick Varney yesterday said he was "fed up" seeing photos of David Cameron and George Osborne in factories and gleaming new biotech sites. He said the pair should cut VAT for the leisure and hospitality sector as that was the best way of getting youngsters into work. Mr Varney told Sun City: "The big issue is price competition. VAT is 20 per cent. It's 7 per cent in France, 8 per cent in Spain, 10 per cent in Florida, zero in California. "We have five people going out of the country for every two that visit. "Anyone who thinks that doesn't affect the balance of payments doesn't know business at all."
DAILY MAIL
FAMILY INCOMES SEE WORST FALL SINCE 1977 AS AVERAGE DISPOSABLE INCOME DROPS 1.2%
By Becky Barrow, Business Correspondent
Families were hit by a bigger fall in their disposable income in 2011 than in any other year since 1977, official figures revealed yesterday.The average family saw their disposable income drop by 1.2 per cent last year compared to 2010, the largest annual drop for an extraordinary 35 years. The figure, from the Office for National Statistics, highlights the nightmare facing families, which was described by the Bank of England recently as a ‘ferocious’ squeeze on take-home pay.Since records began in 1948, ‘real’ disposable income, which means it has been adjusted for inflation, has risen almost every year, even during the recent recession. The ONS said it has dropped in just eight of the years over this period.
THE TIMES
CATTLES CHIEFS BANNED FOR ‘DEVASTATING DECEPTION’
By Alex Spence
Three former senior managers at Cattles have been fined £700,000 and banned from working in financial services for misleading investors about the extent of bad loans at the failed doorstep lender.
The executives were responsible for Cattles giving “highly misleading” information about loan impairments and profits in its 2007 accounts and a prospectus for a £200 million rights issue, the Financial Services Authority said.
James Corr, Cattles’ former finance director, received the largest fine of £400,000 for breaches of the FSA’s market abuse, listing and disclosure rules. Peter Miller, the former finance director of Cattles’ Welcome Finance unit, was fined £200,000; and John Blake, Welcome’s former managing director, was fined £100,000. Mr Blake is appealing against the FSA’s decision.
THE MIRROR
NOW PAY UP! ASBESTOS FAMILIES WIN SUPREME COURT BATTLE FOR COMPENSATION WITH INSURANCE FIRMS
By Mark Ellis
Relatives of asbestos victims won a landmark victory in the Supreme Court yesterday that could lead to £600million of insurance payouts.
Thousands of new claims are now expected to be made after judges ruled that insurance liability was triggered when employees were exposed to asbestos dust – not when the symptoms emerged.
It means families of workers who died of asbestos-related cancer can claim on policies dating back to the 1940s.
The ruling is a victory for the Mirror’s Asbestos Timebomb cam-paign which is calling for payouts for victims and the removal of the substance from all public buildings.
Union Unite had launched a legal challenge on behalf of the family of Charles O’Farrell, a retired member who died of asbestos cancer mesothelioma aged 81 in 2003.
His daughter, Maureen Edwards, said yesterday: “All I ever prayed for was the right decision. This is the right decision.
THE TELEGRAPH
FUEL STRIKE: PUMPS GO DRY AS MINISTERS PROVOKE A PANIC
By James Kirkup, and James Hall
Some filling stations ran out and others began rationing petrol and diesel after ministers’ warnings of a major disruption to fuel supplies.
Tanker drivers from the Unite trade union have voted for industrial action, raising the prospect of a strike that could affect supplies to 90 per cent of fuel stations.
No date has been set for a strike, but ministers suggested that action could begin as soon as next week, disrupting the Easter weekend…Industry estimates suggested that fuel sales were almost 50 per cent higher than would be expected on a weekday in March.
Fuel stations in areas including Merseyside, North Wales and Lancashire ran dry because of demand. Forecourts in London and Essex also ran short.
Industry analysts said demand was highest in parts of the country that had an older population.
In Christchurch, Dorset, police closed filling stations after the popular retirement town became gridlocked with motorists trying to fill up.
THE SCOTSMAN
SCOTTISH ENTERPRISE LAUNCHES ‘AMBITIOUS PLAN’ TO DRIVE GROWTH
By Terry Murden
Scottish Enterprise chief executive Lena Wilson was today expected to unveil “the most ambitious business plan we have put forward” as she announces a programme to increase the number of growth firms SE supports by a fifth over the next three years.
Wilson said the agency was now focused on helping those firms identified by research as having the greatest potential to add value to the economy and create jobs. These firms represented the “engine of the Scottish economy”, she said.
As a cornerstone of the three-year business plan, SE will work with up to 400 more companies with significant growth potential through its account management programme. SE works intensively with a company’s management team to understand its growth opportunities. “We try to get managements to think about growth and about being ambitious,” she said. “It is amazing how many do not have a business plan for growth.”
THE INDEPENDENT
THOMAS COOK FINDS WORLD IS MORE WONDERFUL
By Nick Goodway
Thomas Cook has reported the first upturn in UK bookings for many months.
With Joey Ramone's version of What a Wonderful World backing its latest advertising campaign, the heavily indebted tour operator says summer 2012 bookings in the UK are now only 2 per cent down on last year. Bookings for winter 2012-13 are down 9 per cent, but the company said this was in line with its plans to cut down on capacity.
Brits are returning to Tunisia for the first time since the Arab Spring, with bookings for sunshine holidays next winter up markedly. Greece remains as popular as ever except among Germans, who continue to boycott the country as a holiday destination.
A major upgrade to the firm's website has seen a 19 per cent increase in package tour bookings in the UK in the past four weeks.
THE GUARDIAN
FOOTBALL FANS SEEK REMOVAL OF WONGA ADS FROM CLUB WEBSITES
By Jill Insley & Hilary Osborne
The fans of 18 football clubs have called on their sides to stop carrying advertising by payday lender Wonga on their websites, and are encouraging the supporters of more than 60 other clubs to follow suit. In a letter published in the Guardian, the football fans argue that while payday lenders are not conducting illegal business, "that is only because there are at present few if any laws restricting their activities in UK. Their practices would not be allowed in most other European countries, or in most of the USA."
The fans, led by Northampton Town supporter Bob Ward and his grandson Dan, ask their clubs to seek sources of advertising revenue other "than earning money from the dubious activities of Wonga.com", adding: "If they really wish to advertise short-term loans for their fans in these difficult financial times, then perhaps it would be better to give publicity to their local credit unions."
