The UK's public finances have slipped further into the red after the government borrowed billions more than expected in the first half of the year.
The gap between income and expenditure was £7bn higher than in the same period last year, official figures revealed, leaving the UK on course for an annual deficit of £50bn.
Chancellor Sajid Javid faces a dilemma in his Budget speech next month as the worse-than-expected fiscal situation means he is unlikely to meet the government's self-imposed target of a maximum budget deficit of 2 per cent of GDP.
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Gaining a university degree is less of a sure route to higher earnings than it used to be, new research has found.
Graduates born in 1970 enjoyed a “graduate premium” much larger than that of graduates born two decades later, according to a study by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and the Department of Economics at Warwick University.
The “graduate premium” is a term often used to refer to how much more graduates are likely to earn on average, compared with their peers without a degree.
The new study analysed how the financial return to a degree has changed over a 20-year period marked by a major expansion in the numbers of people going on to higher education.
Pay boost from having a university degree has declined over 20 years, research shows
Graduates born in 1970 enjoyed ‘graduate premium’ much larger than that of graduates born two decades laterElectric cars could be issued green number plates as part of plans to incentivise cleaner vehicles in a bid to tackle climate change and dangerous levels of airborne pollution.
The Department for Transport (DfT) wants to promote zero-emissions vehicles by making them easily identifiable and giving drivers benefits such as cheaper parking and the option to drive in bus lanes.
A similar scheme was introduced in Ontario, Canada in 2010, allowing electric car drivers to use toll lanes for free. The number of electric vehicles on the roads in the city increased after the scheme was implemented.
Launching a consultation on the new plans on Tuesday, transport secretary Grant Shapps said: “Green number plates are a really positive and exciting way to help everyone recognise the increasing number of electric vehicles on our roads.
Electric car drivers could be allowed to use bus lanes
Government proposes to identify clean vehicles with special plates to boost zero-emissions motoringOn his £4.9bn approach for Just eat, Bob van Dijk, the group chief executive officer of Prosus, said: "We believe our global experience and resources can help Just Eat to achieve its significant potential.
"We believe that Just Eat's customers and restaurant partners will ultimately benefit from more delivery options, greater restaurant choice as well as improved service and delivery speeds driven by the combined group's expertise in product and technology innovation supported by increased capital investment in the business.
The move will make the company the largest US retailer so far to adopt a ban on natural fur, followed by JCPenney and Sears which have already done so.
On Monday the department store, and its sister company Bloomingdale’s, unveiled a new fur-free policy which has been created in partnership with the Humane Society of the United States.
While the store's private brands are going fur-free immediately, other labels will eradicate the use of fur by the end of fiscal 2020.
Macy's becomes biggest US retailer to stop selling fur
CEO Jeff Gennette says ban is 'a natural step' based on consumer trendsBritain’s most expensive railway is slashing fares ahead of the opening of Crossrail.
The Heathrow Express runs from London Paddington to terminals 2 and 3 at Britain’s busiest airport in 15 minutes, with an extra six minutes to terminal 5.
The “Anytime” one-way fare is £25, a price per mile of over £1.60.
A slightly cheaper off-peak single, avoiding rush hours, is £22.
Advance tickets costing £12.50 have been available on weekdays for travellers booking three months ahead, with cheaper deals for weekend travel.
(Bloomberg) Switzerland’s top prosecutor filed its first indictment against an individual in the long-running Petrobras-Odebrecht corruption scandal, charging the unidentified person with bribing foreign public officials and money laundering.
The case against the person of Swiss-Brazilian origin is being run using an accelerated procedure at the Swiss Federal Criminal Court, the Attorney General’s office said in a statement on Tuesday.
While the fast-tracking of this first indictment is a sign of progress, the Swiss probe into how money siphoned from Brazil’s national oil producer ended up in Swiss banks is only just warming up. Swiss prosecutors are investigating around 70 criminal cases including at least two local banks in the course of a probe that has already seen 700 million Swiss francs seized in the Alpine nation.
The German news agency dpa reported that about 4,000 farmers protested on Tuesday in the western city of Bonn, 500 in Hamburg and thousands more in various places in southern and northern Germany. The farmers blocked traffic with hundreds of tractors for hours.
Bamford buys Northern Ireland's Wrightbus - but no announcement on jobs
Bamford Bus Company has bought troubled Wrightbus, the Northern Ireland bus manufacturer that entered administration last month putting 1,200 jobs in doubt.
Industrialist Jo Bamford will become executive chairman of Wrightbus but has made no firm commitment on jobs at the Ballymena firm.
Mr Bamford said: “Wrightbus is a proud family business which is part of the fabric of Northern Ireland life and business. I am delighted to acquire such an established and respected brand. We can now start to look to the future and build on the excellent work that Sir William Wright and his family have done to develop the Wrightbus business.
"We will now begin speaking with customers and suppliers over the coming weeks in order to take a closer look at the financial situation that Wrightbus faces in order to build a viable and sustainable business.”
British manufacturing continues down a gloomy path with expectations for exports in the year ahead the worst in 18 years, according to the CBI’s quarterly Industrial Trends Survey.
At -44, the October reading for optimism about the general business situation was the weakest since July 2016, returning to the lows that followed the EU referendum. The measure for export prospects came in at -46, the lowest since October 2001.
“Brexit concerns have clearly driven concern about the near-term outlook for exports, with citations of political and economic uncertainty abroad and quota/import licence restrictions spiking to multi-decade highs,” the CBI said.
Investment intentions also worsened, with planned spending on buildings, plants and machinery, and training and retraining posting the sharpest drops since early to mid-2009, when Britain was still reeling from the effects of the financial crisis.
Gloom in manufacturing deepens, with worst exports outlook in 18 years
Investment plans also worsen, hitting post-financial crisis lowsA bidding war has broken out over Just Eat as it rejected a £4.9bn takeover offer from investment group Prosus, coming less than three months after the takeaway delivery company announced plans to merge with Takeaway.com.
Prosus, a Dutch-listed arm of South Africa’s internet group Naspers, offered 710p a share in cash for Just Eat. This is almost a fifth higher than the offer from Amsterdam-based Takeaway.com.
Still, the board of Just Eat rejected the overture from Prosus as it “significantly undervalues Just Eat and its attractive assets and prospects”, and recommended that shareholders do the same.
Just Eat is the largest food delivery company in the UK but analysts have criticised its management’s failure to capitalise on its early dominance of the rapidly growing sector, allowing nimbler rivals like Deliveroo to gain ground.
In its statement, aimed at Just Eat shareholders, Prosus said it believes the business will require substantial investment, over and above that planned by the company’s management.
Second Dutch-based firm makes takeover bid for Just Eat
Offer from Prosus comes less than three months after Just Eat announced plans to merge with Takeaway.comEnergy firms face a new crackdown after a string of company failures this year have left hundreds of thousands of consumers in limbo while they are being switched to a new supplier.
Under plans put forward on Tuesday, energy regulator Ofgem would have the power to demand independent audits of suppliers to ensure their customer service is up to standard and their finances are robust,
Ofgem would also be allowed to stop fast-growing firms taking on more customers unless they can show they have the capability to serve them all to a decent standard.
The watchdog proposes introducing stricter, ongoing requirements for energy companies to ensure their senior managers are fit to carry out their duties, and a new principle for suppliers to be “open and cooperative” with the regulator.
