Published: 25 April 2024
By Suzanne Evans, Director, Political Insight
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has defended investment in the weapons industry as “ethical” and aligned it with environmental, social and governance (ESG) mandates. Announcing an additional £10bn for defence spending, lifting it to 2.5% of GDP by 2030, he said: “To encourage private sector investment into defence production, I can also announce today that we’re going to put beyond doubt that defence investment does count towards ESG assessments”. “There is nothing more ethical than defending our way of life from those who threaten it,” he added. In a joint statement later, the Investment Association and the Treasury said yesterday: “Investing in defence companies contributes to our national security, defends the civil liberties we all enjoy, while delivering long-term returns for pensions funds and retail investors”. The statement added: “Investing in good, high-quality, well-run defence companies is compatible with ESG considerations as long-term sustainable investment is about helping all sectors and all companies in the economy succeed.”
London has, for the tenth year, been voted as the world’s most desirable city for work by the Decoding Global Talent survey by Boston Consulting Group, The Network and The Stepstone Group. The latest edition canvassed more than 150,000 workers from 188 countries. Other UK cities making the top 100 included Edinburgh at 53rd, Birmingham at 58th, Belfast at 79th and Glasgow at 83rd. Other contenders in the top ten were Amsterdam, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, New York, Berlin, Singapore, Barcelona, Tokyo and Sydney.
Fraud: Barrister Jonathan Fisher KC has revealed the initial findings of his review of the challenges of disclosure and fraud offences, saying it is evident “that a perfect solution does not exist”. The Red Lion Chambers member said that currently, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) average case has around 5m documents, and the largest case on its system has 48m documents. “If printed, the average volume of material in an SFO case would stack considerably higher than the Shard,” Fisher wrote. He also said he does not currently see a compelling case to reform the law, but “would like to consider where there may be scope for the legislation to be modernised to simplify some of its provisions to support greater consistency of application and to enable better use of technology.” He is also considering whether new sanctions could be introduced for prosecutors and defendants who do not adhere to the agreed disclosure timetable or fail to engage.
Post Office Scandal Inquiry: The former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells ignored calls from the organisation’s top management team to halt sub-postmaster prosecutions, the Horizon IT inquiry has heard. Former senior in-house lawyer Chris Aujard said that in 2013 the executive committee “were in favour of ceasing prosecutions entirely,” he told the inquiry yesterday, but was overruled by Vennells who said “limited” prosecutions should continue. Aujard said his personal view was that “criminal prosecutions cause great stress and anxiety and didn’t have a place in a business such as the Post Office”. Aujard, who was the Post Office’s top lawyer from 2013 to 2015, during which time the independent forensic accountants Second Sight, who played a key role in exposing the scandal, were sacked, was asked if their dismissal lacked fairness and transparency. He replied: “That’s correct - certainly fairness.” Aujard apologised to the wrongfully convicted sub-postmasters and their families for the “anguish and suffering” they have had to endure, adding the inquiry has come “far too late” for many of the victims. The inquiry also heard yesterday from Aujard’s predecessor, Susan Crichton, who said she was “put into a position where I couldn’t do my job”. Former Post Office lawyers Rob Wilson and Jarnail Singh had a "rather unhealthy view" of sub-postmasters, she added, and also apologised to sub-postmasters "for the suffering caused to you and your families". She said she hoped giving evidence meant "something like this never happens again".
Anglo American shares are surging this morning after the FTSE 100 mining company confirmed it is “reviewing” a takeover bid from its larger Australian rival BHP. No further details of the offer were revealed. At the time of writing, shares in Anglo American were up almost 13%.
Ryanair claims it will be forced to scrap a planned expansion of UK flights unless it is allowed to hire foreign air stewards. Outspoken CEO Michael O’Leary said British workers no longer want to work as cabin crew, and attacked “insane” post-Brexit rules that stop the company from deploying foreign workers at its 13 bases in the country. O’Leary also offered to carry deportees on flights to Rwanda under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plan to crack down on illegal immigration.
Sainsbury's says its food business is "firing on all cylinders" as it reported that grocery sales grew by 9.4% over the past year. Pre-tax profits, however, fell 15% to £277m, reflecting costs related to its decision to wind down its banking division. Underlying profits rose 1.6% to £701m, which was slightly higher than expected, and Sainsbury's said it was "confident of delivering strong profit growth in the year ahead" in the region of a 5-10% increase in profit.
The Bannatyne Group, the chain of health clubs and hotels owned by former BBC Dragons’ Den investor Duncan Bannatyne has reported record revenue and its highest profit since before Covid measures forced gyms and hotels to shut. Pre-tax profit was £10.1m for 2023, up from £1m in 2022, while revenue was £138.9m for the year, a rise from £126.9m. That breaks down to £132.9m for the gym side of the business; revenue from hotels fell from £7.9m to £6m; Bannatyne sold one hotel for £2.9m. It has 69 gyms nationwide.
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