Business

Jaguar Land Rover's announcement that it plans to axe up to 5,000 jobs shows a "Brexit bomb is exploding over Britain’s manufacturing industry", The Independent's Chief Business Commentator James Moore has said. The car manufacturer said it will be making thousands of job cuts in the new year as part of a £2.5 billion savings plan to ward off the threat from Brexit, falling sales in China and a drop in demand for diesel cars. Britain’s biggest carmaker employs 40,000 in the...

Sir Richard Branson thinks a no-deal Brexit would "near bankrupt" the UK. Branson made these comments to the BBC.  He was "absolutely certain" that leaving the EU without a deal would cause the closure of "quite a few British businesses". Sir Richard was speaking from the Mojave desert in California when he said: "I think Theresa May needs to be 100% honest with the public. "She's admitted that a hard Brexit would be an absolute disaster for the British people. "From...

As the UK falls into chaos over leaving the EU, the EU itself has gone on and approved a huge trade deal with Japan starting in 2019. The European Parliament voted 474 to 156 in favour of the plan to bind the two economic powerhouses. This will create the world’s largest free trade area totally around a third of the earth’s GDP. EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said in a statement: “This will bring clear benefits to our companies, farmers,...

Small business owners admit they are still 'clueless' about GDPR - leaving the personal data of millions of employees and customers at risk. Researchers who polled 1,000 owners of small businesses found half are confused by the do’s and don’ts when it comes to data protection and privacy regulations. As a result, owners and employees alike have made mistakes or have procedures in place which could have resulted in a multi-million pound fine for the business. More than a quarter...

Sterling fell to a new 20-month low against the Dollar on Tuesday and it looks like the on-going turmoil is not going to steady the currency for the foreseeable future. Compared to the Euro it was at a three and a half month low. Now with the PM facing a vote of no confidence, the stormy financial weather looks set to continue. Commenting on Sterling’s performance in the wake of the no-confidence announcement, Andy Scott, Associate Director at JCRA, the...

Half of employers say Brexit will harm young people’s economic prospects in the short-term – twice the number that think it will be helpful, according to a YouGov survey for the charity Young Women’s Trust.  Many employers also expressed concern about the longer-term financial impact on young people of the UK leaving the EU. 50 per cent of those with responsibility for hiring staff say that the economic implications of Brexit will negatively affect 18 to 30 year-olds in the long-term. This compares to 33 per cent who think it will have a positive effect. One in four (27...

The warning came after four gangsters were jailed for 15 years after tricking Chinese students into giving them access to their bank accounts.

Workers who are offered the option of flexible working are benefitting UK business, taking less leave and working at increased levels of productivity, according to research. A study compared the productivity of 1,500 workers who set their own hours or working location against 500 who are not doing so. Flexible workers said they felt they worked effectively for more of a typical working day than those working a traditional ‘nine-to-five’. However, three-quarters of flexi workers say they’d be reluctant to...

It is that time of year again, how much are rail passengers going to be ripped off next year. Well it is going to be a hike of 3.1 per cent in the New Year. After another year of chaos on the railways (and the weather hasn't even gone bad yet) this will anger, well pretty much everyone, apart from shareholders in these rail companies. The rise, is lower than the 3.4% average rise for fares in 2018 (not really...