Optimism over rail dispute after RMT suspends strike on Network Rail – Business Live | a job | Pro IQRA News

The head of the UK’s largest investor has criticized the UK government for failing to encourage growth and investment.

Sir Nigel WilsonCEO of Legal and public affairsHe told Radio 4’s Today program that Britain lags far behind other countries in identifying investment opportunities from the transition to Net Zero.

L&G has £1.3tn in assets, and Wilson says the company is keen to invest more in Britain, but government policy is not helping.

In a stinging rebuke to Westminster from the city, Wilson says:

“We would like to invest a lot here in the UK, but a combination of regulation and politics has made it very difficult to do so over the past 20 or 30 years.”

Wilson vows to continue investing in the UK, where he says L&G are “huge investors”, but insists the government needs to take steps to encourage investment.

He says:

But we have to realize that we have denied our economy equality in growth, and the result is that we have a low growth, low productivity, low wage economy fraught with internal political conflict.

This must change.

“We need to step up government and put in place the rules and policies that allow us to invest in the UK’s real economy.”

Willon explains that there are “huge initiatives” in the US, Europe and China as governments recognize that moving to net zero is a “huge investment opportunity”.

“We are simply miles behind at the moment,” he warns, in a fitting intervention before Jeremy Hunt’s budget next week.

According to the Financial Times today, Hunt will use next week’s budget to devise a new system of capital allowances for companies. That would offset the sharp rise in corporation tax and the end of the £25bn “super deductible” tax cut for investment.

Elsewhere in the travel sector, Heathrow has been asked to reduce passenger fees charged to airlines, which could result in lower ticket prices for customers.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has ruled that Britain’s largest airport should reduce its landing fees over the 2024-26 period.

The average maximum fare per passenger should fall by around 20%, from £31.57 per passenger in 2023 to £25.43 per passenger in 2024, and stay there until 2026.

This means the average cost per passenger will be £27.49, a reduction of 90px to the £28.39 previously set by the airline regulator.

The CAO announced when announcing the final decision:

This lower level of fees from 2024 recognizes that passenger volumes are expected to return to pre-pandemic levels and should benefit passengers in terms of reduced costs, while also allowing Heathrow Limited to continue investing in the airport for the benefit of consumers and supporting the airport’s ability to fund its operations.

The maximum landing fee was £22 per customer in 2020, but was raised to more than £30 in January as Heathrow struggled with passenger numbers plummeting due to the pandemic.

Today’s decision looks like a win for the airlines, which pressured the regulator to lower Heathrow landing fees.

Richard Moriarty, The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority chief executive says the regulator has listened to both sides – who (as expected) have different views on what is fair:

“Our priority in making this decision today is to ensure that the traveling public can expect to get great value for money from using Heathrow in terms of consistently good service, while not overpaying for it.

“We have carefully considered the sharply divergent views of Heathrow Airport Limited and the airlines on the future level of fees. Understandably, the interests of their respective shareholders have driven the airport to argue for fee hikes and airlines to push for fee reductions.

Last month, Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye alleged that the regulator had “got it wrong” about its pricing. He argued that customers of airlines such as British Airways “charge what they like” and make “huge profits” on higher fares.

Today, a Heathrow spokesperson said the airport would “take some time to carefully consider our next steps”.

Good morning.

Hopes are high of a breakthrough in Great Britain’s long-running rail dispute after the RMT consortium abruptly canceled all industrial action on Network Rail after receiving a new payment offer.

Last night, the RMT union called off a planned strike at Network Rail that was scheduled for March 16. The new offer will now be put to members for a vote.

An RMT spokesperson said last night:

“The RMT National Executive Committee has taken the decision to suspend all industrial procedures on the rail network after receiving a new offer from the employer.

“Further updates on all aspects of the National Rail dispute will be provided in the coming days.”

Our transport correspondent Gwen Topham It is reported that the total headline wage increase is understood to be unchanged, but some adjustments have been made to the previous offer which totaled 9% over two years.

The Federation’s National Executive Committee rejected this earlier offer.

This is not to say that the railway industry dispute, which began last spring, is over.

As it stands, RMT members across 14 train operating companies remain prepared for industrial action on March 16, but the impact on many services will be far less than that of a joint strike with Network Rail. Other strikes at these train operating companies are also scheduled for March 18 and 30 and April 1.

Hilary AnghamSenior Lecturer in the Department of Economics Lancaster universityLast night’s revised payment offer came “out of the blue,” he says.

melodies Radio 5 Wake Up to Money said:

This does not mean that all future strikes have been cancelled.

So, it’s not actually over. But it appears that this may be the beginning of the end.

The railway network welcomed this significant progress. its CEO, Andrew HainesHe said:

“We are relieved for our employees, passengers and freight customers that industrial work at Network Rail has now been suspended. We look forward to more information on the referendum plans.”

Hopes are also high of a breakthrough in the NHS industry dispute this week, with talks between ministers and the NHS Staff Council starting today.

The Daily Mirror reports there is optimism that ministers can come up with a payment offer that unions will be happy to return to members by the end of three days of negotiations planned this week.

More here: NHS nursing pay deal ‘on the horizon’ with ministers ‘hopeful’ as talks start with unions

As the day comes

It’s International Women’s Day, which has led to a warning that two-thirds of women with childcare responsibilities believe they’ve missed out on career advancement as a direct result.

The warning, from business leaders at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), comes amid growing pressure on the government to increase support for parents.

The mood in stock markets is tense, after US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned that the Fed is ready to return to raising interest rates and that it “has a long way to go” in its battle against inflation.

schedule of work

• 10am GMT: Latest estimate of eurozone growth in the fourth quarter of 2022

• Noon GMT: Weekly US mortgage approvals

• 1.15pm GMT: ADP report on US private payrolls for February

• 3pm GMT: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testifies before the House Financial Services Committee

• 3pm GMT: JOLTS survey of job vacancies in the US