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A long-awaited plan for railways in the Midlands and north of England will be published next week that could see the eastern extension of HS2 from Birmingham to Leeds mothballed.

Regional political leaders are anticipating publication of the government’s integrated rail review for the Midlands and north imminently, with many braced for delays to key rail improvements.

The most high-profile casualty is expected to be the planned eastern extension of HS2 linking Birmingham to Leeds, likely to be delayed indefinitely because of Treasury concerns over cost.

HS2
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New stations in Leeds and Bradford may also be approved even if the new east-west line does not receive backing

If confirmed it will be the latest blow to the hugely controversial HS2 project, less than two years since Boris Johnson gave the green light for the scheme despite opposition from Conservative MPs and some of his own advisors.

Decisions will also be announced on whether to proceed immediately with a new trans-Pennine rail line linking Manchester and Leeds, the centrepiece of the long-planned Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) project.

The new east-west line is seen as central to improving connectivity in the north of England, and regional leaders say it is central to delivering the prime minister’s “levelling up agenda”, intended to spread economic benefits beyond the south of England.

Ministers may opt to delay the new route and instead continue only with upgrades to existing lines, a move likely to draw criticism.

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New stations in Leeds and Bradford may also be approved even if the new east-west line does not receive backing, along with a new tram network.

A new station in Manchester, intended to integrate the already-approved western arm of HS2 and NPR, is also expected to be confirmed.

Boris Johnson in Solihull a construction on HS2 begins
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Boris Johnson gave the green light for HS2 less than two years ago

Sources say the city’s ambitions for a huge new underground station that would allow trains from Liverpool to pass through direct to Leeds are unlikely to get the go-ahead.

The fate of HS2, dogged by persistent opposition and cost-overruns, will be the most controversial element of the review.

With the price tag of the 250mph line having ballooned to more than £100bn it is widely expected that the eastern leg, known as Phase 2b, will be put on hold, with no high-speed track laid beyond East Midlands Parkway station.

Instead the line will link up with the existing east coast mainline to Leeds, reducing planned journey times.

Ministers are not expected to cancel the plans entirely, fearful of a backlash from new Conservative MPs in so-called ‘Red Wall’ seats, but an indefinite delay will have major consequences for developments in the midlands.

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Is there going to be HS2 extension into Leeds?

A planned HS2 hub station at Toton near Nottingham, intended to be less than an hour from London and 30 minutes from Leeds, is unlikely to go ahead, leaving plans for thousands of new homes and millions of pounds of investment in the area in limbo.

Ben Bradley, the MP for Mansfield and leader of Nottingham County Council, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service this week that he expects an announcement imminently.

“I think we will see a significant commitment to investment and to Toton, and to other local transport infrastructure.

“I’m quite excited about it. I don’t think it’s going to be everything all in one go, but the commitment from Birmingham to here is pretty solid.”

Further delays would be just the latest hold-up in the troubled HS2 plan.

First mooted by Gordon Brown and approved by David Cameron and Theresa May, Mr Johnson backed it in February last year despite the cost having more than tripled from an original £30bn.

The High Speed North review was launched to ensure the eastern leg of HS2 was considered alongside NPR and other planned developments in the midlands.

It followed the Oakervee Review of HS2, commissioned by Mr Johnson, which concluded HS2 was “the right strategic choice” for the country but proposed considering cost savings and design changes on the eastern leg.

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Tide turns as TPG leads talks to lead digital bank fundraising

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Tide turns as TPG leads talks to lead digital bank fundraising

TPG, the American private equity giant, is in advanced talks to take a stake in Tide, the British-based digital banking services platform.

Sky News has learnt that TPG, which manages more than $250bn in assets, is discussing acquiring a significant shareholding in the company.

Sources said that Tide’s existing investors were expected to sell shares to TPG, while a separate deal would involve another existing shareholder in the company acquiring newly issued shares.

The two transactions may be conducted at different valuations, although both are likely to see the company valued at at least $1bn, the sources added.

The size of TPG’s prospective stake in Tide was unclear on Monday.

Earlier this year, Sky News reported that Tide had been negotiating the terms of an investment from Apis Partners, a prolific investor in the fintech sector, although it was unclear whether this would now proceed.

Tide has roughly 650,000 SME customers in both Britain and India, with the latter market expanding at a faster rate.

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Morgan Stanley, the Wall Street bank, has been advising Tide on its fundraising.

Tide was founded in 2015 by George Bevis and Errol Damelin, before launching two years later.

It describes itself as the leading business financial platform in the UK, offering business accounts and related banking services.

The company also provides its SME ‘members’ in the UK a set of connected administrative solutions from invoicing to accounting.

It now boasts a roughly 11% SME banking market share in Britain.

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Tide, which employs about 2,000 people, also launched in Germany last May.

The company’s investors include Apax Partners, Augmentum Fintech and LocalGlobe.

Chaired by the City grandee Sir Donald Brydon, Tide declined to comment on Monday.

TPG also declined to comment.

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Trump trade war could still see America come off worse

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Trump trade war could still see America come off worse

It is a trade deal that will “rebalance, but enable trade on both sides,” said Ursula von der Leyen after the EU and US struck a trade deal in Scotland.

It was not the most emphatic declaration by the president of the European Commission.

The trading partnership between two of the biggest markets in the world is in significantly worse shape than it was before Donald Trump was elected, but this deal is better than nothing.

As part of the agreement, European exports to the US will be hit with a 15% tariff. That’s better than the 30% the bloc was threatened with but it is a world away from the type of open and free trade European leaders would like. The EU had offered tariff free trade to the US just weeks before the deal was announced.

Money latest: What new EU travel rules mean for you

Instead, it has accepted a 15% tariff and agreed to ramp up its energy purchases from the US.

The EU tariff on US imports will remain close to zero but Europe did get some important exemptions – on aviation, critical raw materials, some chemicals and some medical equipment. That being said, the bloc did not achieve a breakthrough on steel, aluminium or copper, which are still facing a 50% tariff. It means the average tariff on EU exports to the US will now rise from 1.2 % last year to 17%.

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There is also confusion over the status of pharmaceuticals – an important industry to Europe. Products like Ozempic, which is made in Denmark, have flooded into the US market in recent years and Donald Trump was threatening tariffs as high as 50% on the sector.

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US and EU agree trade deal

It appears that pharmaceuticals will fall under the 15% bracket, even though President Trump contradicted official announcements by suggesting a deal had not yet been made on the industry. The risk is that the implementation of the deal could be beset with differences of interpretation, as has been the case with the Japan deal that Trump struck last week.

It also risks fracturing solidarity between EU states, all of which have different strategic industries that rely on the US to differing degrees. Germany’s BDI federation of industrial groups said: “Even a 15% tariff rate will have immense negative effects on export-oriented German industry.”

The VCI chemical trade association said rates were still “too high”. For German carmakers, including Mercedes and BMW, there was some reprieve from the crippling 27.5% tariff imposed by Trump. The industry is Europe’s top exporter to the US but the German trade body, the VDA, warned that a 15% rate would “cost the German automotive industry billions annually”.

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Who’s the winner in the US-EU trade deal?

Meanwhile, François Bayrou, the French Prime Minister, described the agreement as a “dark day” for the union, “when an alliance of free peoples, gathered to affirm their values and defend their interests, resolves to submission.”

While the deal has divided the bloc, the greater certainty it delivers is not to be snubbed at.

Markets bounced on the news, even though the deal will ultimately harm economic growth.

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‘Millions’ of EU jobs were in firing line

Analysts at Oxford Economics said: “We don’t plan material changes to our eurozone baseline forecast of 1.1% GDP growth this year and 0.8% in 2026 in response to the EU-US trade deal.

“While the effective tariff rate will end up at around 15%, a few percentage points higher than in our baseline, lower uncertainty and no EU retaliation are partial offsets.”

However, economists at Capital Economics said the economic outlook had now deteriorated, with growth in the bloc likely to drop by 0.2%. Germany and Ireland could be the hardest hit.

While the US appears to be the obvious winner in this negotiation, uncertainty still hangs over the US economy.

Trump has not achieved his goal of “90 deals in 90 days” and, in the end, American consumers could still bear the cost through higher prices.

That of course depends on how businesses share the burden of those higher costs, with the latest data suggesting that inflation is yet to rip through the US economy. While Europe determined on Sunday that a bad deal is better than no deal, some fear that the worst is yet to come for the Americans.

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US and EU agree trade deal, says Donald Trump

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US and EU agree trade deal, says Donald Trump

The United States and European Union have agreed a trade deal, says Donald Trump.

The announcement was made as the US president met European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen at one of his golf resorts in Scotland.

Speaking after talks in Turnberry, Mr Trump said the EU deal was the “biggest deal ever made” and it will be “great for cars”.

The US will impose 15% tariffs on EU goods into America, after Mr Trump had threatened a 30% levy.

He said there will be an EU investment of $600bn in the US, the bloc will buy $750bn in US energy and will also purchase US military equipment.

Mr Trump had earlier said the main sticking point was “fairness”, citing barriers to US exports of cars and agriculture.

He went into the talks demanding fairer trade with the 27-member EU and threatening steep tariffs to achieve that, while insisting the US will not go below 15% import taxes.

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For months, Mr Trump has threatened most of the world with large tariffs in the hope of shrinking major US trade deficits with many key trading partners, including the EU.

Ms von der Leyen said the agreement would include 15% tariffs across the board, saying it would help rebalance trade between the two large trading partners.

In case there was no deal and the US had imposed 30% tariffs from 1 August, the EU has prepared counter-tariffs on €93bn (£81bn) of US goods.

Ahead of their meeting on Sunday, Ms von der Leyen described Mr Trump as a “tough negotiator and dealmaker”.

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