Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has insisted the government is focusing on “delivering the growth plan” and “protecting people right across the country”.
The chancellor, who announced his mini-budget last Friday, said without the government’s plans it could not generate the income and tax revenue needed to pay for the public services “we want to see”.
He said the mini-budget was “absolutely essential” for growth when asked if the plans have been a major economic disaster as the pound plummeted and the Bank of England had to step in to stop a run on pension funds.
Asked what he would say to people whose mortgage interest rates have risen dramatically, with many offers cancelled, Mr Kwarteng said: “We’re absolutely protecting people right across the country”.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Liz Truss insisted the government’s tax-cutting measures are the “right plan” in the face of rising energy bills and said they will get the economy growing.
Britain’s biggest high street lenders have pledged to upgrade dozens of shared banking hubs and commit to more than 100 new locations amid a growing political row over access to cash.
Sky News has learnt that Bim Afolami, the City minister, convened a group of industry stakeholders and MPs on Monday to discuss urgent improvements to roughly 40 existing hubs across the country.
The banks have now pledged to identify 225 locations for hubs by the end of the year, up from 11.
The facilities are designed to enable continued consumer access to cash amid a deluge of bank branch closures across the UK.
According to a person who attended the meeting, the main high street banks, including Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and NatWest Group, committed through their trade association to offering bereavement services, fraud protection and debt advice at the hubs.
They also pledged to open on Saturdays and to enable consumers to use the services without requiring their own mobile devices, according to a person briefed on the talks.
Saturday pledge
“The minister was clear that people depend on these services and wants to ensure they get the possible banking offer,” they added.
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MPs including Anna Firth, the member for Southend West, and Keir Mather, Labour MP for Selby and Ainsty, are understood to have attended the meeting.
The government has introduced legislation to preserve access to cash, although Labour has said it would go further by guaranteeing the opening of 350 hubs that would provide face-to-face banking services.
Industry sources say that one complication has arisen from Nationwide’s commitment to maintaining its branch network, because the hubs are designated for locations where there are no remaining bank branches.
Rule amendment push
However, Nationwide does not offer a full range of business banking services, making it harder for local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to deposit cash, according to industry sources.
Some are now pushing for the rules to be amended to enable hubs to be recommended in these locations.
Roughly 100 hubs are expected to be opened by the end of the year, up from 40 currently.
Mr Afolami told Sky News: “Access to banking services is an incredibly important issue for many people.
“On Monday I brought together UK Finance, LINK, Cash Access UK and the FCA to hear directly from MPs about their constituents’ experiences, and for the industry to set out how things will be moving forward in the future.”
Natalie Ceeney, chair of Cash Access UK, said: “We’re pleased with the ongoing rollout of new banking hubs, with 40 up and running so far, and with new hubs opening this week in Wellington (Somerset), Royal Wootton Bassett (Wilts) and Stapleton (Greater Manchester).
“We expect to have 100 open by the end of the year as we ramp up our deployment.”
The company separately announced that it planned to spin off its ice cream business, which includes the Ben & Jerry’s, Magnum and Cornetto brands, by next year.
Other options, it added, would be considered to “maximise returns for shareholders”.
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It told investors Unilever was targeting mid-single digit underlying sales growth and modest margin improvement after the proposed demerger which, it said, would create a “simpler and more focused company”.
Unilever said its productivity programme was expected to deliver total cost savings of around €800m (£984m) over the next three years, with total restructuring costs anticipated to be around 1.2% of its turnover during the period.
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Hein Schumacher, the company’s chief executive, said: “Under the Growth Action Plan we have committed to do fewer things, better, and with greater impact.
“The changes we are announcing today will help us accelerate that plan, focusing our business and our resources on global or scalable brands where we can apply our leading innovation, technology and go-to-market capabilities across complementary operating models.
“Simplifying our portfolio and driving greater productivity will allow us to further unlock the potential of this business, supporting our ambition to position Unilever as a world-leading consumer goods company delivering strong, sustainable growth and enhanced profitability.
“We are committed to carrying out our productivity programme in consultation with employee representatives, and with respect and care for those of our people who are impacted.”
It was the first major shift under his tenure since succeeding Alan Jope who retired last summer amid some unease over investor returns.
Shares rose by almost 5% at the market open.
Matt Britzman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said of the update: “Action is what shareholders wanted to see from the new team at the top, and that’s what’s been delivered today.
“Ice Cream always looked like the odd one out when you compare it to other product lines, and performance has struggled of late.
“It’s not a huge shock to see this move, but it’s something prior management wasn’t able to deliver.
“Unilever’s not an overly expensive name at the minute so expect markets to react positively to the news, perhaps more due to the decisive action than anything else.”
Nearly £60bn is needed to build the British energy grid of the future in order to meet climate change mitigation milestones in just over 10 years, according to the National Grid.
The British electricity network needs £58bn in investment to meet 2035 decarbonising targets, National Grid said.
New cables need to be built to bring electricity from renewable generating sources, such as offshore wind farms, to the places where that electricity is needed, such as cities.
Funds are required to allow new sources of power, such as solar farms, to be connected to the grid and transported across the country, the electricity systems operator (ESO) said.
The system had been designed around the old sources of electricity, such as coal fields.
Under the proposed green energy plan, far more offshore wind power would be pumped into the energy mix that powers homes and businesses.
Roughly five times more electricity will come from Scottish offshore by 2035 than will be used in Scotland during peak times, the Beyond 2030 report from the ESO said.
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Renewing the UK’s energy grid
In the process of expanding grid capacity, 20,000 jobs could be created and 90% of them would be outside London and the southeast, the report added.
The plans, however, are said to be in the early stages – with planning permission yet to be sought and community consultation yet to take place.
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National Grid is the London Stock Exchange-listed company that owns and runs the electricity network. The company also owns and operates infrastructure in the United States.
However, the government will take the electricity systems operator portion into state ownership later this year.
As well as changing types and locations of electricity generation, a beefed-up grid is needed to deal with more power use.
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UK’s electricity grid problem
As economies decarbonise more systems that run on electricity, such as transport and heating, a bigger electricity network is required to ramp up supply.
British electricity demand is expected to rise 64% by 2035 and could double by 2050, according to the report.
To meet the 2035 deadline to decarbonise the power system, action must be “swift and coordinated”, it added.
Grid upgrades are funded by the government, energy project developers and bill payers.