Connect with us

Published

on

The pound and UK government bond yields have recovered in anticipation of a key statement from the new chancellor tasked with sorting out the fallout from the government’s disastrous mini-budget.

Sterling had fallen to a record low against the dollar at the end of September, after the short-lived then chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng unveiled the biggest programme of tax cuts for 50 years.

Mr Kwarteng, who was sacked on Friday after just 38 days in the job, paid the price for a giveaway that called into question the government’s economic credibility on financial markets.

The mini-budget led not just to a collapse in the value of the pound, but also prompted a surge in borrowing costs – forcing an unprecedented intervention by the Bank of England (BoE).

However, following the prime minister’s announcement on Friday that Mr Kwarteng had been sacked and that corporation tax would rise to 25% from April next year instead of being kept at 19%, there was a partial recovery for the UK currency and bond yields.

Mr Kwarteng’s replacement, former foreign and health secretary Jeremy Hunt, has since promised to win back the confidence of the financial markets by fully accounting for the government’s tax and spending plans.

Sterling gained 1.1% to hit $1.1294 on Monday at one stage and also made strides versus the euro when the Treasury revealed that Mr Hunt would deliver key parts of a medium-term plan later on Monday in support of “fiscal sustainability”.

The statement – released before UK financial markets opened – added that Mr Hunt met the BoE governor Andrew Bailey and the head of the Debt Management Office on Sunday night to brief them on the plans.

There would be a select few announcements brought forward from the medium-term fiscal plan that is due to be revealed on 31 October.

The bond markets also suggested an easing of the recent pressure, given additional concerns in some quarters after the BoE on Friday concluded its emergency gilt market support on Friday.

The Bank issued its own statement ahead of the open to say that its operations, aimed at helping pension funds battling higher collateral demands, had enabled a “significant increase in the resilience of the sector”.

It reiterated that other liquidity options remained available, if needed, to ensure smooth financing.

Any rises in government borrowing costs, through a gilt yield rise, would have reflected additional jitters.

‘Unruly pupils are still scheming to oust the beleaguered head’

But there was a downwards shift, with both the UK 20 and 30 year yields falling by more than 30 basis points in early trading.

CHANCELLOR SECURES SOME BREATHING SPACE


Paul Kelso - Health correspondent

Paul Kelso

Business correspondent

@pkelso

When markets closed on Friday, after a dramatic day that saw a chancellor sacked and a totemic economic policy junked, the verdict was troubling:

A sell off UK gilts had gathered pace before, during and after the Prime Minister’s press conference, and the closing bell could not come fast enough.

After Jeremy Hunt spent the weekend signalling a dramatic change in course to reassure the investors on whom confidence in the UK economy rests, the Treasury was plainly not going to take any chances on Monday morning.

That explains the pre-dawn announcement that the new chancellor would be bringing forward U-turns on Kwasi Kwarteng’s calamitous mini-budget.

The aim was to secure breathing space, a stay of execution from markets that could, had they continued to sense vulnerability, deepened the crisis and ended the fiscal repositioning before it began.

The need was all the more acute as this was the first Monday in a fortnight when the Bank of England was not acting as backstop to the gilt markets, its emergency intervention having been withdrawn on Friday, in part triggering the political meltdown that ended the week.

The response was precisely the one the Treasury and Downing Street wanted to see; the first move of UK gilt yields, a measure of the effective cost of Government borrowing, was down.

Yields on 10, 20 and 30-year bonds all moved down as trading began in London at 8am, a trend that if it lasts between now and 31st October, when the Office for Budget Responsibility delivers its calculation of the state of the public finances, has immense political and practical implications.

The gilt markets matter not just because they are an expression of confidence in a nation’s creditworthiness. Government bonds are the mechanism through which states borrow, and the less faith there is in your plan, the more it costs.

And those borrowing costs are central to the calculations the Treasury and the OBR are making. The UK has £2.4trn of debt and under the Truss plans was going to take on tens of billions more to fund tax cuts.

With market confidence evaporating (and gilt yields rising) the cost of that borrowing, old and new, rose. If yields can be brought down the cost of borrowing will fall, cutting billions from one side of the government’s balance sheet, which could in return reduce the need for cuts.

The next hours and days will be pivotal.

Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said other risk factors remained at play despite the initial recovery.

”New chancellor Jeremy Hunt has the air of a troubleshooting teacher brought in to turn around a failing school and faces his first big presentation test today with an emergency budget plan wheeled out to try and calm financial markets.

New Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt leaves 10 Downing Street

“This is all part of his charm offensive to instil confidence in the government’s ability to be fiscally responsible, but behind him unruly pupils are still scheming to oust the beleaguered head,” she wrote.

Can Truss remain PM?

It reflects a renewed focus on whether Ms Truss, the architect of the government’s initial economic strategy, can remain in the job.

A Tory MP told Sky News: “The idea that the prime minister can just scapegoat her chancellor and move on is deluded.

“This is her vision. She signed off on every detail and she defended it.”

The Conservative Party is now on its fifth chancellor in the past three years – Mr Hunt, Mr Kwarteng, Nadhim Zahawi, Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid.

Continue Reading

Business

Ryanair urges EU chief to ‘quit’ over air traffic strike disruption

Published

on

By

Ryanair urges EU chief to 'quit' over air traffic strike disruption

The boss of Ryanair has told Sky News the president of the European Commission should “quit” if she can’t stop disruption caused by repeated French air traffic control strikes.

Michael O’Leary, the group chief executive of Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, said in an interview with Business Live that Ursula von der Leyen had failed to get to grips, at an EU level, with interruption to overflights following several recent disputes in France.

The latest action began on Thursday and is due to conclude later today, forcing thousands of flights to be delayed and cancelled through French airspace closures.

Money latest: ‘Lifeblood of mortgage market’ enjoying lower rates

Mr O’Leary told presenter Darren McCaffrey that French domestic flights were given priority during ATC strikes and other nations, including Italy and Greece, had solved the problem through minimum service legislation.

He claimed that the vast majority of flights, cancelled over two days of action that began on Thursday, would have been able to operate under similar rules.

Mr O’Leary said of the EU’s role: “We continue to call on Ursula von der Leyen – why are you not protecting these overflights, why is the single market for air travel being disrupted by a tiny number of French air traffic controllers?

More from Money

File photo dated 02/09/22 of a Ryanair Boeing 737-8AS passenger airliner comes in to land at Stansted Airport in Essex. Ryanair has revealed around 63,000 of its passengers saw their flights cancelled during last week's air traffic control failure which caused widespread disruption across the industry and left thousands of passengers stranded overseas. In its August traffic update, the Irish carrier said more than 350 of its flights were cancelled on August 28 and 29 due to the air traffic contr
Image:
Ryanair has cancelled more than 400 flights over two days due to the action in France. File pic: PA

“All we get is a shrug of their shoulders and ‘there’s nothing we can do’. We point out, there is.”

He added: “We are calling on Ursula von der Leyen, who preaches about competitiveness and reforming Europe, if you’re not willing to protect or fix overflights then quit and let somebody more effective do the job.”

The strike is estimated, by the Airlines for Europe lobby group to have led to at least 1,500 cancelled flights, leaving 300,000 travellers unable to make their journeys.

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary speaks to journalists during a press conference at The Alex Hotel in Dublin. Picture date: Thursday October 3, 2024.
Image:
Michael O’Leary believes the EU can take action on competition grounds. Pic: PA

Ryanair itself had axed more than 400 flights so far, Mr O’Leary said. Rival easyJet said on Thursday that it had cancelled 274 services over the two days.

The beginning of July marks the start of the European summer holiday season.

The French civil aviation agency DGAC had already told airlines to cancel 40% of flights covering the three main Paris airports on Friday ahead of the walkout – a dispute over staffing levels and equipment quality.

Mr O’Leary described those safety issues as “nonsense” and said twhile the controllers had a right to strike, they did not have the right to close the sky.

DGAC has warned of delays and further severe disruption heading into the weekend.

Many planes and crews will be out of position.

Mr O’Leary is not alone in expressing his frustration.

The French transport minister Philippe Tabarot has denounced the action and the reasons for it.

“The idea is to disturb as many people as possible,” he said in an interview with CNews.

Passengers are being advised that if your flight is cancelled, the airline must either give you a refund or book you on an alternative flight.

If you have booked a return flight and the outbound leg is cancelled, you can claim the full cost of the return ticket back from your airline.

Continue Reading

Business

CBI kicks off search for successor to ‘saviour’ Soames

Published

on

By

CBI kicks off search for successor to 'saviour' Soames

The CBI has begun a search for a successor to Rupert Soames, its chairman, as it continues its recovery from the crisis which brought it to the brink of collapse in 2023.

Sky News has learnt that the business lobbying group’s nominations committee has engaged headhunters to assist with a hunt for its next corporate figurehead.

Mr Soames, the grandson of Sir Winston Churchill, was recruited by the CBI in late 2023 with the organisation lurching towards insolvency after an exodus of members.

Money latest: Has bond market calmed after chancellor’s tears?

The group’s handling of a sexual misconduct scandal saw it forced to secure emergency funding from a group of banks, even as it was frozen out of meetings with government ministers.

One prominent CBI member described Mr Soames on Thursday as the group’s “saviour”.

“Without his ability to bring members back, the organisation wouldn’t exist today,” they claimed.

More from Money

Rupert Soames
Image:
Rupert Soames. Pic: Reuters

Read more:
Starmer could be ousted as PM ‘within months’
Reeves’s tears a hard watch but reminder of her challenges

Mr Soames and Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI chief executive, have partly restored its influence in Whitehall, although many doubt that it will ever be able to credibly reclaim its former status as ‘the voice of British business’.

Its next chair, who is also likely to be drawn from a leading listed company boardroom, will take over from Mr Soames early next year.

Egon Zehnder International is handling the search for the CBI.

“The CBI chair’s term typically runs for two years and Rupert Soames will end his term in early 2026,” a CBI spokesperson said.

“In line with good governance, we have begun the search for a successor to ensure continuity and a smooth transition.”

Continue Reading

Business

Ryanair and easyJet cancel hundreds of flights over air traffic control strike

Published

on

By

Ryanair and easyJet cancel hundreds of flights over air traffic control strike

Ryanair and easyJet have cancelled hundreds of flights as a French air traffic controllers strike looms.

Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, said it had axed 170 services amid a plea by French authorities for airlines to reduce flights at Paris airports by 40% on Friday.

EasyJet said it was cancelling 274 flights during the action, which is due to begin later as part of a row over staffing numbers and ageing equipment.

Money latest: Bond market fires warning shot at Downing St

The owner of British Airways, IAG, said it was planning to use larger aircraft to minimise disruption for its own passengers.

The industrial action is set to affect all flights using French airspace, leading to wider cancellations and delays across Europe and the wider world.

Ryanair said its cancellations, covering both days, would hit services to and from France, and also flights over the country to destinations such as the UK, Greece, Spain and Ireland.

More from Money

Group chief executive Michael O’Leary has campaigned for a European Union-led shake-up of air traffic control services in a bid to prevent such disruptive strikes, which have proved common in recent years.

He described the latest action as “recreational”.

Michael O'Leary. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Michael O’Leary. Pic: Reuters

“Once again, European families are held to ransom by French air traffic controllers going on strike,” he said.

“It is not acceptable that overflights over French airspace en route to their destination are being cancelled/delayed as a result of yet another French ATC strike.

“It makes no sense and is abundantly unfair on EU passengers and families going on holidays.”

Ryanair is demanding the EU ensure that air traffic services are fully staffed for the first wave of daily departures, as well as to protect overflights during national strikes.

“These two splendid reforms would eliminate 90% of all ATC delays and cancellations, and protect EU passengers from these repeated and avoidable ATC disruptions due to yet another French ATC strike,” Mr O’Leary added.

Continue Reading

Trending