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Rail passengers are set to suffer fresh travel disruption over the next few days due to more strikes in long-running disputes over pay, jobs and conditions.

Train companies are warning that services will be “severely reduced” because of industrial action by drivers and other workers.

Members of the drivers’ union Aslef will walk out on Wednesday and 3 June, while the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) has called a strike on 2 June.

Passengers are being advised to plan ahead and check the times of first and last trains.

Read more on train strikes:
Which services will be affected by industrial action this week?

Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef, told the PA news agency there was “no waning in enthusiasm” from train drivers to continue taking industrial action.

He said: “We are determined to get a resolution and remain in this for the long haul.

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“It is time for the government to step back from interference which is preventing a deal – drivers, in line with other workers, deserve a pay rise after four years without one and inflation running over the last 12 months north of 10%.”

The strikes will affect 15 train companies, with services due to start later and finish much earlier than usual – typically between 7.30am and 6.30pm.

On the RMT strike day, around half of the network will shut down, with around 50% of normal services running.

On Aslef strike days, around 40% of trains will be running but there will be wide regional variations, with some operators running no services at all.

It is likely that evening services on some lines will be affected on the days before each strike and the mornings following strikes.

Aslef will also start an overtime ban at 15 train operating companies on 1 June that could cause disruption, especially in and out of London.

The industrial action will affect football fans travelling to London for the FA Cup final between Manchester City and Manchester United on Saturday at Wembley Stadium.

Fans wishing to travel to the game by train from Manchester have been advised not to attempt to do so on the day.

There will be a limited service on Friday due to the RMT industrial action.

A Rail Delivery Group (RDG) spokesperson said: “The upcoming rail strikes called by the Aslef and RMT leadership will not only affect our passengers’ daily commute but will also impact those travelling to and from the FA Cup final and other events across the country, causing disappointment and frustration for tens of thousands of people.

“It will also inconvenience families who have been looking forward and have planned their half-term holidays. It will also further burden our people who have already lost thousands of pounds at a time of financial strain.”

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Train strikes cause travel misery

Read more:
Number of days lost to strike action in 2022 highest since 1989

The unions say they have not been given a pay offer it can recommend to their members and support for industrial action remains strong among workers as well as the public.

Aslef says train drivers have not had a pay rise for four years.

Both unions claim the government is preventing the train companies making an acceptable offer, which ministers deny.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “The government has facilitated a fair and reasonable pay offer, now union leaders must do the right thing and put this to their members.”

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Chancellor Rachel Reeves accused of refusing to ‘face up to her own failures’ amid market turmoil

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Chancellor Rachel Reeves accused of refusing to 'face up to her own failures' amid market turmoil

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been accused of refusing to “face up to her own failures” by “jetting off to Beijing” during a week of market turmoil.

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride accused the chancellor of ducking difficult questions as the “government was losing control of the economy” while Ms Reeves visited China over the past week with a delegation including the governor of the Bank of England and the heads of HSBC, Standard Chartered and Schroders.

On Monday, both long-term 30-year and 10-year government borrowing costs rose, with the 30-year effective interest rate (the gilt yield) reaching a new high of 5.47% – a rate not seen since mid-1998.

The pound also hit a 14-month low, prompting questions over the chancellor’s future.

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She received a slight reprieve on Tuesday morning as the pound recovered some loss and ticked up slightly to $1.22, while government borrowing costs dipped slightly.

But the Conservatives used Ms Reeves’s absence over the past week to attack her, with Mr Stride telling the Commons: “While the government was losing control of the economy, where was the chancellor?

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“Her trip to China had not even begun when my urgent question was taken in the House last week, she was still in the country, but she sent the chief secretary rather than face up to her own failures.

“So can I ask (Rachel Reeves) why she chose not to respond herself? The chancellor, of course, ducked the difficult questions by jetting off to Beijing.

“I believe that in Labour circles, they are calling it the Peking duck.”

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng gestures to Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves following a photo session at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. (Florence Lo/Pool Photo via AP)
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Chinese Vice President Han Zheng with Rachel Reeves in Beijing during her visit. Pic: AP

But Ms Reeves dismissed the criticism and vowed to stick to the fiscal rules she set out in the October budget – to get day-to-day spending through tax receipts and get debt down as a share of the economy.

“We remain committed to those fiscal rules and we will meet them at all times,” she said.

She also defended her trip to China, saying engaging with countries around the world will “deliver growth”, and said she brought up human rights issues with China.

“Leadership is not about ducking these challenges, it is about rising to them,” she told the Commons.

“And the economic headwinds that we face are a reminder that we should, indeed we must go further and faster in our plan to kickstart economic growth that plunged under the last government.”

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Why is the UK economy in big trouble?

The chancellor said her trip to China has meant greater access to the Chinese market for British firms and helped safeguard the UK’s national security.

New agreements were made on vaccine approvals, fertiliser, whisky labelling, legal services, automotives and accountancy to “unlock £1bn of value for the UK economy”, she said.

Ms Reeves said she raised the case of imprisoned British citizen and media tycoon Jimmy Lai with every minister she met in China.

She said she also raised concerns about Russia’s war in Ukraine, human rights, restrictions on rights and freedoms in Hong Kong and the “completely unjustified sanctions against British parliamentarians”.

“A key outcome of this dialogue is that we have secured China’s commitment to improve existing channels so that we can openly discuss sensitive issues and the ways in which they impact our economy because if we do not engage with China, we cannot raise our real concerns,” she said.

“This dialogue is just one part of our engagement with trading partners right across the world.”

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Watchdog launches investigation into Google over search and advertising policy

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Watchdog launches investigation into Google over search and advertising policy

Google could be required to hand over data it collects to businesses as the UK competition regulator launched an investigation into the tech giant.

The Competition and Markets Agency (CMA) said it launched the inquiry to assess how Google‘s search and advertising services impact users and businesses such as advertisers, news websites, and rival search engines.

It will be looking to see if Google used its dominant market position to stop others from competing and if barriers are preventing potential rivals from entering the market.

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Of particular interest to the CMA is whether Google can “shape the development” of new AI services.

Also being assessed is whether Google is using its prime position to preference its own services, such as Google Shopping and Google Flights.

“Potential exploitative conduct” through Google’s collection and use of “large quantities of consumer data” without informed consent will be examined, as will the use of things like news articles without paying the publishers, the CMA said.

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The CMA could compel Google to make collected data available to other businesses or order them to give publishers more control over how their data is used.

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Google is by far the most popular search engine in the UK, answering more than 90% of all general search queries, and hosting more than 200,000 UK advertisers.

The investigation announced on Tuesday is the first launched under the digital markets competition regime which took effect on 1 January.

Read more:
Starbucks reverses open door policy with UK impact unclear

The new regime enables the CMA to designate companies with a so-called strategic market status and impose new rules on them as a result.

Effective competition among search engines could keep down the cost of search results advertising, equivalent to nearly £500 per household per year, the CMA said.

Investigations in EU and US

The UK is just the latest country to look at Google’s search engine primacy.

A federal US court ruled in August Google illegally maintained an online search monopoly.

Meanwhile, an EU investigation into Google’s parent company Alphabet is examining whether it imposed restrictions that made it difficult for developers to promote services by other companies, looking at search results for services such as Google Shopping and Google Flights.

The UK government had ordered regulators such as the CMA to come up with ideas for growth and investment amid sluggish economic growth.

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Starbucks ends policy allowing people to sit in and use toilets without buying anything

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Starbucks ends policy allowing people to sit in and use toilets without buying anything

Starbucks has reversed its North American policy allowing people to sit in stores and use the loo without buying anything.

Patrons in the US and Canada now must buy something or leave.

Starbucks did not respond to questions about the impact the policy change could have on its UK shops.

Sky News asked if there was a code of conduct in UK branches, if people were required to make a purchase, and if there were plans to revise the code if one existed.

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The Seattle-headquartered coffee giant published a new coffeehouse code of conduct for its North American business to “ensure our spaces are prioritised for use by our customers”.

Anyone not adhering to the rules will be asked to leave and could have the police called on them.

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Among the prohibited behaviours is “misuse or disruption of our spaces”. Also included in the list of banned behaviours is vaping or smoking, discrimination or harassment, begging, and drinking “outside alcohol”.

“By setting clear expectations for behaviour and use of our spaces, we can create a better environment for everyone,” a Starbucks spokesperson said.

A departure from an open-door outlook

It’s a departure from previous guidelines created in 2018 after two black men were arrested in a Starbucks they went to for a business meeting. The Philadelphia coffee shop they attended had a policy of asking non-paying customers to leave and called the police on the pair. The incident was captured on camera and embarrassed the business.

In response, a regional change was designed to make an open-door policy.

Starbucks’ then-chairman Howard Schultz said: “We don’t want to become a public bathroom, but we’re going to make the right decision a hundred per cent of the time and give people the key.”

The reversal comes as Starbucks struggles with slowed sales amid pro-Palestine boycotts.

Over the summer it suddenly replaced its chief executive after the company suffered a bigger-than-expected drop in sales.

New CEO Brian Niccol was offered the use of a corporate jet for his 1,000-mile commute from his home in Newport Beach, California, to Seattle, Washington.

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