Your commercial news round-up: export ban, car industry, Twitter, Monzo, Women’s Euros 2022

Did you listen to Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s budget speech earlier this week? What key takeaways did you identify? With the economy now expected to return to pre-covid levels before the New Year, here are some key takeaways from the statement:

• Inflation is expected to average 4% over the next year, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.
• The UK economy is expected to grow by 6% in 2022.
• Healthcare spending will increase to more than £177 billion by the end of this parliament.
• More than £11 billion will be used to build up to 180,000 affordable homes and £640 million will be used to help rough sleepers and people who are homeless.
• More than £5 billion will be spent on improving infrastructure for buses, cycling and walking and £46 billion will be invested in railways.
• Youth services will receive £560 million in funding.
• 30,000 new school places will be offered to children with special needs and disabilities.
• In 2022 the national living wage will rise by 6.6% to £9.50 an hour.

The chancellor revealed a number of other key announcements to air travel, tax, sports and culture, and more, so make sure you dedicate some time to checking what else was unveiled in the 2021 Budget.

For now, here’s LawCareers.Net’s round-up of some of the week’s stories.

• France has revealed that it will ban seafood exports from Britain if the UK fails to grant fishing licences that France claims are part of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. France says that as part of the agreement, its fisherman were granted the right to 175 fishing licences which would enable them to work off the coast of mainland Britain. Only 100 of these licences have been handed out so far. As well as banning British seafood exports, Elysee spokesperson Gabriel Attal said that France will also introduce “systematic customs and sanitary inspections on imported products arriving in Channel ports, a ban on disembarking seafood products as well and checks on lorries”.

• UK car manufacturing has fallen to its lowest level for September since 1982, with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders describing the decline as a “worrying trend”. The industry continues to battle the impact of the covid-19 pandemic, which last year caused disruption to factories and demand. However, electric and hybrid car production remains resilient – now making up nearly 33% of all cars that are built.

Meanwhile, Jaguar Land Rover has joined electric car manufacturer Tesla’s ‘pool’, which will help the UK carmaker meet its European emission rules and avoid fines, following its failure to meet its CO2 targets last year.  

• Twitter spent £588 million to settle a long-running lawsuit, which saw the social media giant reportedly lose £390 million in the three months to September. Twitter denied claims that it had misled investors regarding user engagement and agreed to use cash on hand to settle the lawsuit. Despite this hit, the social networking site avoided any negative impact from Apple’s recent privacy changes with revenue having reportedly grown 37% and shares up 3%.
   
• Monzo is in talks with investors about raising at least £300 million, following several setbacks, including its decision to cut back on its US expansion. The talks come as the digital bank aims to boost its financial power in what is a thriving fintech sector. Monzo also recently launched Monzo Flex – a buy now, pay later service, which will enable customers to “flex the things” they want and need by spreading the cost of purchases.

• LEGO Group, Pandora and Starling Bank have been announced as the three new partners of the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022. All three partners have various reasons for partnering with the competition, with LEGO Group continuing to support girls through various initiatives, including its Ready for Girls campaign, which celebrates girls who work to breakdown old-fashioned gender norms. UEFA’s director of marketing, Guy-Laurent Epstein, said: “The addition of these three major brands is further proof of the scale of this event and our ambition to make it the biggest women’s European sport event ever. It is important for us to have partners on board who share the same values, working together collectively to deliver what is set to be a record-breaking tournament that further grows the women’s game.”

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