Members of the conference team make final preparations to the stage area ahead of the annual CBI conference on November 19, 2018 in London. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images
Members of the conference team make final preparations to the stage area ahead of the annual CBI conference on November 19, 2018 in London. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images
The government has suspended its relationship with the Confederation of British Industry, as pressure mounts after the Guardian revealed multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by the lobby group’s staff.
Sources said engagement between key Whitehall departments and the CBI had been “paused” pending the outcome of an investigation by the lobby group into a range of fresh allegations, including rape and drug-taking.
The Department for Business and Trade said:
We are postponing ministerial engagement with the CBI until the legal investigation has concluded.
It is understood that ministers and officials at the Treasury have also stopped holding meetings with the organisation, which represents some of Britain’s leading companies and campaigns on behalf of 190,000 businesses.
The Guardian reported allegations from more than a dozen women who said that they had been victims of various forms of sexual misconduct by senior figures at the CBI.
Close relations with government are at the core of the CBI’s operation, holding meetings on a day-to-day basis with senior officials and ministers as the country’s leading business group.
The lobby group has access to the prime minister and the cabinet, and campaigns on issues ranging from funding for childcare to tax and skills.
It has cancelled all forthcoming events including its annual dinner in central London on 11 May. The Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, had been due to speak at the event but withdrew following the Guardian’s report.
A spokesperson for the CBI said:
We understand the government’s decision to pause engagement pending the outcome of the independent investigation.
Soon after Easter, the CBI board expects to have preliminary findings and actions from the first phase of the investigation.
The UK government has suspended its relationship with the Confederation of British Industry, as pressure mounts after the Guardian revealed multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by the lobby group’s staff.
Sources said engagement between key Whitehall departments and the CBI had been “paused” pending the outcome of an investigation by the lobby group into a range of fresh allegations, including rape and drug-taking.
The Department for Business and Trade said: “We are postponing ministerial engagement with the CBI until the legal investigation has concluded.”
Four out of five companies and organisations in the UK still pay their male employees more than female ones, according to Guardian analysis of the government’s gender pay gap reporting.
The median pay gap remains stubbornly wide at 9.4% – the same level as in 2017-18, when employers were first required to publish the information. About 10,000 companies and public bodies filed their gender pay gaps to the government’s reporting mechanism before this week’s deadline.
The gap remains larger in the public sector at 15.1%. This compares with 8% in the private sector, and both are broadly similar to last year’s figures.
Worried UBS investors have urged the Swiss lender to avoid sweeping job cuts and inflating executive pay as they raised concerns about the creation of a mega-bank after the emergency takeover of smaller rival Credit Suisse.
Talks between Royal Mail and postal workers have ended without a deal, raising the prospect of further strikes disrupting the UK’s letter and parcel deliveries.
The owner of Franco Manca and The Real Greek restaurant chains has agreed to sell the business to the Japanese operator of Wok to Walk and Marugame Udon for £93.4m.
The fortune of Bernard Arnault, the world’s richest person, has topped $200bn for the first time as shares in his French LVMH luxury goods empire hit a record high.
Amazon and Microsoft are facing a referral to the UK’s competition regulator over allegedly harming competition in the online cloud services market, amid “significant concerns” that big tech companies are abusing their positions.
The Co-op has warned its profits are likely to fall in the year ahead as the food to funerals group expects the “turbulent economic headwinds, including inflationary pressures” to continue.
A businessman who made more than £1m selling fake vinyl records was caught after a fan of punk band the Clash complained that the sound quality of an LP he had bought was not as sharp as it should have been.
Growth in the US services sector unexpectedly slowed sharply in March. The The Institute of Supply Management’s purchasing managers’ index fell to 51.2 from 55.1. Price pressures also eased. The dollar weakened on the news.
Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, tweeted:
US ISM Services (Mar) act: 51.2, exp: 54.4, prev: 55.1
UBS bosses urged to avoid job cuts and pay rises after Credit Suisse deal
Kalyeena Makortoff
Worried UBS investors have urged the Swiss lender to avoid sweeping job cuts and inflating executive pay as they raised concerns about the creation of a mega-bank after the emergency takeover of smaller rival Credit Suisse.
Addressing more than 1,100 shareholders at the St Jakobshalle arena in Münchenstein, near Basel, Switzerland, UBS bosses said they understood why investors may be “bewildered or even angry” after the surprise deal that was announced on 19 March and followed weeks of panic about the health of the banking sector.
“It was a historic day and a day we hoped would not happen,” the chair of UBS, Colm Kelleher, said. “Yet it is a significant milestone, not only for UBS and Credit Suisse but also for Switzerland, for the global financial industry.”
While Kelleher acknowledged the government-orchestrated deal came with risks, he defended the takeover and said it presented a business opportunity for UBS. However, bosses said all options were on the table such as a future split or spin-off of Credit Suisse assets.
Some shareholders acknowledged the potential benefits of the takeover but said they were “concerned about this new giant bank”, which is expected to hold a combined $5tn (£4tn) in invested assets, including the possibility of unjustified pay hikes and job cuts. e
“This will in no way justify any inflation of remuneration,” one shareholder said, urging bosses to be prudent even as they prepared to manage a much-larger bank. “The current plan are already extremely generous,” the shareholder added.
Investors also raised the alarm about thousands of potential job cuts as bosses try to get rid of duplicate roles.
“Those synergies you were referring to would potentially costs more than 30,000 jobs worldwide,” a shareholder said, referring to recent press reports. “These social consequences, also in Switzerland, could be dramatic and the reputation of UBS could also suffer.”
“Banking is people, don’t forget that,” another investor added.
Postal services may face more strikes as talks collapse
Jasper Jolly
Here’s our full story on the breakdown of talks between Royal Mail and the union representing postal workers without a deal, raising the prospect of further strikes disrupting the UK’s letter and parcel deliveries.
The talks between postal service bosses and the Communications Workers Union (CWU) at the Westminster-based Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service ended after 1am on Wednesday with the two sides failing to reach agreement on pay and conditions.
The dispute has lasted for almost a year, with 18 days of strikes held between August and the end of 2022. The CWU won a strong mandate to take further action in a member ballot in February, and its leaders were last week considering further strikes in April if talks failed. Its postal executive will meet on Wednesday to discuss further options.
The latest negotiations were led by Dave Ward, the CWU’s general secretary, and several Royal Mail board members, although the chief executive, Simon Thompson, and chair, Keith Williams, were not directly involved.
The company on Wednesday said it had increased its offer to the union, but that it was “not an option” to carry on without significant changes. The CWU said that “unacceptable pressures” were being placed on postal workers.
Royal Mail is owned by the recently renamed International Distributions Systems (IDS), the FTSE 250 company created when the postal service was privatised. IDS has said that Royal Mail, the part that runs the UK’s regulated letter delivery business, is expected to lose between £350m and £400m this year, and had even raised the possibility of putting the company into a form of administration if talks fell through.
A source close to Royal Mail said the final breakdown related to differences in terms and conditions for new employees, who were paid less than longer-serving staff. The company had offered to bring new employees to pay parity over five years, but the CWU wanted parity within three years, the source said.
However, the CWU argued that was a “selective” account. A spokesperson said:
The company advised the union that the directors who have been leading negotiations are no longer available and that the board will be meeting today to determine their next steps.
There has been progress in several areas, and the union made it clear last night that we are willing to continue negotiations today and tomorrow to finalise an agreement. This offer has been reiterated to the company this morning.
The government has suspended its relationship with the Confederation of British Industry, as pressure mounts after the Guardian revealed multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by the lobby group’s staff.
Sources said engagement between key Whitehall departments and the CBI had been “paused” pending the outcome of an investigation by the lobby group into a range of fresh allegations, including rape and drug-taking.
The Department for Business and Trade said:
We are postponing ministerial engagement with the CBI until the legal investigation has concluded.
It is understood that ministers and officials at the Treasury have also stopped holding meetings with the organisation, which represents some of Britain’s leading companies and campaigns on behalf of 190,000 businesses.
The Guardian reported allegations from more than a dozen women who said that they had been victims of various forms of sexual misconduct by senior figures at the CBI.
Close relations with government are at the core of the CBI’s operation, holding meetings on a day-to-day basis with senior officials and ministers as the country’s leading business group.
The lobby group has access to the prime minister and the cabinet, and campaigns on issues ranging from funding for childcare to tax and skills.
It has cancelled all forthcoming events including its annual dinner in central London on 11 May. The Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, had been due to speak at the event but withdrew following the Guardian’s report.
A spokesperson for the CBI said:
We understand the government’s decision to pause engagement pending the outcome of the independent investigation.
Soon after Easter, the CBI board expects to have preliminary findings and actions from the first phase of the investigation.
None of these new sexual misconduct allegations at the CBI relate to Danker, and he has apologised for causing any unintentional offence.
As well as the alleged rape, the new claims against different men also include allegations of:
An attempted sexual assault by a manager at the same staff boat party in 2019.
A senior manager sending explicit images to junior female staff over several years.
Other senior managers behaving unprofessionally and inappropriately towards much younger female colleagues: alleged instances include a former board member touching a female employee’s bottom and making what was seen as a sexualised remark to another woman about her appearance within earshot of several colleagues.
A manager propositioning women after they felt he pushed them to drink more alcohol, while they were already drunk.
Widespread use of cocaine at official CBI events.
The CBI has expanded its inquiry to include these new allegations and hired an external human resources consultant to help manage complaints, as well as the law firm Fox Williams.
The decision to hire a law firm to investigate him came after the Guardian approached the CBI last week about a formal complaint that was made in January, as well a number of alleged informal reports of concerns over his behaviour.
The formal complaint involved a female CBI employee who it is understood claimed the director general of the business lobbying organisation made unwanted contact with her and considered this unwanted conduct to be sexual harassment.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) is the UK’s most prominent business lobbying organisation. It is a not-for-profit organisation founded by royal charter in 1965, after a merger of older employer bodies.
It claims “unrivalled” access to government. It also claims to have the biggest number of policy specialists outside of Whitehall, the seat of the British government, in order to support its 190,000 business members, which are the chief source of its income. Its total income was £25m in 2021, of which £22m was from membership fees.
Its membership is composed of direct members and members of other trade bodies.
Its 1,500 direct members are businesses that actively hold membership, such as the supermarket Asda, the jet engines manufacturer Rolls-Royce and the law firm Allen & Overy. Fees vary significantly: top-tier businesses can pay £90,000 annually, some mid-sized companies pay half this price and smaller companies pay far less.
The bulk of its membership comes via trade bodies such as the National Farmers’ Union and the Federation of Master Builders. The CBI counts these trade bodies’ memberships within its own 190,000 total.
The lobby group has access to the prime minister and cabinet, and campaigns on issues ranging from funding for childcare to tax and skills. Its relationship with the UK government was stretched severely by Brexit, with its access to Number 10 much curtailed. A remark attributed to the former prime minister Boris Johnson – “fuck business” – was considered to be aimed at efforts by the CBI and others, to try to influence the post-Brexit UK-EU trade agreement.
Its former director general Dame Carolyn Fairbairn sought to rebuild ties with the government during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, including working alongside trade unions and No 10 on developing the furlough scheme.
Tony Danker took over from Fairbairn, the CBI’s first female boss, in November 2020. He continued a focus on re-engaging with the government and the opposition Labour party. He was criticised for speaking in support of Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget in September 2022.
The CBI is governed by a president and an executive committee, which, in normal times, is chaired by the director general. It also has a board of non-executive directors, which the director general sits on.
We’ve got confirmation that the Treasury and the Department for Business and Trade have postponed meetings with the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) while the business group investigates allegations of sexual misconduct.
Treasury and business department postpone meetings with CBI after Guardian’s sexual misconduct claims
UPDATE: THIS HAS BEEN CONFIRMED.
The Treasury and the Department for Business and Trade have postponed meetings with the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) while the business group investigates allegations of sexual misconduct, the PA news agency reports.
A Treasury source said it had “paused engagement” while the investigation is ongoing, with a similar approach adopted by Kemi Badenoch’s department.
PA understands this means scheduled meetings between ministers and the lobbying group have been postponed as a result of the pause.
The CBI, the UK’s most prominent business lobbying organisation, has also cancelled forthcoming events including its annual dinner after the Guardian revealed multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by its staff.
The CBI has been thrown into turmoil after the Guardian reported claims from more than a dozen women who said that they had been victims of various forms of sexual misconduct by senior figures at the CBI. This included an account from a woman who alleged she was raped at a staff party on a boat on the River Thames.
The latest allegations of misconduct by senior figures at the CBI are separate to those made about its director general, Tony Danker, last month.
Royal Mail said after 11 months of talks with the Communication Workers Union over pay and changes to working patterns, negotiations have ended without a deal.
A spokesperson said:
After 11 months of talks, including mediation by Sir Brendan Barber and Acas, we are deeply concerned that our talks with CWU have concluded without an agreement.
We made substantial efforts to reach an agreement, including making a number of further improvements to our offer. These improvements were all based on feedback from the CWU, and we were hopeful that the CWU would put a deal to its members.
We remain committed to reaching an agreement with the CWU. We have been clear throughout the dispute that not transforming our network and working practices is not an option in a business losing more than £1 million a day. In the best interests of the business, our customers, and the job security of our postmen and women, change cannot be delayed any further.
UK services growth slows despite record export sales
The UK’s service sector has been growing for three months, according to a survey, but showed a slowdown last month despite record export growth.
The S&P Global/CIPS UK services PMI survey showed a reading of 52.9 last month, down from February’s 53.5. Any reading above 50 points to expansion; any reading below suggests a contraction.
The businesses polled reported their biggest jump in export sales since the survey started tracking this in September 2014.
Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence which compiles the survey, said:
March data confirmed that the UK service sector returned to growth during the first quarter of 2023, supported by a sustained rebound in new orders as business and consumer confidence improved from the lows seen last autumn.
Export sales provided an additional boost to the service economy during March as the ongoing recovery in business travel and events helped to drive the fastest rise in new orders from abroad for at least eight and a half years.
Increases in prices that service companies charged dropped to a 19-month low in March, but this was still higher than at any point between 1996 when the survey began and 2021.
Increases in costs faced by these businesses eased to the lowest level for 22 months, but remained “exceptionally strong”, the survey said.
