Vince Cable Calls For Minimum Wage Increase

Business Secretary Vince Cable is pressing for an increase in the minimum wage amid concerns that many lower-paid workers are still not benefiting from the burgeoning economic recovery.

Speaking before the Liberal Democrat party conference in Glasgow today, Mr Cable said he would ask the Low Pay Commission to restore its value, which he estimates has fallen in real terms by 10% to 12% since the crash of 2008.

"We cannot go on forever in a low pay and low productivity world in which all we can say to workers is, 'You have got to take a wage cut to keep your job'," he told told The Guardian.

Mr Cable said action to boost low pay should be combined with measures to tackle the abuses of zero-hours contracts.

"We have got to enter into a different kind of workplace. For a very long time, five or six years, wages have been suppressed in low wage sectors. I am sending a signal that we are entering a very different environment," he said.

In a further sign that cost of living issues are set to dominate the annual party conference season, his Lib Dem colleague - Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander - urged employers to ensure that staff benefited in their pay packets as profits picked up again.

"It's not for me as a Treasury minister to start telling employers what their pay policies should be, that's a matter for firms," he told The Daily Telegraph.

"But of course, as growth returns to our economy and we see businesses being successful, the workforce will want to and should share in that success."

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Bank Seven-Day Switch Scheme May Fall Flat

By Poppy Trowbridge, Business and Economics Correspondent

The Government wants banks to work harder to win your business and is backing an initiative to allow customers to swap current accounts within seven working days.

But exclusive research conducted for Sky News reveals that the public is largely unaware of the plan and among those in the know the Government's initiative is unwanted.

From September 16 the so-called 7-Day-Switch scheme will come into effect.

Customers wanting to swap banks can provide their preferred lender with personal details, the bank then makes all the arrangements to bring across salary deposits and bill payments - with a hassle free guarantee.

In a move to revitalise competition in high-street banking, Chancellor George Osborne confirmed the plans back in February after the regulator highlighted how little choice existed in the current account market.

But in a poll of more than 2000 bank customers, 44% of those surveyed said they had never heard of the service.

Of those who had, 53% would not even consider switching when the guarantee is in place.

That is perhaps because 82% say they are happy enough with their current account, another indication that the initiative isn't needed by many.

The four biggest banks in Britain - Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC - control three quarters of the current account market, according to figures from the Office of Fair Trading.

That means switching accounts may not result in drastically better deals at one bank or another.

Ali Steed, a personal finance expert at mymoneydiva.com, says many of the rates and products don't differ much from bank to bank.

"At the moment, because interest rates are actually very low, the amount of money you can actually get on your savings - from anywhere on the high street - is not really going to put you in a position where you can beat inflation."

If the government initiative is to have any immediate effect it is likely to be in customer service.

Michael Ossei, from uSwitch, says: "Banks will have to work harder to both attract new customers and keep their existing ones, which means that accounts must offer better value for money and customer service."

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Santander Bank Hacking Plot: Four Charged

Four men have been charged for allegedly taking control of computers at a bank branch and trying to steal millions of pounds.

Police say one of the gang posed as an engineer to fit a computer at the branch in Surrey Quays shopping centre, southeast London, with a "keyboard video mouse" (KVM).

The device, which can be purchased online for as little as £10, allegedly allowed them to transmit the contents of the computer's desktop and take control of all computers at the branch.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said it was not clear whether any money was taken, but the bank said "no money was ever at risk".

Police said that detectives and bank officials had thwarted a "very significant and audacious cyber-enabled offence" that would have cost Santander millions of pounds.

The four men charged with conspiracy to steal are: Lanre Mullins-Abudu, 25, from Putney, southwest London; Dean Outram, 34, from northwest London; Akash Vaghela, 27, from Hounslow, west London; and Asad Ali Qureshi, 35, from southwest London.

A KVM device similar to the one used in the alleged cyber theft plot

They will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on September 14.

Eight other people who were arrested have been bailed until mid-November pending further inquiries.

A Santander spokesman said: "Like all high street banks, Santander works very closely with the police and other authorities to help prevent fraud.

"Through this co-operation, Santander was aware of the possibility of the attack connected to the arrests. The attempt to fit the device to the computer in the Surrey Quays Branch was undertaken by a bogus maintenance engineer pretending to be from a third party.

"No member of Santander staff was involved in this attempted fraud.

"We are pleased that we have been able, through the robustness of our systems, to prevent the fraud and help the police gather the evidence they needed to make the arrests."

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Russian Oil Giant Plots £600m London Listing

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

A Russian oligarch with links to Lord Mandelson, the former Cabinet minister, is assembling plans for a London listing of the giant oil company he controls, Sky News understands.

Vladimir Evtushenkov, who runs the Moscow-based holding company Sistema, is mulling a proposal for Bashneft, one of Russia's biggest energy groups, to issue financial instruments known as global depositary receipts (GDRs) in the UK.

Bashneft is understood to be holding meetings with investment banks to discuss the move, which would aim to raise up to $1bn (£630m) in the coming months.

No final decision has been made about the GDR listing, according to insiders.

Mr Evtushenkov, who is said by Forbes magazine to be worth more than $6bn, appointed Lord Mandelson earlier this year to the board of Sistema, whose assets include a stake in MTS, Russia's largest mobile phone network.

Bashneft lags well behind the likes of Rosneft in terms of oil production but is nonetheless a significant player in one of the world's largest oil-producing markets.

A GDR listing allows foreign companies to access the liquidity of London's capital markets but does not impose the same disclosure requirements on the issuer of the securities.

Bashneft could not be reached for comment.

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Twitter IPO: Firm In Stock Market Launch Bid

A Bite-Sized History Of Twitter

Updated: 4:46am UK, Friday 13 September 2013

Twitter came to life on March 21, 2006 when co-founder Jack Dorsey's account (@jack) automatically sent out the first tweet, which read: "just setting up my twttr."

Dorsey followed it up with the first "human-generated" tweet: "inviting coworkers."

Since then, more than 170 billion tweets have gone out worldwide, and Twitter has 500 million users, according to Dashburst.com, a website that monitors the social media industry. Officially, Twitter has only said it has "well over 200 million" users.

Here are some more Twitter facts: 

:: Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) has the most followers with 44,418,729, as of 11pm UK time on Thursday, followed by Katy Perry (@katyperry) with 42,603,233 and Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) with 40,094,580.

:: US President Barack Obama (@barackobama) is fourth with 36,493,643 followers; the announcement of his re-election victory in November 2012 was re-tweeted 802,624 times.

:: The average Twitter user has 208 followers and spends 170 minutes on the site every month.

:: There are more than 200 million active Twitter users, with 80% of all users access Twitter on mobile devices.

:: China is the country with the most Twitter users with 35.5 million, according to Dashburst.

:: About 20 million Twitter accounts are believed to be fake.

:: The hashtag (#) feature on Twitter which groups tweets by subject debuted in August 2007, proposed by a user.

:: In October 2009, Google and Microsoft began integrating tweets into their search products.

:: In January 2013, Twitter introduced Vine, which enabled users to make and tweet six-second looping videos. Some 12 million Vine videos are uploaded every day.

:: In July, 2013, Twitter was criticised for not taking stronger and swifter action against women who became the target of rape and death threats, and subsequently admitted to failing the victims.

:: Twitter is based in San Francisco, with additional employees in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington. Its total payroll exceeds 900.

:: Twitter was incorporated in April 2007; it was co-founded by Biz Stone, Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey -- @biz, @ev and @jack.

:: The initial Twitter logo was created by Stone, a former graphic designer.

:: Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo is a former improvisational comedian.

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House Price Growth 'Should Be Capped At 5%'

A 5% cap should be placed on annual house price growth to prevent another property "bubble", surveyors have suggested.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) called on the Bank of England to limit yearly house price inflation to 5% in order to take the "froth" out of any future booms and put a stop to any "dangerous build-up in household debt".

It suggested the Bank could put the brakes on house price growth by imposing a ceiling on the amounts of money banks are allowed to lend.

It could also put caps on the term of a mortgage, the amount people can borrow in relation to their deposit or the sum they can borrow in relation to their income.

The request - an unusual one from an industry group that typically benefits from rising prices - comes months before the Government begins to offer mortgage guarantees to "riskier" homebuyers under its controversial Help To Buy scheme.

Fears have been raised that a recent surge in housing market activity will result in borrowers over-stretching themselves.

Recent figures from the Halifax showed house prices are 5.4% higher than last summer, and the RICS said 40% of surveyors have been seeing house prices rise rather than fall, the highest proportion in almost seven years.

Asking prices in London are up by 10% year-on-year, according to recent figures from property search website Rightmove.

BoE Governor Mark Carney has vowed to prevent any new property bubble

"Sending a clear and simple statement to the public that the Bank of England will not tolerate house price rises above 5% would help restrict excessive price expectations across the country," the RICS said.

"This policy would discourage households from taking on excessive debt out of fear of missing out on a price boom, and discourage lenders from rushing to relax their lending standards as they compete for market share."

The industry group noted that limits on property price inflation have been used by a variety of countries, including Canada between 2008 and 2012, when Bank of England Governor Mark Carney headed the country's central bank.

Speaking to a committee of MPs on Thursday, Mr Carney said the Bank was "acutely aware" of the potential threats and was watching the housing market closely as it recovers.

But he insisted the market pick-up should be seen in context and remains a third to a quarter below pre-crisis levels.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders added that talk of a housing boom was "premature".

In its regular "news and views" release, it said while the housing and mortgage markets were showing some initial signs of recovery this summer, current house sales were still at lower pre-crisis levels.

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Sunday Mirror Phone-Hacking Probe Launched

The publisher of the Sunday Mirror is being investigated over alleged phone hacking by former employees at the newspaper.

Trinity Mirror said Scotland Yard has informed its national newspaper publishing subsidiary, MGN Limited, that a probe is under way to establish whether it is criminally liable for alleged unlawful conduct by former employees at the weekly tabloid.

A spokesman said: "Trinity Mirror plc notes that its subsidiary, MGN Limited, publisher of the group's national newspapers, has been notified by the Metropolitan Police that they are at a very early stage in investigating whether MGN is criminally liable for the alleged unlawful conduct by previous employees in relation to phone hacking on the Sunday Mirror.

"The group does not accept wrongdoing within its business and takes these allegations seriously.

"It is too soon to know how these matters will progress and further updates will be made if there are any significant developments."

The development is thought to be the first formal confirmation that a newspaper group is being investigated as a corporate suspect for alleged phone hacking by its journalists.

Piers Morgan's claims on phone hacking were "utterly unpersuasive"

It was reported last that Rupert Murdoch's News International had been placed under investigation, but the Metropolitan Police has yet to officially confirm that claim.

Several former Trinity Mirror employees have been arrested since the phone hacking scandal began.

Former Sunday Mirror editor Tina Weaver, who worked at the paper between 2001 and 2012,  was arrested in a dawn raid as part of the Metropolitan Police's Operation Weeting inquiry into phone hacking in March.

At that time, lawyers representing victims of phone hacking said they had been contacted by police to say they were looking into new claims relating to the now defunct News of the World's feature desk and Trinity Mirror titles.

During his inquiry into press standards, Lord Justice Leveson described former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan's claim that he had no knowledge of alleged phone hacking at the newspaper as "utterly unpersuasive", and said the practice may well have occurred at the title in the late 1990s.

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CBI Survey Shows Firms Want UK To Stay In EU

Almost eight out of 10 British firms want the UK to stay in the European Union, according to a survey released by the Confederation of British Industry.

Just 10% believe it would be in their favour to leave the organisation and 71% said membership had been positive for their business.

An overwhelming majority (86%) said an exit would affect their access to trading markets and business investment and 59% said it would make the UK less competitive.

The survey comes after EU chief Jose Manuel Barroso hit out at anti-European sentiment and warned the Tories they could be eclipsed by UKIP.

More than 400 businesses that together employ more than 1.5million people were polled over the summer.

Three-quarters (75%) of the firms questioned said leaving would have a negative impact on foreign direct investment in the UK, Only 9% thought it would increase investment.

More than a third (35%) also said they would be likely to cut their own business investment if Britain quit, compared to 51% saying nothing would change and 6% saying they would spend more.

David Cameron has promised to hold a referendum by 2017

Firms did back reform of Britain's relationship with the EU.

Some 46% calling for an end to "gold-plating" of Brussels legislation and 39% wanting to see EU rules applied evenly across all member states.

Other priorities for reform included reducing regulation (39%) and making structural reforms for a more competitive EU (36%).

CBI director general John Cridland said: "This sends a clear message that most CBI members, big and small, support UK membership of the EU.

"Firms want what is best for jobs and growth, and there is genuine concern that an exit would hit business investment and access to the world's largest trading bloc.

"The UK should take the lead on the push for reform and make sure rules are evenly applied across the EU. Businesses are also concerned about the UK gold-plating legislation from Brussels.

"Businesses do have some serious concerns about the EU, but ultimately they want the UK inside the tent winning the argument for reform."

David Cameron has promised to renegotiate the terms of Britain's membership and then hold an in-out referendum on EU membership by 2017 if the Tories win the next general election outright.

The Prime Minister is already working to secure reforms and is believed to have made restricting migrants' access to benefits a key plank of negotiations.

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Royal Mail Sale To Begin Within Weeks

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The Government has launched a £3bn stock market listing of Royal Mail in a move heralding the most ambitious privatisation for decades.

In a statement confirming Royal Mail's intention to float, ministers said the decision was an important step towards ensuring a "healthy future" for the company, despite intense opposition from trade unions which have pledged to ballot on industrial action in the coming weeks.

Under the proposed deal, members of the public will be able to apply for a minimum of £750-worth of shares in the newly-listed Royal Mail, while 150,000 of its UK-based employees will receive free shares likely to be worth roughly £2000 each.

Endorsing a privatisation that eluded the last Labour Government and which was rejected by Margaret Thatcher, Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, said it was "an important day for the Royal Mail, its employees and its customers".

"[The] Government is taking action to secure a healthy future for the company. These measures will help ensure the long term sustainability of the six days a week, one-price-goes-anywhere universal postal service.

Many Royal Mail employees have opposed the privatisation

Royal Mail also confirmed Sky News' revelations that the company would adopt a robust dividend policy in which it would pay out in the region of 50% of its profits as dividends, and that it had lined up £1.4bn of new debt facilities from a syndicate of banks.

Royal Mail currently pays an average interest rate of 8.8% on loans from the Government, meaning its new borrowings will be on far more attractive terms to the company.

The exact size of the initial public offering (IPO) of Royal Mail shares will depend on the level of demand from investors, although Mr Cable said he expected a majority of the company to be in private hands by the time the share sale is completed in November.

The company will pay a dividend of £133m for the 2013-14 financial year, which it said would have been £200m if it had been listed throughout the year.

Thursday's announcement acknowledged that strike action was a possibility, and said Royal Mail had "contingency plans in place and will also consider its legal options".

"Negotiations between Royal Mail and the CWU are continuing and Royal Mail remains committed to reaching an agreement with the CWU and averting industrial action. However, there can be no guarantee that negotiations will lead to a successful outcome or the aversion of industrial action," it said.

Moya Greene, Royal Mail's chief executive, said she was determined to "deliver a revitalised company" and that the injection of private capital would help her to achieve that objective.

Royal Mail boss Moya Greene faces the prospect of strikes over the sale

"[Our] network and our strong brand, coupled with the high service quality delivered by our people enable us to take full advantage of the growth in UK e-commerce to further enhance our pre-eminent parcels business. Combining this UK presence with our pan-European parcels business GLS, should result in a financial profile that combines revenue growth and margin progression to underpin strong cash flow generation."

The flotation was also attacked by Labour's shadow business secretary, Chuka Umunna, who said the sell-off was "politically-motivated".

"Ministers are pushing ahead with this politically-motivated fire-sale of Royal Mail to fill the hole left by George Osborne's failed plan," he said.

"This is taking place despite opposition from a huge coalition including the Conservative Bow Group, the Countryside Alliance, the National Federation of Subpostmasters, the cross party BIS Select Committee as well as Royal Mail employees themselves.

"The Government has not addressed the huge concerns which remain on the impact the Royal Mail sale will have on consumers, businesses and communities, but ministers are ploughing on regardless."

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Cable Warns About 'Complacency' Over Economy

Vince Cable is to warn about "complacency" over Britain's economic recovery, insisting ministers cannot "rest on our laurels".

The Business Secretary will say later that "a few quarters of good economic data" does not mean the country is out of the woods.

The comments, in a speech to business leaders, come just two days after Chancellor George Osborne declared the economy was finally "turning a corner".

Mr Cable will also highlight the risks of the housing market "getting out of control", echoing critics of Mr Osborne's flagship Help-to-Buy scheme.

The senior Lib Dem's intervention is likely to revive old tensions with the Chancellor after several clashes in the past.

In his address at Warwick University, Mr Cable will admit that there are "encouraging" signs on the economy but declare there is still further to go.

"We can't rest on our laurels. The kind of growth we want won't simply emerge of its own volition. In fact, I see a number of dangers. One is complacency, generated by a few quarters of good economic data," he will say.

"It isn't difficult to see evidence of confidence returning, and there are positive trends in production. Taken together with success stories like the car industry and export growth in emerging markets, we have the beginnings of a recovery story.

"But there are risks, not least the housing market getting out of control. Recovery will not be meaningful until we see strong and sustained business investment - and this is still 13% down on its 2008 peak and, as a share of GDP, is currently the lowest in the G7."

George Osborne recently hailed the change in economic fortunes

Mr Cable will stress that the improving economic news does not mean that the need for long-term re-structuring and re-balancing could be forgotten.

"If we are to turn the British economy around on a sustainable basis there will have to be relatively rapid growth of exports and import substitutes," he will say

In a further sideswipe at Tory critics, he will also emphasise the need for the Government to have an industrial strategy, following a series of "classic market failures".

He will point out that Britain's growth rate for creating advanced skills put the UK just 20th out of the 27 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries.

But he will also argue that his work on industrial strategy will last beyond the election because it is supported across the business world and political parties.

Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna said Mr Cable had delivered an "embarrassing slap-down" to Mr Osborne.

However, he insisted that the Lib Dems could not distance themselves from the Chancellor 's economic strategy.

"It also reminds everyone that you can't trust a word the Lib Dems say. Vince Cable has supported the Chancellor's policies which choked off the recovery in 2010," he said.

"Three wasted years of flatlining that has left families worse off and done long term damage to our economy is his record and he should take responsibility for it."

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Apple iPhone 5C Launched In California

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent

Apple has revamped the iPhone by launching two new handsets at its California headquarters - including one that has a fingerprint reader.

The California launch was streamed to a parallel event in Berlin last night and played at another launch in the Chinese capital Beijing this morning.

The firm's chief Tim Cook confirmed rumours that the high-end iPhone 5S would be equipped with a fingerprint scanner to unlock the device and put an end to the days of passwords.

He promised the cheaper iPhone 5C would come with "all the great technology that customers have loved" on its previous models - but analysts said it was "nowhere near" as cheap as some had predicted.

The "budget" version - launched at a time when Apple arguably faces stiffer global competition than ever - will be an obvious rival to some of the low-cost gadgets sold by the firm's major competitors.

The iPhone 5C costs $99 (£63) over a two-year contract, or $736 (£469) as a one-off payment.

However winning over the Chinese consumer is, according to analysts, key to Apple's continued success.

The 5C, with its bright colours and lower price tag, is designed to attract buyers in China who currently favour cheaper android smartphones.

However, it is still far more pricey than alternative models. The iPhone 5S in China will cost 5,288 RMB (£549) according to Apple's China website.

Initial polls suggest that means the battle in China isn't won.

The iPhone 5C

In a survey on Sina.com.cn, a Chinese web provider similar to Yahoo!, 88.4% of those polled said the price for the iPhone 5C was too high. Only 2.6% said they would buy one.

The new flagship mobile, the iPhone 5S - dubbed the "gold standard in smartphones" by the tech giant - will come in the traditional Apple colours of silver and slate grey as well as a new golden hue.

But the 5C is billed as "more fun" than any iPhone yet. It will be plastic and come in a range of five vivid colours - blue, white, pink, yellow and green.

For young Chinese consumers who seem to buy increasingly gaudy plastic covers for their phones, this should be attractive.

However, Apple still faces one considerable problem in China. It currently only has a deal with two out of the three Chinese mobile networks.

The company has, so far, failed to sign a deal with China's largest mobile network, China Mobile.

With 745 million customers in China, it is the world's largest mobile communications provider and yet none of those customers can use an iPhone.

A deal is rumoured to be very close, but until it comes, Apple's growth in China will remain limited.

Tein Hee, from Stuff.tv in Singapore, told Sky News: "The iPhone 5C was not what most of us expected. Believed to be an affordable alternative to the iPhone 5S, its price tag for the 16GB version is even more expensive than Nokia's Lumia 925.

Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed the 'colourful iPhone' rumours

"Apple's greatest contender for the Chinese market isn't its bitter rival, Samsung, or other Android makers. It's China's homegrown brand Xiaomi, which has gained a cult status akin to Apple's, that will put up a strong fight against the Cupertino-based company.

"Just last week, it has also unveiled the Mi3, which costs a mere RMB 1,999 and features hardware and sleek aesthetics that will put the iPhone 5C to shame."

The two new devices were finally shown to the world after a series of images leaked online claimed to show the 5S while the web was awash with speculation that Apple would also branch out with a budget device.

Mr Cook raised a laugh as he told the audience: "A couple of you may have been expecting this."

He added: "The business has become so large that this year we are going to replace the iPhone 5, and we are going to replace it with not one but two new designs.

"This allows us to serve even more customers."

Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller revealed the phone's US price plans

Apple marketing executive Philip Schiller told the audience: "iPhone 5S is the most forward-thinking smartphone in the world, delivering desktop class architecture in the palm of your hand."

He received a massive round of applause as he introduced the fingertip scanner - named Touch ID - which, he said, would provide a "simple and secure way to unlock your phone with just a touch of your finger".

The security feature is built into the home button and uses a laser cut sapphire crystal along with a sensor to take a high-resolution image of a user's fingerprint.

According to Apple, the technology can "intelligently analyse" the print to provide accurate readings from any angle.

All fingerprint information is encrypted and the firm has insisted it will never be stored on Apple servers.

Beyond unlocking the phone, the feature can be used as a secure way to approve purchases from the iTunes Store, App Store or iBooks Store, Apple said.

It has promised customers that all actions on the device would be faster than on previous handsets, from launching apps and editing photos to playing graphic-intensive games.

The phone will be available in the UK for a suggested retail price of £549 for the 16GB model, £629 for the 32GB model and £709 for the 64GB model.

Investors seemed unimpressed with Apple's latest gadgets. The company's shares closed down $11.53 at $494.64 after briefly surging to $507.45 on anticipation of the launch.

Jason Jenkins, editor of technology site CNET, said Apple has made a play for the "geeks it lost" to Android with the 5S.

He said: "Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One are known for containing very fast processors, while iPhones have been left behind."

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HS2 Rail Link 'Will Boost Economy By £15bn'

The HS2 high-speed rail project will boost the UK economy by £15bn and will be completed within its £42.6bn budget, the Government is to claim.

New research shows the proposed link between London and cities in the Midlands and northern England will drive growth in the regions.

The announcement by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin comes in the week the Commons spending watchdog issued a scathing report on the scheme.

It said the apparent benefits were dwindling as the costs spiralled.

Ministers' case for the massive project was based on "fragile numbers, out-of-date data and assumptions which do not reflect real life" with no evidence that it would aid regional economies rather than sucking even more activity into London, said the Public Accounts Committee report.

But Mr McLoughlin will point to a new analysis by KPMG, commissioned by HS2 Ltd, which shows that the boost to Birmingham's economy will be equivalent to 2.1% to 4.2% of the city region's GDP, there will be a 0.8% to 1.7% benefit to Manchester, 1.6% for Leeds and 0.5% for Greater London.

The proposed HS2 lines

"It addresses that vital question: will HS2 create jobs and growth in the North and Midlands, where they are needed most? The answer is absolutely clear. Yes," he will say.

The Exchequer could benefit from £5bn a year in extra tax receipts as a result of the boost to the economy, KPMG said.

The Transport Secretary's speech forms part of a campaign announced by David Cameron to make the case for HS2 in the face of what he called an "unholy alliance" of sceptics.

Recent critics have included Labour's Alistair Darling who first approved it as chancellor, and the Institute of Directors which dismissed it as "a grand folly".

It is also fiercely opposed by some Tory MPs - many representing communities which will be disrupted by construction work and train noise along the route.

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Royal Mail Sale: Thursday Delivery Target

Some of the City's most prominent fund managers are lining up to back the £3bn privatisation of Royal Mail as ministers target Thursday morning to press the button on the historic sell-off.

Sky News understands that Lansdowne Partners and Standard Life Investments are among the City institutions which have provided positive indications of their appetite to invest in the company despite the looming threat of the first national strike by Royal Mail staff since 2009.

The pair is among scores of prospective investors with which the postal operator's executives and advisers have held discussions in recent months as the Government attempted to build enthusiasm for the initial public offering.

Investment bankers involved in the deal say they are surprised at the extent of the positive reaction to their initial soundings with investors, although the actual demand for shares will depend to a large extent on how they are priced.

Ministers are likely to take a final decision on Wednesday evening to press ahead with the privatisation, which will take place through a stock market flotation in London next month. A statement formally known as an Intention To Float announcement is expected at 7am on Thursday.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills insisted on Monday that no final decision had been taken about the timing of a deal. Other external factors such as the crisis in Syria and an impending announcement about the sale of part of the Government's stake in Lloyds Banking Group could yet alter the Royal Mail timetable, insiders said.

Strikes could be a major obstacle to privatisation plans

However, ministers have made it clear that they will not allow the Royal Mail privatisation to be distracted by the robust stance of trade unions.

Sky News revealed last week that Royal Mail would commit to a generous dividend policy in order to entice investors to back the flotation, with a commitment to a specific shareholder payout for the current financial year, as well as a general intention to distribute up to about 50% of its profits in the form of dividends in subsequent years.

"This will be an income stock for investors despite the continuing decline in the company's core letters business," said one person close to the group.

Royal Mail's board is understood to have backed the dividend pledge in principle and will meet on Wednesday to agree further details relating to the privatisation.

Postal operators in other European markets tend to pay out at least 40% of their earnings in dividends although Royal Mail would be expected to retain a large chunk of its future profits as it continues to invest in the modernisation of the company.

The company's flotation will include an eventual distribution of 10% of Royal Mail shares to 150,000 of its employees and an offer of shares to ordinary retail investors.

Royal Mail declined to comment on Monday.

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Osborne: Economy Showing Signs Of Recovery

UK Economy Lacks Feel-Good Factor

Updated: 6:43pm UK, Monday 09 September 2013

Here's something to dwell on: back in 2010, at the time of George Osborne's first budget, the Government was predicting that by this stage, midway through 2013, the economy would be almost 3% bigger than it was at the start of the economic crisis.

Instead, today Britain's economy is still over 3 percentage points smaller than it was before the crisis.

If you compare the shortfall to trend growth (in other words what Britons should have been earning were it not for the crisis at all) the gulf is almost 20%.

The statistics help explain why now even the chancellor is referring to what's happened over the past few years as "The Great Recession".

All that lost output means that Britain is considerably poorer than it was even a few years ago - after all, remember that GDP is merely a measure of the total amount everyone in the country is earning.

This is important: it means that although Britain may well be "turning the corner", as Mr Osborne said today, it may take some time before the feel-good factor returns.

It's worth remembering this when considering the chancellor's economic strategy.

For the first time in years, the economy seems to be showing some genuine signs of growth.

The purchasing managers' indices suggest economic output is running at the strongest rate since the late 1990s.

All being well, that should equate to very punchy growth in the GDP figures when the Office for National Statistics publishes them.

Moreover, unemployment looks like it may be on the way down.

This is all good news: however, none of the above is likely to put much of a smile on peoples' faces.

It will not make Britons feel richer - particularly when you consider that real incomes are currently at around the same level they were back in 2003.

That, I suspect is one of the reasons why the chancellor remains very wary of declaring the end of the misery.

"Turning the corner", as Mr Osborne called it today, is very different to the full, lusty "green shoots" of recovery Norman Lamont talked about in the early 90s.

However, there is one way a chancellor can give people the impression of being wealthy - even when they remain poorer than they were some years ago.

You boost house prices. It is hard to escape the conclusion that that is the objective of the chancellor's Help to Buy scheme.

It is an economic illusion, of course: you can't realise the extra value of your home unless you downsize or move to another country.

But higher home prices might at least detract from the fact that actual real incomes are still so much lower than they were before the crisis.

There may not have been any new economic policy in today's speech, but it is nonetheless an important one. From hereon his language will be the language of recovery.

The question that still remains is whether he can generate a recovery that has a feel-good factor about it.

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Jaguar Land Rover To Create 1,700 New Jobs

China's Love Affair With JLR

Updated: 8:09am UK, Tuesday 10 September 2013

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent in Beijing

It's not possible to drive for more than about two minutes in central Beijing without seeing a Land Rover of some sort.

They are everywhere: the Range Rover, the Range Rover Sport, the Evoque, the Discovery and the Freelander.

Every car the company has to offer has sold staggeringly well across China.

The latest offering - the British-built Range Rover Evoque - seems to have sold better than anything. Over the past few weeks I have counted scores of them.

As I write this, from the passenger seat of our car (not a Range Rover sadly!) four sparkly new Evoques have driven passed.

According to figures published by Jaguar Land Rover, vehicles sales in China last year were up 74% on the previous year.

In 2012, the company sold 73,347 cars in China. Of them, 65,896 were Land Rovers. The rest were Jaguars.

In December alone, more than 8,200 vehicles were shifted from Chinese forecourts.

"Since we established our National Sales Company in China..... [the country] has already become our largest market worldwide, thanks to the market's positive reception of our products," said Bob Grace, President of Jaguar Land Rover China.

The success in China is all the more remarkable given that they cost so much more here.

After import tax is paid, a Range Rover Evoque will cost about RMB630,000 which is almost exactly £65,000.

In the UK, you would pay £39,000 for exactly the same car.

China now has an eye-watering number of very wealthy people. They have a love affair with luxury and even better if it's British.

No wonder the company had just announced a £1.5bn investment and 1,700 new jobs.

The company may now be Indian-owned, but its remarkable success in China is great news for the UK and a testament to British engineering.

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TSB Makes Return To The High Street

By Poppy Trowbridge, Business and Economics Correspondent

The Trustee Savings Banks, or TSB, reopens on the high street as a stand-alone banking brand today for the first time since its 1995 merger with Lloyds Bank.

The Lloyds Banking Group must shed hundreds of branches under the revived brand name to meet competition rules set by the European Commission.

TSB will open 631 branches across England, Scotland and Wales with 4.6 million customers transferred from Lloyds in the process, making TSB the seventh largest bank in the UK.

The new bank's mission statement says: "TSB will be different from other banks in that it is purely focused on individuals, families and local businesses in the communities we serve across Britain."

Lloyds chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio described the business as a "completely clean bank" untainted by the turbulence that has threatened to overwhelm the financial sector in recent years.

It is understood that the new TSB bank may seek to sell shares to the public in 2014 to become fully separate from the Lloyds Group.

Government bailouts of both Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group, as well as, the merger of Lloyds with HboS led the European Commission to rule that RBS and Lloyds must dispose of a large numbers of their branches to redress any competitive advantage they would have as a result of their increased size.

Kevin Mountford, head of banking at MoneySuperMarket, said: "The creation of TSB, and other new banks such as Tesco Bank, Virgin Money, and Metro Bank help make the banking sector more competitive, which can only be good news for consumers as the big four banks still hold the vast majority of accounts."

He added: "This brand has scale and security that comes with being a big bank.

"I would hope that TSB will differentiate themselves from the Lloyds Banking Group in terms of product innovation, otherwise we may just see another big bank on the high street."

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Osborne: 'UK Economy Is Turning A Corner'

George Osborne will say the UK economy is "turning a corner" and that his austerity programme "is working" in a speech later today.

The Chancellor will argue that a run of strong figures suggests the Government has won the economic argument over his critics who wanted him to change course from his Plan A.

He will hail "tentative signs of a balanced, broad based and sustainable recovery" and warn of the need to make "many billions" more in savings after the next election.

But he will insist that the last few months - which have seen growth forecasts revised upwards amid a number of positive indicators - had "decisively ended" questions about his deficit-reduction strategy.

Addressing an audience of academics, think tanks and businesses in London later, Mr Osborne will say: "The plan is working, but the recovery is still in its early stages, plenty of risks remain, and more years of hard decisions lie ahead.

"Our economy is turning a corner, but we must not take anything for granted.

"This is a hard, difficult road we have been following. But it is the only way to deliver a sustained, lasting improvement in the living standards of the British people."

He will add: "More tough choices will be required after the next election to find many billions of further savings and anyone who thinks those decisions can be ducked is not fit for government."

Labour has dismissed the Chancellor's speech as a "desperate attempt to rewrite history".

"Three wasted years of flatlining under George Osborne have left ordinary families worse off and caused long-term damage to our economy," shadow Treasury minister Chris Leslie said.

"This desperate attempt to rewrite history will not wash when on every test he set himself, this Chancellor's plan A has badly failed - on living standards, growth and the deficit."

Opposition leader Ed Miliband is expected to use his speech to the TUC conference to lambast the Chancellor for being "out of touch with ordinary families" by celebrating while they face the squeeze.

Mr Osborne has been buoyed by revised gross domestic product figures showing the UK economy grew by 0.7% in the second quarter of the year, with predictions it could reach 1% for the third quarter.

The respected OECD think-tank has almost doubled its prediction for UK growth this year to 1.5%.

Rising property prices and a summer retail splurge as well as booming car sales have also contributed to the feel-good factor, with surging manufacturing figures for June also helping fuel the improved mood.

Goods exports excluding oil plunged however by 9.3%, and the overall trade deficit more than doubled from £1.3bn to £3.1bn, with real terms wages also in decline.

The economy remains 3% below its pre-crisis level.

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HS2 Rail Project Comes Under Renewed Attack

HS2: Cases For And Against

Updated: 12:24pm UK, Monday 28 January 2013

Those in favour of high-speed rail say it will create jobs and boost the economy, while critics say the cost - financially and for the environment - is too high.

Here is what two campaigners from opposing sides had to say:

THE CASE FOR

Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester City Council (Manchester is included in a later HS2 phase)

High-speed rail is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the rail network in this country. A new, separate, high speed network is the only cost-effective way of extending an existing railway network that is becoming increasingly congested.

It will free up capacity on the existing network for commuter services and inter-city services for smaller towns and give the country a railway fit for the 21st century.

More than that, it will unlock much-needed jobs and investment and help rebalance the UK's economy to ensure that opportunity is open to all.

The Government is to be commended for having the political courage to stick with the plans, in the face of a short-sighted opposition that is as predictable as it is parochial.

The UK's future economic success will depend upon its capacity to compete on a global stage.

For Manchester that means we're up against cities like Munich, Milan and Copenhagen. International-class connectivity already is an essential factor in Britain's future success.

The rest of Europe is already well ahead in the high speed stakes and acting now to catch up is not an optional extra.

HS2 might seem expensive but it is an investment that will ultimately be self-financing. Paris-Lyon opened in 1981 and has paid for itself, and the new high-speed lines in Spain are the only profitable part of the Spanish rail network.

Railways began in Britain. The world's first passenger rail station is right here in my city. But we've fallen behind.

Yes, we need investment in the here and now of transport infrastructure, but just for once, let's also plan and act for our long-term future.

THE CASE AGAINST

Joe Rukin, campaign co-ordinator of Stop HS2, the national campaigning body against HS2

HS2 is completely the wrong priority for Great Britain and any decision to go ahead will not be a rational one, it will be a political one, brought about mainly by strong lobbying by advocates with vested interests.

Building HS2 is like building the Titanic, but without the Steerage section - that will be made up of the rest of the rail network which will be starved of funds if HS2 goes ahead.

But of course commuters will have to help pay the £17.8bn just to get it to run between London and Birmingham.

The supposed benefits are made up by calculating the cash value of time and the jobs figures touted, which are plainly a lie. These would not arrive for decades, at a total cost of £32bn.

And what about the extra costs of environmental protection, inflation, interest, compensation, farm bridges, foot bridges and of course trains?

Having been the treasurer of a national union, I know that union leaders are not always interested in the actual figures.

But the jobs figures on this, based on the amount of money going in, are ridiculously low.

Last week they had the cheek to tout this being environmentally sound. If that is the case, why is HS2 opposed by Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and the Green Party, to start off a very long list of environmental organisations?

HS2 is going through for the same old reasons - because politically it is wanted. It is that simple. You are about to put what money we have left into a fast train for fat cats.

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Royal Mail To Pledge City Dividend Bonanza

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Royal Mail will pledge to pay hundreds of millions of pounds in dividends to City shareholders in an attempt to win private sector support for its £3bn privatisation, Sky News has learnt.

The company will make the promise as part of a Government statement announcing its intention to float the centuries-old postal operator on the London Stock Exchange, which is expected to be made towards the end of next week.

Sources close to the planned listing of Royal Mail said on Friday that the company was likely to commit to a specific shareholder payout for the current financial year, as well as a general intention to distribute up to about 50% of its profits in the form of dividends in subsequent years.

A valuation of £2.5bn - £3bn would see employees' stake worth up to £300m

The details are still being finalised and could yet change ahead of an announcement, one insider said.

Royal Mail's board is understood to have backed the dividend pledge in principle and is expected to meet next Wednesday to agree further details relating to the privatisation.

The dividend pledge is designed to reassure major City institutions about the attractiveness of Royal Mail as an investment proposition at a time when the threat of industrial action has again reared its head.

Postal operators in other European markets tend to pay out at least 40% of their earnings in dividends although Royal Mail would be expected to retain a large chunk of its future profits as it continues to invest in the modernisation of the company.

The share giveaway to staff will encompass 10% of Royal Mail's equity

"There will be an explicit and robust statement on the company's dividend policy, as you would expect," said a person close to Royal Mail.

However, the commitment on dividend payouts may also ignite further hostility from unions which have criticised the sell-off plans and accused ministers of transferring Royal Mail's economic value to the private sector while having nationalised its historic pension liabilities.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) is preparing to hold a vote on national strikes at Royal Mail, saying it believed industrial action was "inevitable" without compromise from the company on issues including pay, jobs, pensions and the impact of any sell-off.

The Communication Workers Union is preparing to vote on national strikes

The union has been lobbying for a 10-year pay and conditions offer that would be underwritten by the Government.

The result of the ballot will be revealed in early October and the first strike could be held on October 10 if there is a vote in favour of industrial action.

A lack of progress settling the row could potentially lead to a dispute spilling into the festive season, Royal Mail's most profitable and crucial trading period.

The conflict has escalated despite a commitment made in July by Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, to hand 150,000 Royal Mail employees free shares in the company likely to be worth roughly £2,000 per worker.

As a further sweetener, staff will be guaranteed a proportion of the retail element of the initial public offering (IPO).

Strikes could be held in October if employees vote for industrial action

The share giveaway to staff will encompass 10% of Royal Mail's equity, in accordance with the Postal Services Act that paved the way for the sell-off of the company two years ago.

At an overall valuation of between £2.5bn and £3bn, that would value the employees' stake at up to £300m.

Members of the public will also be able to buy shares in Royal Mail through intermediaries, a website and in Post Office branches.

Royal Mail and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills both declined to comment, although one source said an announcement about the flotation could yet be delayed depending on external factors.

The Government has vowed that the threat of a strike will not deter it from selling shares during the current financial year.

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Osborne Ready To Press Button On Lloyds Sale

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

George Osborne, the Chancellor, is considering selling part of the Government's stake in Lloyds Banking Group as soon as next week amid rising expectations in the City of a multi-billion pound share placing.

People close to the situation say that the Treasury, Lloyds and UK Financial Investments (UKFI), which manages the taxpayer's stakes in the UK's bailed-out banks, are discussing the prospect of a share sale that could take place within days.

Reports this week that a disposal of part of the Treasury's holding would almost certainly be delayed by concerns over the crisis in Syria were dismissed by Treasury insiders.

They acknowledged, however, that broader market risks, which also include the US Federal Reserve's forthcoming decision about whether to slow the pace of monetary stimulus, remained an "obvious factor in a decision".

"The reality is that a final decision about the timing of a sale hasn't been made yet but selling next week is a definite option," said one.

Sky News understands that:

:: JP Morgan, the investment bank advising UKFI on its privatisation strategy, has told the Treasury agency that a profitable sale for the taxpayer would be possible within days based on its assessment of the appetite for Lloyds shares among major institutional investors.

:: A number of major City shareholders have this week encouraged the Government to initiate a sale following the agreed takeover of Vodafone's stake in Verizon Wireless, which will see tens of billions of pounds returned to UK investors.

:: A share placing is unlikely until later in the week at the earliest as Lloyds' managers focus on the successful spin-off of TSB into a standalone banking network on Monday.

:: Aides to Mr Osborne are determined to realise a return from part of the Lloyds stake before the Conservative Party holds its annual conference in Manchester next month. One said that recent improvements in the economic outlook allied to the imminent privatisation of Royal Mail and a sale of taxpayer-owned bank shares were part of "a narrative" that would bolster perceptions of the Chancellor's stewardship of the economy.

:: Senior Liberal Democrats are seeking assurances over Lloyds' future role in lending to small and medium-sized companies before they endorse any sale of Lloyds shares, according to Coalition sources.

The exact size of an initial Lloyds sale has not been determined, although analysts believe it is likely to account for roughly 10% of the bank's shares, or one-quarter of the Government's stake. That would be worth just over £5bn at today's share price just before the market close of 75.41p.

During the last 12 months, Lloyds shares have more than doubled as investors have begun to price in the bank's likely future profitability and potential shareholder returns.

In meetings with investors following last month's interim results, Antonio Horta-Osorio, Lloyds' chief executive, is understood to have pledged that the bank would seek to pay out up to 70% of its profits in dividends within three years.

Lloyds has been prohibited from paying dividends to ordinary shareholders since its £20bn bailout in 2008, which followed its takeover of the stricken mortgage lender HBOS.

Mr Horta-Osorio told Sky News this week that it was "the right thing" for the Chancellor to begin selling Lloyds shares.

The price of any Government placing of Lloyds shares would be crucial to Mr Osborne's presentation of a sale. The Labour government paid an average market price of 73.6p for the stake, and while an imminent placing may not take place above that level, it would be possible to do so for a price well in excess of the 61p at which the stake is recorded in the national accounts.

The lower figure does not take into account £2.5bn of fees paid by Lloyds for implicit guarantees covering its toxic loans in the wake of the 2008 rescue.

The Treasury, Lloyds and UKFI all declined to comment on Saturday.

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Unemployment Figure Could Be Double, TUC Says

Unemployment could be almost double the headline figure of 2.5 million when groups such as the economically inactive are added, the Trade Union Congress has claimed.

According to the TUC, as well as the 2.5 million official jobless figure, a further 2.26 million people want a job but are not classified as unemployed.

A report published ahead of the TUC Congress which opens in Bournemouth on Sunday said wider forms of unemployment should be given the same level of importance in the UK as in the US.

General secretary Frances O'Grady said: "Unemployment may have started to fall in recent months but we are still in the midst of a job crisis.

"The true scale of unemployment is far bigger than official figures suggest, as nearly five million people say they want work today.

"With a further 1.4 million people only able to find part-time work, despite needing a full-time job to get by, it's clear that our labour market remains far from full healthy.

"We know that the recent fall in unemployment has been driven by short hours, low pay, temporary contracts, and jobs that offer no guarantee of paid work at all.

"These types of jobs cannot form the basis for a secure and sustainable economic recovery."

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