First-Time Buyers To Get 20% Off Under Tories

Young first-time buyers will get a 20% discount on their new homes, under plans announced by the Conservatives.

David Cameron has set out plans to build tens of thousands of new homes on commercial "brownfield" land, reserved for first-time buyers, under 40.

As Tories begin gathering in Birmingham for their annual conference, the PM said a Conservative government would implement the plan if they were re-elected in 2015.

Homes built under the proposed Help to Buy: Starter Homes scheme would be exempt from a range of taxes, lowering their price by 20%, say Tories.

First-time buyers have been priced out of many areas, especially in London

In an interview with The Sun, Mr Cameron said the programme would deliver 100,000 starter homes over the lifetime of the next parliament.

"We want to help more young people achieve the dream of home ownership so today as part of our long-term economic plan I can pledge we will build 100,000 homes for young, first-time buyers," he said.

"We will make these starter homes 20% cheaper by exempting them from a raft of taxes and by using brownfield land.

"I don't want to see young people locked out of home ownership.

David Cameron says the new homes would be exempt from some taxes

"We've already started to tackle the problem with Help to Buy mortgages - and these new plans will help tens of thousands more people to buy their first home."

The Conservatives said the homes would be built on brownfield land already zoned for development but no longer needed for industrial or commercial use.

Such land is not normally made available for housebuilding and can be bought more cheaply than other land, and the savings will be passed on to the buyer.

Public sector land which is surplus to requirements will also be brought into the scheme.

At the same time, the Conservatives said that the properties would be exempt from most of the taxes imposed on new homes.

These taxes include the social housing requirement and the community infrastructure levy.

Some future regulations such as the zero carbon homes standard will also not apply to properties built under the scheme.

The announcement is intended to set the tone for the party's final annual conference before the country goes to the polls next May.

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Vauxhall Recall: Warning Over Corsa Steering

Vauxhall has warned owners of around 3,000 models to stop driving their vehicles until they have been inspected because of a steering problem.

The UK carmaker said the affected vehicles are Adam and Corsa/Corsavan models registered since May 2014, which had been manufactured with a steering system part "that did not meet specification".

The discovery was made during a routine quality control exercise at two of the firm's manufacturing plants - one in Germany and one in Spain.

The company said it was not aware of any accident or injury related to the issue.

Vauxhall said: "As a precaution, these vehicles should not be driven prior to inspection.

"Vauxhall puts the safety and convenience of its customers first and as this condition concerns their safety, the company is taking immediate action."

The firm said customers could check on their website from today, whether their vehicle was affected, and that it would also contact buyers directly.

It added: "Alternatively customers can call the Vauxhall customer assistance centre for advice on 0800 026 0034 between 9am and 5.30pm."

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Vast Food: Restaurants Urged To Cut Portions

By Poppy Trowbridge, Consumer Affairs Correspondent

Restaurants should cut portion sizes or charge more for large servings to help reduce food waste and fight obesity, experts have said.

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health said the measures would also mean significant savings for food outlets and catering firms.

Jenny Morris, policy officer at the professional body for environmental and public health, told Sky News: "Many of us eat too much.

"The portions we expect to see are too big.

"It seems obvious to me, that an easy solution is to only produce the amount of food that is going to be consumed or that is needed."

She also added that there was some rationale for restaurants to charge a premium for large servings, in a bid to combat rising obesity rates.

Campaigns have sought to encourage consumers to cut back on food waste for years, but the CIEH says the industry itself must drive the changes.

Anthony Worrall Thompson says 97p per customer is lost in food waste

"I think that it is business that needs to lead on it because it is business that is in control," Ms Morris said.

"It hasn't always been the focus up until now."

While big business has begun to measure appropriate portion sizes and reduce food waste, the majority of Britain's food businesses are missing out.

Ms Morris said small and medium-sized restaurants could save hundreds of pounds a week by simply reducing how much meat and produce is wasted.

Celebrity chef Anthony Worrall Thompson estimates that 97p per customer is lost in food waste.

"When you add that amongst the thousands of customers we have every year, it's a huge amount of money," he said.

Recycling body WRAP estimates the cost of food being wasted in the UK from the hospitality and food service sector will reach £3bn per year by 2016.

Ms Morris said: "We are in a very privileged situation at the moment where food is relatively cheap. It won't be in the future.

"It doesn't matter whether a business is small or large, it can save a lot of money." 

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Plane Disasters May Cost Insurers $600m

Lloyd's Of London says the insurance industry is facing claims of up to $600m (£368m) from aviation disasters such as the loss of two Malaysia Airlines flights.

The specialist insurance and reinsurance market made the revelation while reporting profits of £1.67bn for the first six months - a rise of 21% on the same period last year.

It said that In terms of claims, it had been a "relatively benign period for major catastrophes" with total claims down 12%.

But it added: "The most notable claims have arisen from the unusually high incidence of aviation losses, which have been sudden and tragic.

Lloyd's CEO is Inga Beale

"The global aviation hull war market accounts for around $65m of premium per annum; yet already in 2014, claims could exceed $600m for the insurance industry.

"In a period when premium rates have generally fallen, most notably in the reinsurance space, this is a reminder of why pricing must reflect the underlying risks which are being written", Lloyd's said.

It said the aviation sector was already impacted by the tragic disappearance in March of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 before the shooting down of flight MH17 over Ukraine. 

The search for MH370 is continuing

Lloyd's also cited attacks at Tripoli International Airport, the loss of an Air Algerie flight to Mali and the crash of a TransAsia Airways plane in Taiwan.

It warned: "As the commercial aviation sector approaches its busiest renewal period, terms and conditions and pricing will need to reflect risk exposures".

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Apple 'Pulls Back' iOS 8 Update Due To Flaws

New iPhone Selling For Thousands In China

Updated: 12:17pm UK, Tuesday 23 September 2014

Consumers in China are willing to pay as much as £2,000 to get their hands on a new iPhone 6.

The latest phone from Apple is not yet available in China, despite being made there, but that has not stopped the most dedicated of consumers from trying to buy from overseas sellers.

Sky News has seen numerous posts on Chinese social media websites where the phones are being sold at massive premiums.

One phone, apparently bought in Hong Kong, is now being advertised on China's Taobao marketplace for RMB19,500 (£1,950). Another appears to have been bought in Britain and shipped out to China for re-sale.

A standard iPhone 6 retails at £539 in the UK without a contract, and is as little as £99 with a contract.

The border between China and Hong Kong has been a smuggling route for centuries. The trade was once opium and weapons, but now it is phones.

Over the past three days, 600 iPhone 6 handsets have been seized by customs in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, having been smuggled over the border with Hong Kong.

According to the China's Guangzhou Daily newspaper, smugglers had hidden the phones in boxes of tea, coffee and toothpaste.

The iPhone 6 has not yet been given a launch date in mainland China because the telecoms authorities are yet to give it a licence.

But even without access to the Chinese consumer market, Apple still managed to sell 10 million of the new handsets globally in one weekend alone.

Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, said: "Sales for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus exceeded our expectations for the launch weekend, and we couldn't be happier."

The first batch of iPhones was only available in the US, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, France, Germany and the UK. The limited release has caused mayhem among the Apple faithful.

In Japan, the release marked the first time that iPhones were sold without a SIM lock. This prompted dozens of Chinese buyers to fly to Japan and queue outside Japanese Apple stores.

At one Apple store in the city of Osaka, police were called after Chinese customers' anger boiled over when the store ran out of the phones.

An Apple representative in Beijing refused to comment on the unofficial market and would not confirm when the phone would be released in China. 

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RBS' Hampton Confirmed As Next GSK Chairman

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has confirmed Sir Philip Hampton will become its new chairman by September 1 next year.

The announcement, which confirmed an earlier story by Sky News, clarified a staged introduction to the GSK board as he remains chair of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

GSK said: "Sir Philip Hampton will join the Board of the company as Non-Executive Director from 1 January 2015 and will become Deputy Chairman with effect from 1 April 2015.

"He will succeed Sir Christopher Gent as Non-Executive Chairman with effect from 1 September 2015, or at an earlier date if released from other commitments".

The statement revealed Sir Philip would receive a package of £700,000 a year - the bulk of which would be in cash - once he assumed the role of chairman at Britain's biggest pharmaceuticals firm.

The announcement was made just days after GSK was fined nearly £300m for bribery by Chinese authorities.

Sir Philip took his role at RBS at the height of the financial crisis following the bank's taxpayer bailout.

He said today: "It has been a privilege to serve as Chairman of RBS since 2009.

"I am looking forward to working with my colleagues in the months ahead as we work to implement the bank's strategy and continue to improve the support we provide to our customers".

RBS added that the process for selecting his replacement was continuing.

The appointment of Sir Philip to the GSK board is likely to be welcomed by investors, who are keen for the company's board to be strengthened with greater corporate experience.

A former finance director of BT, Sir Philip has also held the same role at British Gas and British Steel.

The process of recruiting a new chairman at GSK was complicated by RBS's need to appoint a successor to Sir Philip, who is likely to want to know which party will form the next government given the state's majority stake in the bank.

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Car Insurance: New Rules To Reduce Costs

A regulator has published new rules it hopes will boost competition to help bring down the cost of premiums in the UK's £11bn private motor insurance market.

The clampdown may knock up to £20 off a typical bill under the Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) plan.

Among its headline measures is a ban on agreements between price comparison websites and insurers that prevent companies making their products available more cheaply online.

The CMA also demanded better information for consumers on the costs and benefits of no-claims bonus protection.

But it "reluctantly" decided not to recommend any changes to the current system of providing replacement hire cars for drivers following an accident, despite the fact they increase the average insurance premium by £3 a year.

The CMA said there was "no appropriate remedy".

Chairman of the private motor insurance investigation group at the CMA, Alasdair Smith, said: "There are over 25 million privately registered cars in the UK and we think these changes will benefit motorists who are currently paying higher premiums as a result of the problems we've found.

"There need to be improvements to the way price comparison websites operate.

"They certainly help motorists look for the best deal, and this in turn has led insurers to compete more intensely, but we want to see an end to clauses which restrict an insurer's ability to price its products differently on different online channels.

"We expect this to lead to greater competition between price comparison websites".

He also moved to explain the lack of action on the cost of post-accident services to drivers who are not at fault in an accident, in particular temporary replacement cars.

He said: "Reluctantly we have had to conclude that we cannot see an effective way of addressing this problem fully short of a fundamental change in the law and, whilst this problem does increase premiums for motorists, the extent of the problem is not as high as was at first envisaged and does not warrant such a radical measure.

"However, we do wish to challenge the benchmarks typically used in awards for non-fault replacement cars, which do not reflect the cost of the services provided and which we think should be lower."

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Pubs And Bars Slash Prices In VAT Cut Campaign

Thousands of pubs, bars and restaurants will slash their prices today as part of a campaign to cut VAT.

Tax Equality day - which will see 15,000 establishments reduce the price of food and drink by 7.5%, has been launched to show the benefits of cutting VAT.

Jacques Borel, the man behind the campaign, has managed to get VAT cuts in a number of European countries, including France, Germany, Belgium and Finland.

"Our message is clear - a reduction in the level of VAT on a long-term basis will generate growth and create jobs in the important leisure and hospitality sector," he said.

"At present all food and drink in pubs is subject to 20% VAT, compared to supermarkets which benefit from a zero VAT rate."

A Treasury spokesperson said: "We are committed to supporting the leisure and hospitality industry and have cut the tax on a typical pint of beer by one penny at Budget 2013 and by a further one penny at Budget 2014, making a pint of beer 8p cheaper than under inherited duty plans.

"We are also providing additional support to businesses in a number of ways.

"For example, from April 2014 businesses and charities have been able to benefit from up to £2,000 off their employer national insurance contributions bill and over £1bn of business rates support has been provided."

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Miliband: 'I Forgot To Mention The Deficit'

Ed Miliband is facing criticism after he forgot to mention the deficit during his 66-minute speech to the Labour Party conference.

In his last party conference speech before the General Election, the Labour leader set out his intention to put the NHS at the heart of the party's plan for the next 10 years.

However, speaking without notes, he left out entirely a passage on reducing the country's £75bn deficit.

The Labour leader told Sky News: "I cannot simply memorise a whole speech ..."

Ed Miliband's speech has been widely criticised

He said he learnt the basis of the speech but then added other things as he went along. He added: "I could have done it with autocue but I think what people want is somebody who will come and talk to them directly."

But he said he did not consider the speech had been a failure because he had delivered a message full of substance.

George Osborne tweeted immediately after the speech, which was overshadowed halfway through by Barack Obama's press conference on airstrikes in Syria and Iraq, to point out the omission.

A pre-prepared version of Mr Miliband's speech briefed to journalists and posted on Labour.org.uk on Tuesday afternoon contained a section on reducing Britain's deficit, however it was left out of his delivery.

The Labour faithful clap Mr Miliband out

He was also criticised by Conservative MP Harry Smith, who said: "Ed Miliband has let the cat out of the bag – he has no plan to deal with the deficit and no plan for the economy."

A Labour source explained it had been a slip and told Sky News: "This was a long speech and some things changed in delivery. He made clear no plans for additional borrowing."

Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps said Mr Miliband "failed to offer any serious plan to grow the economy".

He added: "Labour simply don't have a long-term economic plan to secure a better future for Britain. Our country, our children and our grandchildren would be worse off under Ed Miliband's weak leadership."

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls had made reducing the deficit the centrepiece of his speech on Monday.

Speaking without notes, Mr Miliband outlined his six national goals:

:: To reward people for hard work - raising the national minimum wage to half the number of people on low pay

:: To tackle the cost of living crisis and make sure wages increased with economic growth, breaking up banks and taking power from Whitehall

:: Britain to create a million jobs in green industries - helping to tackle global climate change

:: Making sure as many school leavers go on to apprenticeships as go to university. Companies who employ foreign workers will be expected to offer apprenticeships too, and those who want Government contracts will need to provide apprenticeships

:: Making the dream of home-ownership a reality by building more homes and making sure 400,000 first-time buyers a year get on property ladder

:: Save the NHS - provide a "truly 21st century health service" using the proceeds of a mansion tax on homes above £2m and a tax on tobacco firms

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Jimmy Choo To Launch London Flotation

Luxury shoe brand Jimmy Choo has confirmed its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange.

The company said it was targeting a minimum free float of at least 25% of existing shares in Jimmy Choo.

The proceeds would be used to help fund its growth strategy, including a new store concept and "expansion into Asia and selected new markets".

The initial public offering (IPO) could value Jimmy Choo at more than £700m.

Tamara Mellon was awarded an OBE

Jimmy Choo was bought by JAB Luxury in 2011 - 15 years after its first London store was opened by founders Tamara Mellon and designer Jimmy Choo.

The brand grew to become a 'must have' in the luxury market - with annual sales growth running at more than 10%.

It now operates from 120 own-stores worldwide.

Chief executive of Jimmy Choo, Pierre Denis, said: "Jimmy Choo is a clear success story with strong momentum and I am confident that our future as a public company can only extend our reputation and position in this attractive sector".

Revenues in the first half of the year grew 9.4% on the same period last year and Jimmy Choo said it had enjoyed an "encouraging start" to its second half.

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Tesco Profit Error: Could Something Be Amiss?

By Ian King, Business Presenter

Even from a lesser company, three profits warnings inside a year would be startling.

Coming from a blue-chip stalwart like Tesco, it is nothing short of astonishing.

In issuing a profits warning on top of a profits warning, Britain's biggest food retailer almost seems to be taking to an extreme the strategy so commonly seen in its stores, with three for the price of two.

So what exactly has Dave Lewis, the new chief executive, uncovered?

Well, in its own words, Tesco has identified an overstatement of its expected profit for the half year, principally due to the accelerated recognition of commercial income and delayed accrual of costs.

In other words, the reporting of costs incurred in the first half of the year appears to have been delayed so they are pushed into the second half, while profits enjoyed during the second half of the year appear to have been brought forward into the first half.

Mr Lewis' response indicates there may be more to this mistake

It is unclear what kind of activities generated these profits but commercial income, with regard to supermarkets, could mean rebates from third-party suppliers or payments from those suppliers to incentivise Tesco to give their goods better positions when they are displayed in its stores.

This latter practice is common place in the supermarket sector and, having worked previously at Unilever, Mr Lewis will be familiar with it.

The overall effect of these two actions will have been to pretty up Tesco's first-half numbers.

Cynics will suggest Mr Lewis has every reason to restate the numbers lower - after all, the period, the six months to August 23, was when his predecessor, Philip Clarke, was at the helm.

Some would say it is in Mr Lewis's interests to ensure that period is painted in as bad a light as possible in order to make any subsequent turnaround under him look better.

Tesco shares have fallen over 40% in the last year

It's known as "kitchen sinking" in the City - where every possible bad bit of news, including the proverbial kitchen sink, is thrown into the accounts to make them look bad.

But the sheer size of this overstatement, £250m, would suggest this is a bit more serious.

So is Mr Lewis' response: the suspension of four of Tesco's UK executives, his recruitment of the top City lawyers Freshfields to investigate and his hiring of outside auditors from Deloitte - Tesco's regular auditor is PwC - to examine what has happened.

At this time, there is no suggestion that anything illegal has been happening. After all, all businesses occasionally recognise revenues early or take their time to recognise costs in the accounts.

Yet the sheer aggression of the accounting policy in this instance and Mr Lewis' response to discovering it rather suggests he thinks something may be amiss.

And, with plenty of American investors - who tend to be more litigious than their European counterparts - on Tesco's shareholder base,  he is doing the prudent thing in checking this out as thoroughly as possible.

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Tesco Profit Error: New Finance Boss Rushed In

Eight Headaches For Supermarket Giant Tesco

Updated: 6:02pm UK, Monday 22 September 2014

A decade ago Tesco was an investor's delight, with a share price shooting up more than 70% between 2004 and 2007, and healthy dividend payments. So what went wrong?

PROFIT WARNINGS

With 14 years as CEO to his credit, Sir Terry Leahy stepped down in 2011 after overseeing a leap in pre-tax profit from £750m in 1997 to £3.4bn in 2010. Yet less than a year into the job as new CEO, Philip Clarke issued the first profit warning in two decades as a result of a poor 2011 Christmas trading period.

CHANGING TASTES

Tesco was being squeezed by changing consumer tastes, a dislike of its cavernous and cold stores, and complaints about frosty customer service. It unveiled a £1bn revamp plan in April 2012.

AMERICAN ADVENTURE

In April 2013 it reported its first fall in annual profit for 19 years, with a post-tax profit plunging 95% to £120m, after suffering a £1.2bn charge to exit its struggling Fresh & Easy American venture.

PROPERTY BUST

It also suffered a write-down of £804m for land bought at the height of the property boom, earmarked for development but subsequently put on hold.

MEAT SCANDAL

Last year, Tesco was caught up in the biggest food fraud of the century - with some of its beef burgers found to contain up to 29% horsemeat.

CLEVER COMPETITION

German discounters continue to nibble away at Tesco's customer base at one end, while M&S and Waitrose take share from consumers willing to pay more for premium products.

BIG NOT NIMBLE

Despite the woes Tesco remains the country's biggest retailer and still dwarfs its competition. Tesco is around the same size as Sainsbury's and Morrisons combined, and globally employs more than half a million people in 12 countries. But big rarely means nimble. A large number of senior staff have quit the company in recent years and 40-year Tesco veteran Mr Clarke was ousted by the board last July, after dismissing critics of his turnaround plans.

SIDELINES

Tesco wholly-owns a retail research company named dunnhumby, with offshoots including BzzAgent, KSS Retail, and Sociomantic - which sells display adverts on Facebook and mobiles.

This analysis arm crunches data from over 350 million consumers in 28 countries and sells it to corporate giants such as Coca-Cola, Shell and Procter & Gamble. The Tesco empire is huge, with numerous and competing divisions, and as a result does not always see the wood for the trees.

Dunnhumby does not trumpet the Tesco parentage on its website - but maybe it is time Tesco starts looking in-house for an answer to its woes.

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Tesco Admits £250m Profit Overstatement

Tesco Cuts Profit Forecast As Trading Slumps

Updated: 2:46pm UK, Friday 29 August 2014

Tesco's share price took its biggest one-day hammering in more than two years on Friday after it slashed its profit forecast following a sales slump.

The supermarket chain, which has seen its position as the UK's market leader slowly eroded amid a price war with rivals, underlined the sense of internal crisis by announcing that its new chief executive Dave Lewis would now start work on Monday September 1 - a month early.

He replaces Philip Clarke who paid the price for a string of problems with the company's UK offering.

Tesco, which now issued three profit warnings this year, said Mr Lewis would review all aspects of the business and Mr Clarke would be available to him as a source of information though he would relinquish his position on Friday.

The chain now expected trading profit for 2014/15 to be in the range of £2.4bn to £2.5bn, compared with an analyst forecast of around £2.8bn.

The group also cut its interim dividend by 75% to 1.16p-per share - a move that will hit many pension funds - and confirmed that its store refresh programme which was ordered by Mr Clarke as part of efforts to improve Tesco's customer appeal, would be slowed.

It said the move would hold back £400m from its planned annual capital expenditure.

Tesco said: "The combination of challenging trading conditions and ongoing investment in our customer offer has continued to impact the expected financial performance of the group."

Chairman Sir Richard Broadbent added: "The board's priority is to improve the performance of the group.

"We have taken prudent and decisive action solely to that end."

Tesco's shares opened almost 9% lower at one stage before recovering some of that ground - while those of its rivals also suffered when the FTSE 100 opened for business.

Sainsbury's lost more than 5% while Morrisons' value slipped by 3.5%.

Asda is owned by US retailer Walmart and not listed in London.

The problems at Tesco underline a big challenge for the so-called 'Big Four' from hard discounters.

According to industry figures by Kantar Worldpanel released earlier this week, Tesco sales declined 4% in the 12 weeks to August 17 compared to the same period last year.

Kantar estimated the drop in sales cost Tesco £300m.

Morrisons has also been suffering in the battle with Aldi and Lidl, with Asda the only member of the Big Four to be growing its share.

Analysts have speculated that the savings Tesco is planning could allow it to cut prices further to tackle the discount threat.

Nicla Di Palma of Brewin Dolphin told Sky News: "Refreshing the stores and cutting costs are the two priorities. They need to get customers in."

Mike Dennis of Cantor Fitzgerald believed it could go further: "Tesco's investment in margin and recovery plan could easily wipe-out the majority of its main competitors' trading margins, forcing them to reduce their dividends and capital expenditure and also forcing the discounters back to a loss making position, as they were in 2009".

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Balls To Freeze Child Benefit To Balance Books

A child benefit freeze, a cut in politicians pay and higher tax for top earners will form part of Labour's plan to bring the deficit down, Ed Balls will say at the party's conference.

The shadow chancellor will present a 1% cap on rises for the first two years of a Labour government as one of the "tough decisions" necessary to deal with the deficit if the party takes power next year.

In a speech in Manchester today, Mr Balls will pledge to "change the way our economy works" and to "not flinch from the tough decisions we must make".

He will say: "Three years of lost growth at the start of this parliament means we will have to deal with a deficit of £75bn - not the balanced budget George Osborne promised by 2015. And that will make the task of governing hugely difficult.

Mr Balls will say a cap in child benefit rises will save £400m

"People know we are the party of jobs, living standards and fairness for working people. But they also need to know that we will balance the books and make the sums add up and that we won't duck the difficult decisions we will face if they return us to government.

"Working people have had to balance their own books. And they are clear that the Government needs to balance its books too."

Speaking on Sky News ahead of his appearance, he defended claims the savings provided by the measures would be miniscule, saying the child benefit move would save £400m in the next parliament.

Plans to end the winter fuel allowance for rich pensioners would bring an extra £100m a year of savings, he said.

In addition he said Labour's plans to introduce a 50p tax rate for those earning more than £150,000 would bring in £3bn.

Under austerity measures introduced by the coalition, child benefit was frozen from 2010 to this year.

Labour also plans to cut ministerial salaries - taking £7,125 off the Prime Minister's annual wage, and £6,728 from Cabinet ministers.

A 5% cut in ministerial salaries is also on the cards

Child benefit rose by 1% in April and is due to rise by the same amount in 2015/16, but Mr Balls will commit to extending below-inflation hikes for at least one more year.

The party also has plans to raise the minimum wage to £8 an hour, and introduce a jobs guarantee for young people and the long-term unemployed funded by a tax on bank bonuses and limiting pensions tax relief for the highest earners.

Treasury Exchequer Secretary Priti Patel poured scorn on Mr Balls' plan for the economy, claiming Labour would put the deficit up, not down.

"These savings on ministerial pay only cut a miniscule fraction of the deficit ... And it comes just days after the Institute for Fiscal Studies said Labour's economic policy means £28bn extra borrowing," she said.

"For all his bluster, Ed Balls still refuses to admit that Labour spent too much and he's opposed every decision we've taken to cut the deficit. All a Labour government would offer is more inefficient spending, more taxes and more debt than our children could ever hope to repay."

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EE Buys 58 Phones 4U Stores: '360 Jobs Saved'

Mobile phone operator EE said it would buy 58 Phones 4U outlets, saving almost 360 jobs from the collapsed retailer.

The deal, made through administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers, comes after Vodafone said on Friday it would buy 140 stores.

Phones 4U went into administration last week after EE, Britain's biggest mobile operator, said it would not renew its contract next year with the independent phone chain.

That announcement put at risk 5,600 jobs, along with 560 stores and 160 Phones 4U concessions across the country.

The decision left the chain without a network partner following Vodafone's earlier withdrawal, sparking a public dispute between Phones 4U's owner - the private equity group BC Partners - and the network operators.

The units will be rebranded with the EE logo

Recently merged group Dixons Carphone said it would employ 800 staff from the 160 concessions located within Currys and PC World outlets.

EE did not reveal the location of the 58 stores it would buy, but said the 359 employees would be transferred with immediate effect.

The company said the stores would be rebranded as soon as possible and that most are expected to re-open under the EE name next week.

The networks have denied attempting to profit from the retailer's collapse, despite accusations from John Caudwell, Phones 4U's founder, that they had behaved "ruthlessly".

Documents seen by Sky News City Editor Mark Kleinman showed that on July 8, while discussions were taking place about extending Vodafone's distribution contract with Phones 4U, the mobile network's UK executives made a presentation to group colleagues entitled "Phones 4U - Partner of Choice".

Several weeks later, Vodafone notified Phones 4U that it would not be renewing their agreement, while no further talks about a takeover of the company were held.

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Richard Branson Tops 'Most Admired' Boss Poll

Branson's Virgin To Pilot New Cruises Venture

Updated: 1:16pm UK, Friday 28 February 2014

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Sir Richard Branson is drawing up plans for a secret assault on the international cruises sector which will involve raising hundreds of millions of pounds in funding from external investors.

Sky News can reveal that Virgin Group has appointed the US-based corporate advisory firm Allen & Co to oversee the development of a cruise operation that would eventually aim to compete with industry giants including Carnival Corporation.

Virgin has been working with Allen & Co on a range of potential opportunities across the wider leisure sector, including an investment in a four-star city centre concept called Virgin Hotels.

The development of Virgin Cruises, which is expected to be the name of the new venture, is at an early stage, people close to the project cautioned on Friday.

However, Virgin executives and their advisers have already held detailed talks with banks about raising an estimated $1bn (£598m) of debt to finance the acquisition of the company's first vessels.

They also want to raise in the region of $700m (£418m) of equity by selling stakes in Virgin Cruises to outside investors.

Sir Richard and Josh Bayliss, chief executive of Virgin Management, are understood to believe the global cruises sector possesses many of the same characteristics which have led Virgin to build a significant presence in sectors such as aviation, rail and mobile telecoms.

The cruise market is dominated by fewer than a handful of companies, such as the FTSE-100 group Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian. Between them, the three companies have a global market share of approximately 80%.

"Cruises is a classic Virgin market, dominated by two or three players and where the product needs to be refreshed," an insider said.

The industry is forecast by Cruise Market Watch, an industry research group, to grow from 21.5 million passengers this year to 22.2 million passengers carried worldwide in 2015.

Virgin Cruises is expected to be headquartered in the US, reflecting North America's status as the world's biggest cruise market, the source said.

Globally, the industry is likely to generate revenue of $37.1bn (£22.2bn) this year, a 2.3% increase on 2013.

The plans for the launch of Virgin Cruises emerge as Sir Richard targets a flotation of his domestic US airline, Virgin America.

The carrier, which recently undertook a debt restructuring covering roughly $300m (£179.8bn) of borrowing obligations, has hired investment banks to prepare the listing.

A successful flotation of Virgin America would echo the model used several times by Sir Richard to take some of his business ventures, such as Virgin Mobile, to the public markets.

He has also frequently sold stakes in his companies to outside investors, including the sale of shares in Virgin Money, his banking operation, to an entity in Abu Dhabi and Wilbur Ross, a prominent US investor.

Other plans involving Virgin companies this year include the opening of the first City Centre hotel in Chicago in the autumn, with other venues expected in US cities served by the group's airlines.

The plan to break into the cruises market comes weeks after the publication of a new biography of Sir Richard by the author Tom Bower.

Mr Bower claimed the company's maiden flight of its space tourism venture was facing further delays, while Virgin insists it is on track to take off this year.

A Virgin spokesman declined to comment.

:: Watch Sky News live on television, on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602, Freeview channel 82 and Freesat channel 202.

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Carphone And EE Pick Over Phones 4U Carcass

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The parent company of Carphone Warehouse and EE, the UK's biggest mobile phone network, are this weekend hammering out deals to buy scores of Phones 4U stores in a move that would save hundreds of jobs at the troubled retailer.

Sky News has learned that EE is negotiating a deal with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to acquire as many as 60 shops, while Dixons Carphone has set its sights on approximately 50 of Phones 4U's remaining outlets.

PwC is understood to be keen to tie up the deals with EE and Dixons Carphone during the course of the weekend, after which they will turn their attention to attempting to sell the Phones 4U brand, stock and Life, its mobile virtual network operator, which rents spectrum from EE.

Sources close to the administrator said that Dixons Carphone had expressed an interest in taking ownership of other Phones 4U assets, while EE is expected to acquire Life.

Dixons Carphone has already salvaged 800 Phones 4U jobs by agreeing a deal to take over 160 concessions in Currys and PC World stores.

On Friday, Vodafone struck a deal to buy 140 Phones 4U shops, rescuing nearly 900 jobs, at the same time as 628 of the retailer's head office staff were being made redundant by PwC.

Even if the two store transactions are completed with Dixons Carphone and EE, thousands of jobs would still be at risk at Phones 4U, which was forced into administration last week when EE notified the company that it was terminating a distribution agreement which expires next year.

That decision left the chain without a network partner following Vodafone's withdrawal, sparking a public dispute between Phones 4U's owner – the private equity group BC Partners – and the network operators.

Sky News revealed earlier this week that Vodafone and EE had held talks in recent months about a joint takeover of Phones 4U but that the negotiations had stalled over competition issues.

The networks have denied attempting to profiteer from the retailer's collapse, despite accusations from John Caudwell, Phones 4U's founder, that they had behaved "ruthlessly".

Documents seen by Sky News show that on July 8, while discussions were taking place about extending Vodafone's distribution contract with Phones 4U, the mobile network's UK executives made a presentation to group colleagues entitled "Phones 4U - Partner of Choice".

Several weeks later, Vodafone notified Phones 4U that it would not be renewing their agreement, while no further talks about a takeover of the company were held.

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Miliband Sets Out Plan For £8 Minimum Wage

Labour leader Ed Miliband has pledged to raise the national minimum wage to at least £8 an hour if he becomes Prime Minister.

The minimum wage is due to rise from £6.31 an hour to £6.50 on October 1, but Mr Miliband plans to add £1.50 an hour on to that by 2020.

The increase would add around £60 a week, or £3,000 a year, to the pay packets of workers currently on the minimum wage.

One in five UK workers - more than five million people - are categorised as being on low pay, defined as wages of less than £7.71 an hour.

Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, Mr Miliband said: "Too many working people have made big sacrifices but in this recovery they're not seeing the rewards for their hard work because, under the Tories' failing plan, the recovery is benefiting a privileged few far more than most families.

"One in five of the men and women employed in Britain today do the hours, make their contribution, but find themselves on low pay.

"But if you work hard, you should be able to bring up your family with dignity."

Mr Miliband added: "This week Labour's Plan for Britain's Future will show how we can change and how we can become a country that rewards hard work once again. Because Labour is the party of hard work, fairly paid."

The announcement comes on the eve of Labour's annual conference in Manchester - the last before next year's general election.

The planned increase, which would affect around 1.4 million jobs, would be introduced in annual stages by the Low Pay Commission before October 2019.

The promised rate is said to be similar to that in force in Australia and EU countries such as Belgium and Germany, but still lower than in France and New Zealand.

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