Monday newspaper round-up: Sellafield, HBOS, retail investors

28th Oct 2024 07:16

(Sharecast News) - Rachel Reeves has been urged not to carry out mooted funding cuts for nuclear sites including Sellafield amid safety concerns, as it emerged that the number of incidents where workers narrowly avoided harm had increased at the Cumbrian site. The GMB union has written to Reeves, the chancellor, before Wednesday's budget to raise safety concerns after rumours emerged that the budget for the taxpayer-owned Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) could be reduced, which could result in cuts at nuclear sites including Sellafield and Dounreay in Scotland. - Guardian

Pubs and restaurants are warning of closures and a tough Christmas ahead if Rachel Reeves's budget this week raises taxes and ends a Covid-era relief on business rates. Reeves is expected to reveal a tax-raising budget on Wednesday, to pay for improved public services, with Labour sources indicating the government is intending to raise taxes and cut spending by a combined £40bn. Businesses across the economy are bracing for higher taxes, which could dent consumer spending. - Guardian

Plans to shut down a vital terminal in the North Sea have sparked a bitter legal row over claims it will damage the UK's oil and gas production. The proposal by French energy giant TotalEnergies to decommission the Gryphon terminal, which serves four offshore oil and gas fields, has triggered a claim from a rival operator. - Telegraph

A long-delayed independent review into whether Lloyds Banking Group covered up a £1 billion scandal may never fully emerge, leading to claims that the lender "cannot face the truth". MPs on the Treasury committee had expected that the review by Dame Linda Dobbs of the bank's handling of a fraud at HBOS, the lender rescued by Lloyds in 2009, would be shared with them in full. - The Times

Retail investors are piling into the government bond market amid fears that the Labour government will increase the capital gains tax rate on shares in the budget this week. The investment platform AJ Bell reported a 71 per cent increase in the volume of gilts purchased in September compared with August. This was an increase of 177 per cent on September last year. - The Times