Wednesday newspaper round-up: Harland & Wolff, Octopus Energy, Microsoft

17th Jul 2024 07:17

(Sharecast News) - Local councils will have to adopt mandatory housing targets within months under planning reforms to be unveiled on Wednesday as part of Keir Starmer's first king's speech, which the prime minister says will be focused on economic growth. Starmer will introduce a package of more than 35 bills on Wednesday, the first Labour prime minister to do so in 15 years, as he looks to put the economy at the centre of his first year in office. - Guardian

Harland & Wolff, the owner of the Belfast shipyard that built the Titanic, has insisted that it is still awaiting a government decision on a £200m intervention despite signs that Labour is due to reject the financial lifeline. The company is presenting an early test of the Labour government's industrial policy, with 1,500 workers fearful the company is running out of time to secure funding needed to make it ready to build three warships for the Royal Navy. - Guardian

Rachel Reeves is under pressure to launch a £2bn inheritance tax (IHT) raid on pension pots to help fund public spending pledges. Economists are calling on the Chancellor to introduce a death tax on unspent defined contribution (DC) pension funds, which are currently exempt from IHT. It came as Jeremy Hunt's chief of staff revealed that Ms Reeves' predecessor had considered the policy himself in order to fund cuts to the headline rate of IHT, while Sir Steve Webb, a former pensions minister, said the Treasury was "likely" to revisit the policy. - Telegraph

Octopus Energy is poised to build hundreds of onshore wind turbines across the countryside as Labour pushes ahead with its manifesto promise to double production. The company is preparing to submit planning applications this autumn for "multiple" onshore wind projects after Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, scrapped a de facto ban on new sites. - Telegraph

An Australian computer scientist who was found by a High Court judge in London to have falsely claimed to have invented bitcoin could face a criminal investigation for alleged perjury. Craig Wright, 53, had publicly claimed to be the true figure behind Satoshi Nakamoto, the author of the 2008 academic paper that serves as the foundational text for the cryptocurrency. - The Times

The UK competition regulator has launched a formal investigation into Microsoft's hiring of some former staff of Inflection AI and its partnership with the start-up. The Competition and Markets Authority is looking into Microsoft's recruitment strategy as it seeks to ensure that the development of AI technologies remains an open market. - The Times