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1. Slowdown in UK productivity amid Brexit uncertainty
2. ?No-fault? evictions to be banned in England
3. Tech firms face strict new rules to protect children online
? the average asking price on a home in April 2019, 0.1 per cent less than last year but an increase of 1.1 per cent on the previous month, according to the property website Rightmove.
Britain is the only large advanced economy likely to see a decline in productivity growth this year, according to research by the US non-profit group the Conference Board (Financial Times, p2, £). The research finds that the UK is now in its tenth year of slow productivity growth, and that this has only partly been offset by growth in the number of hours worked.
Bank of England governor Mark Carney warned last week that Brexit uncertainty is negatively impacting on productivity, while chancellor Philip Hammond called for a greater focus on the issue adding that 'there is no other way forward?.
Meanwhile, a survey by the accountancy group Deloitte has found almost half (49 per cent) of chief financial officers plan to reduce their capital expenditure while more than half (53 per cent) expect to reduce hiring staff because of Brexit ? the highest level in more than two years (The Guardian, p37, CityAM, p1). Job vacancies in London's finance industry have reportedly halved in two years amid Brexit uncertainty, according to a survey by recruiter Morgan McKinley (Bloomberg, online only).
Private landlords will no longer be able to evict tenants at short notice without good reason under new government plans announced in a consultation today (BBC News, online only). The proposals would abolish 'section 21? evictions in England, meaning private landlords would have to provide a ?legitimate reason? in order to be able to evict tenants after a fixed-term contract has ended (The Guardian, p1). The announcement was welcomed by housing charity Shelter, but the Residential Landlords Association warned that it could lead to fewer people putting their homes up to rent (Daily Telegraph, p2, £). The Times (p4, £) points to figures from UK Finance showing the number of buy-to-let loans fell to 235,000 last year from a high of 346,000 in 2007, following a number of tax and regulatory changes.
Meanwhile property website Rightmove reports the average asking price on a home rose by £3,500 in April, the strongest month-on-month rise since 2016 (Daily Telegraph, p2, £). Rightmove claimed that the extension to Brexit confirmed last week is likely to boost confidence amongst sellers, while buyers 'take advantage of static property prices and cheap fixed-rate mortgages? (Reuters, online only).
Technology firms could face fines worth millions of pounds under new rules aimed at protecting children online (The Times, p2, £). The planned requirements announced today by the Information Commissioner include limiting the amount of data that can be collected and held on under-18s and preventing the use of ?addictive? features such as push notifications (Daily Telegraph, p2, £). Firms will also be required to introduce ?robust? age verification measures, and if they cannot show they know which users are adults then all consumers will need to be protected as if they were children. The Daily Mail (p2) reports the proposals could mean internet users have to give personal information such as credit card or passport details to every website they visit unless it is guaranteed child-friendly, potentially making this data more vulnerable.
Paul Chisnall, Director, Finance and Operations Policy, UK Finance, blogs about the opening of the EU Settlement Scheme.
Richard Rowntree, chair of UK Finance's Mortgages Product and Service Board, has said that strong growth in remortgaging and product transfers is expected in 2019 as more fixed-term deals come to an end (Mortgage Introducer, online only). His comments were made in a speech at UK Finance's Annual Mortgage Lunch on Friday.
Environmental charities are calling for more receipts to be made digital, after figures revealed Britons threw away almost ten billion receipts last year (The Times, p12, £).
There are 930,000 more disabled people in work today than five years ago, according to the latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (Daily Telegraph, B1, £).
The number of UK shoppers visiting stores in March was up 1.4 per cent year-on-year, but this higher footfall has not translated into higher spending, according to the British Retail Consortium and Springboard survey (BBC News, online only).
Peter Estlin, Lord Mayor of London, writes in City A.M. (p20) that the key to London's success as a global financial hub is innovation. He describes how since the seventeenth century, innovation has always driven London's banking system. In today's society, the growing role of fintech will boost London further, with the capital a leading source of investment for technology. Estlin concludes that the UK economy will benefit significantly from the flourishing of the fintech industry, but London must remain attractive as a place to do business if this is to continue.
Alex Brummer, City Editor of the Daily Mail (p42), believes that despite the politics and uncertainty around Brexit, this will not deter economists from pursuing the role of governor of the Bank of England, as incumbent Mark Carney is due to leave in January 2020. Brummer argues that central bankers finest hours are often during crises, such as Carney after the Brexit referendum or Mervyn King during the financial crisis. He concludes that there will be no shortage of candidates when Carney steps down.
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