MINISTERS TO DISCUSS MEASURES TO EASE PRESSURE ON HOUSEHOLD FINANCES

The prime minister Boris Johnson is to convene a cabinet meeting today to discuss innovative ways in which to “ease pressure on household finances” and ensure that private companies “play their part”, according to Downing Street (Financial Times). The government will launch a new targeted communications campaign that highlights where people can claim support, with the prime minister saying that it has “a strong package of financial support on offer, worth £22bn” to help families across the UK (The Guardian).

It comes as a recent survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in March found that almost a quarter of people said it was difficult or very difficult to pay their usual bills compared with a year ago, up from 17 per cent in November (Reuters).

CALLS FOR QUEEN’S SPEECH TO ADDRESS ACCESS TO CASH

A number of organisations including the consumer group Which? and the Federation of Small Businesses have called on the government to include legislation on access to cash in next month’s Queen’s speech (Daily Mail). Analysis by Which? has found that bank branches in rural areas have closed at a faster rate than in urban ones (BBC News). Writing for the Daily Express today, UK Finance’s chief executive David Postings said “cash remains an important option” and that the “banking and finance industry is making sure it’s there for those who need it”.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Business leaders have written an open letter to both the prime minister and the chancellor calling for this year's extra bank holiday marking the Queen's Platinum Jubilee to be made permanent (BBC News).

The Labour party has said that if it is elected it would reform non-domiciled tax rules (Sky News).

The number of trading relationships between the EU and UK fell by a third since the introduction of the EU-UK trade deal in January 2021, according to research by the LSE Centre for Economic Performance (Financial Times).

Optimism among UK manufacturers has fallen at its sharpest pace since the first pandemic lockdown in March 2020 as firms struggled to cope with the fastest increase in their costs since 1975, according to the CBI’s latest industrial trends survey (The Guardian).