PRIME MINISTER SURVIVES CONFIDENCE VOTE

Boris Johnson last night received the backing of a majority of Conservative MPs in a confidence vote over his leadership of the party (Financial Times). However, 41 per cent of his MPs voted against him. The prime minister said he would now focus on policy delivery, telling the party this would include a speech on a “Plan for the Economy” with Rishi Sunak next week. He also said he would set out plans to enable more people to buy their own homes (Reuters). The pound strengthened against the dollar and euro in the immediate aftermath of the vote (Daily Telegraph).

RETAIL SALES FALL FOR A SECOND MONTH

Retail sales both in store and online fell 1.1 per cent year-on-year in May, the second consecutive monthly fall, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) (BBC News). Separate data from Barclaycard showed that spending on eating and drinking out saw particular falls, with restaurants, bars, pubs and clubs all seeing reduced spending during the month (Financial Times). However, early data from the Platinum Jubilee weekend showed a jump in spending, with Thursday the best performing day seeing a 45.6 per cent improvement on the May average, according to the BRC (Sky News).

NEWS IN BRIEF

An “all-out national effort” is needed to cut energy bills through efficiency measures such as plans to decarbonise homes, Tony Danker, director general of the Confederation of British Industry, has said (Bloomberg).

Apple has announced plans to introduce a buy now, pay later feature through its Apple Pay service (Sky News).

New car registrations in the UK dropped by 20.6 per cent year on year in May to 124,400, the second weakest performance for the month since 1992 (The Guardian).

The valuation of companies on the FTSE all-share index has settled at around a 20 per cent discount, on an adjusted basis, to the rest of the world since the Brexit vote in 2016, according to Panmure Gordon (The Times).