Day: April 21, 2016

    A report calls for an urgent inquiry as it warns of rip-offs by online travel agents Online travel agents are exploiting, misleading, and ripping off customers to such an extent an urgent top level probe is needed to police them, a Lords report warns. Rigged pricing, fake reviews, doctored search options, and "intimidation" of hoteliers to stop them offering cheaper deals have all been identified as dodgy practices deployed in the burgeoning digital travel sector by the upper house's EU Committee. Peers have insisted a rapid investigation by the Completions and Markets Authority is needed to bring the industry into line. Committee chairman and Labour peer Lord Whitty said customers are getting a raw deal when they log on for travel bargains. "We heard of an array of worry...

    George Osborne, the Chancellor, has been dealt an embarrassing blow as official figures revealed that he has failed to meet his deficit reduction targets. The Government borrowed £4.8bn last month, excluding costs related to stakes in bailed-out banks, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This put the public sector’s total borrowing in the 2015-16 financial year at £74bn. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which produces official forecasts for the Government, updated its forecasts for the deficit only last month . Revealing the OBR's forecast at the Budget in March, the Chancellor announced that the Government expected to borrow £72.2bn in the fiscal year - a projection £1.8bn wide of the mark. It quickly became apparent that the UK would have to...