United Kingdom

    Pizza Hut has announced plans to close more than one in 10 of its restaurants in Britain, putting around 450 jobs at risk. The pizza chain confirmed 29 branches will shut across the UK as part of a restructuring deal, in the latest in a wave of closures and job losses to hit UK high streets since the coronavirus struck. The company said it is negotiating with lenders over a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), an insolvency procedure often used to avoid putting a company into full administration and re-negotiate debt repayments. The Pizza Huts Restaurant Group said COVID-19 had caused “significant disruption,” and that sales were not expected to “fully bounce back” until next year despite re-opening branches. But the company said in a statement the measures could ...

    Talks on a free trade deal between the UK and the EU have resumed in London this week with state aid emerging as a key sticking point. What is state aid? Margaret Thatcher thought Europe allowed too much of it, Jeremy Corbyn believed there was not enough: but what exactly is state aid? Since the European project was launched in 1957, member states have been banned from giving companies or industries special help that would distort competition. Governments cannot hand out subsidies, tax rebates or take stakes in companies “unless it is justified by reasons of general economic development”. But there are many exemptions. In recent years the EU has relaxed state aid thresholds for “innovation clusters”, broadband, culture and heritage, small and medium-sized compan...

    Nine people have been arrested after anti-migrant protesters clashed with police and blocked a dual carriageway into Dover. Rival groups assembled in the coastal town in Kent to demonstrate over the arrival of thousands of migrants in small boats. Kent Police said the arrests were for alleged offences including racially aggravated public order, violent disorder and assaulting an emergency worker. Many protesters wore Union flag face masks and carried banners, while some shouted "England til I die" and sang Rule, Britannia. At one point, several officers were seen restraining a person on the ground. There have been other sporadic clashes, with at least 100 police officers at the scene by the A20. Earlier, a group of around 60 people shouting anti-migrant slogans w...

    Virgin Atlantic warned it was still fighting for survival on Friday as it announced plans to cut more than 1,000 jobs following the successful completion of its £1.2bn private sector rescue deal. Shai Weiss, chief executive, told the Financial Times that the airline was absolutely still in a battle to secure its future as the entire aviation industry reels from the impact of Covid-19. Anyone operating in aviation and tourism around the world is still fighting for survival, Mr Weiss said as he urged the UK and US to work together to reopen the transatlantic market for passenger flights. The airline said it would shed 1,150 jobs across all parts of its business on top of the 3,150 job cuts announced in May, leaving it with a little over half of the 10,000 staff it ha...

    Cafe chain Costa has said 1,650 staff are at risk of redundancy as it looks to cut costs amid continued uncertainty over when trade will fully recover following the pandemic. It told staff on Thursday that it has started consultations which could impact more than a 10th of roles. The move comes a week after rival Pret A Manger revealed it was slashing 2,800 roles as part of a restructure of its UK business. Costa closed nearly all of its 2,700 UK stores for six weeks during the pandemic but had now reopened around 2,400 sites. The Coca Cola-owned chain said trade is returning after being boosted by the Government's VAT reduction on food and non-alcoholic drinks and the recent Eat Out to Help Out scheme. However, it said the proposed job cuts had been driven by hig...

    COVID-19 restrictions will stay in force in Bolton and Trafford - after another U-turn by the government which was due to lift local lockdowns but faced demands from councils to keep them in place. Both local councils cited increases in coronavirus infections, with the controlling Labour group on Trafford Council asking for restrictions to remain in place for another week or two in the interests of public safety. Bolton Council said "a sudden and unforeseeable rise" in COVID-19 cases needed to be taken seriously. Announcing that the existing lockdowns would continue, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said infection rates had increased by "more than three times in Bolton in under a week, and double in Trafford since the last review". It means residents in Bolton and Tr...

    Portugal is set to be added back on to the UK's quarantine list amid a rise in coronavirus cases. Brits considering jetting off to the holiday destination have been urged to check Foreign Office travel advice and consider that the rules could change while they are on holiday. There were 21.1 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in Portugal in the seven days to August 30. A seven-day rate of 20 is a threshold above which the UK Government considers triggering quarantine conditions. It comes as forty per cent of schools are expected to welcome back students for the start of the autumn term today, despite concerns being raised about their ability to reopen safely. It will be the first time many pupils in England have stepped into a classroom since March. Meanwhile, B...

    The Government is being urged to push back next year's A-Level and GCSE exams in order to cope with the impact of the coronavirus crisis on pupils. Labour's shadow education secretary Kate Green said pupils entering Year 11 and 13 who have lost up to six months of teaching time face "a mountain to climb" unless the timetable is changed. It comes as diners across England make the most of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, on the final day that the Government is funding the initiative. Chancellor Rishi Sunak urged people to "maintain the momentum" and continue supporting local restaurants, pubs and cafes. Meanwhile, police have vowed to "do everything within our power" to prosecute the organisers of illegal raves, after the bank holiday weekend saw thousands descend on ...

    Boris Johnson has been urged by Tory MPs to resist attempts by the Treasury to raise taxes, after a minister refused to rule out hikes in the next Budget. Reports emerged on Sunday that Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, was considering a £20 billion tax increase in the autumn to deal with the cost of the coronavirus crisis. Tax rises could include corporation tax and capital gains tax, while pension tax relief could be cut, according to newspaper reports. Marcus Fysh, a Tory backbencher, said tax increases would be the wrong response to the coronavirus crisis. Boris Johnson is right to resist them if the Sunday papers have the story right, he said. We need to help the economy not strangle it. These mixed messages are in themselves damaging and must stop. John Redwood,...

    As many as 85,000 people could die in the UK in a second wave of coronavirus this winter, a leaked scientific paper prepared for the government has suggested. The paper by the prime minister’s Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (Sage), seen by BBC2’s Newsnight, said that some lockdown restrictions may have to be reintroduced and kept in place until March 2021, though it added that schools are likely to remain open. The document stressed that it was setting out a worst-case scenario and not a prediction of what is likely to happen and said that there was “a wide range of uncertainty” about the actual outcome. It was prepared to help the NHS and local authorities plan services such as mortuaries and burials to ensure they are not overwhelmed in the months ahead...