FirstFT: Liz Truss rejects energy windfall tax

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Foreign secretary Liz Truss has rejected solutions of a windfall tax on energy firms’ income, regardless of British Gas proprietor Centrica’s announcement of big earnings and requires elevated help for UK households scuffling with rising gas payments.

Truss, who in current weeks has led the polling within the race to change into chief of the Tory get together and the subsequent prime minister, stated such a transfer would “send the wrong message” to the world, including that the federal government must be encouraging Shell and different firms to spend money on the UK.

Speaking to Conservative members in Leeds yesterday through the first of 12 get together hustings, Truss argued that within the face of a worldwide financial disaster and warfare in Ukraine, it was “not the time for the status quo”, as she outlined insurance policies to spice up development and rein in the price of dwelling disaster.

“What I would do is create low-tax investment zones, encouraging those companies to invest in our country,” she stated.

Thanks for studying FirstFT Europe/Africa. I hope you’ve got a restful weekend. See you subsequent week — Jennifer

Five extra tales within the information

1. Apple ekes out income development The Silicon Valley large’s revenues grew barely to $83bn on the again of iPhone gross sales and its companies division regardless of headwinds from provide chain shortages and manufacturing facility shutdowns in China.

• Other large earnings: EY instructed workers it expects to report file world revenues of $45.4bn. Amazon shares rose 10 per cent after it beat income expectations. Intel, nonetheless, disenchanted buyers with an unanticipated droop in income.

2. Xi Jinping warns Joe Biden to not ‘play with fire’ The Chinese and US presidents held a two-hour name yesterday, their first since Beijing was angered by a deliberate go to to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Her go to has lent urgency to the island’s warfare video games.

3. UK tycoon faces jail over ex-wife’s upkeep and authorized prices Sir Frederick Barclay, 87, faces a potential quick jail sentence after a decide discovered him in contempt of court docket yesterday for failing to pay his former spouse upkeep and authorized prices totalling £245,000.

4. Strike threatens UK’s greatest container port The Unite union members’ resolution to stroll out over pay might shut down Felixstowe port subsequent month, bringing additional disruption to the nation’s transport community as rail dispute talks remained deadlocked.

5. US financial system shrinks for second consecutive quarter The US financial system shrank 0.9 per cent on an annualised foundation, marking its second quarter of contraction, one of many widespread standards for a technical recession, and complicating the Federal Reserve’s effort to stamp out hovering inflation with aggressive rate of interest rises.

• More from throughout the Atlantic: Joe Biden is on cusp of two legislative wins forward of midterm elections after Congress handed the Chips and Science Act and a Democratic senator made a U-turn on a tax, local weather and social spending invoice.

Thank you to everybody who took half in yesterday’s ballot. Fifty-seven per cent of respondents stated they weren’t optimistic that Ulrich Körner’s appointment as chief government will change Credit Suisse’s fortunes.

The days forward

Eurozone GDP Eurostat’s first estimate of second-quarter gross home product right this moment is predicted to indicate a quarterly enlargement of 0.1 per cent, which might be the weakest efficiency since a coronavirus surge dragged the bloc into a brief recession initially of 2021.

• More financial knowledge: France publishes preliminary second-quarter GDP, plus July client and producer value indices. Germany releases flash GDP alongside July labour market figures, whereas Italy has July’s CPI. The US employment-cost index is forecast to have eased within the second quarter, whereas family spending is predicted to have picked up in June. (FT, WSJ)

Corporate earnings Results are out for Air France-KLM, AstraZeneca, BNP Paribas, Chevron, Colgate-Palmolive, ExxonMobil, NatWest, Procter & Gamble and Renault. Read the complete listing in our Week Ahead publication.

US-Japan EPCC assembly US secretary of state Antony Blinken and secretary of commerce Gina Raimondo co-host the primary assembly of the US-Japan Economic Policy Consultative Committee in Washington right this moment.

UK strikes Communication Workers Union members employed by BT and Openreach will strike for twenty-four hours in a row over pay right this moment, and once more on Monday. Aslef prepare drivers at eight rail firms will stroll out tomorrow in a pay dispute, which is predicted to trigger extreme disruption, doubtlessly affecting journey to the ladies’s Euro 2022 remaining.

Senegal elections Parliamentary elections to resolve the 165 members of the National Assembly start on Sunday.

What else we’re studying

Disney after ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Since it was based, the leisure large has catered to the standard nuclear household, however previously 30 years it has additionally change into a mecca for LGBT+ individuals. Disney is contending with arguably the worst publicity disaster in its historical past over executives’ bungled response to a Florida invoice stopping “sexual orientation or gender identity” discussions in colleges.

The cricket match that helped fund Imran Khan’s political rise Despite legal guidelines banning international funding in Pakistani politics, paperwork present a path from Oxfordshire by way of the United Arab Emirates to the coffers of Khan’s get together. The funds are on the centre of an election fee investigation that has taken on larger significance as Khan, who was ousted in April, plots a political comeback.

Extreme warmth is a wake-up name for infrastructure buyers Europe’s heatwave has made clear failings of infrastructure in excessive climate. Trains moved extra slowly. A runway at Luton airport buckled. Schools closed. In a warmer world, infrastructure might want to adapt. All this creates alternatives for buyers, writes Alice Ross.

WFH debates should embody what ‘home’ truly is From inexpensive lodging in metropolis centres to commute lengths, the query of the place staff stay is essential, writes Emma Jacobs — working in a stifling flat is a really totally different proposition to an ethereal residence. Employees’ selections to maneuver farther from work through the pandemic are inflicting tensions.

In defence of individuals watching The exercise for which London is tailored might be learn as a morally doubtful responsible pleasure, extra akin to voyeurism. This is partly as a result of wanting isn’t all the time a impartial motion. It relies upon who’s wanting, and what their intentions are. But Ana Kinsella argues that observing those around us can make us more empathetic.

House & Home

Remote working has opened up France’s south-west, just lately beset by wildfires, to consumers eager to take their money additional.