Foreign Secretary David Lammy will visit China next week to “reset” relations with China, sources familiar with the plan have told Reuters. Officials told the news agency the new government is intent on undoing what it sees as its predecessors' mistakes in adopting positions viewed as too confrontational toward Beijing, while also making clear there are areas of fundamental disagreement. Reuters was also told his itinerary has not yet been finalised. Lammy has vowed previously to overhaul Britain's ties with China, and Chancellor Rachel Reeves is known to be considering travelling to China in the near future to revive trade and investment talks that did take place annually until 2019. There was no immediate response to requests for comment from Reuters from either the Foreign Office or China's foreign ministry.

Meanwhile, China has imposed taxes on imports of European brandy in a move France has said is retaliation for recent big tariffs the EU announced on Chinese electric vehicles. The European Commission said it would challenge China's tax at the World Trade Organization (WTO), calling it an "abuse" of trade defence measures. China, however, said the move was an "anti-dumping" measure that would protect its domestic producers, the BBC reports. France accounts for 99% of brandy exported to China, and French cognac lobby group BNIC said the move would be "catastrophic" for the industry, hitting big French brands such as Hennessy and Remy Martin. China is also considering new tariffs on other EU imports such as cars, pork, and dairy, and says EU tariffs on its electric vehicles are a breach of global trade rules.

The Guardian reports that Chancellor Rachel Reeves is likely – as suggested previously – to change the way the national debt is calculated to free up room to borrow another £10bn-20bn. The newspaper cited unnamed allies of Reeves as saying she was likely to exclude losses incurred by the state from the Bank of England's past asset-purchase programmes from the way debt was calculated, as well as exclude any extra borrowing used to set up new public institutions in her forthcoming Budget, redefining this as “investment”. The Treasury did not confirm whether the debt definition would be changed or how, but referred to Reeves' past comments that the benefits of public investment should be accounted for alongside the costs.

Meanwhile, Reeves is under pressure to scrap free prescriptions for 60- to 65-year-olds in England, The Daily Telegraph reports.  The Intergenerational Foundation charity said free prescriptions should be aligned to the state pension age of 66 to help plug the £22bn deficit Reeves claims to have found in the economy. A 2021 Government report found that raising the prescription threshold would raise £6.2bn over 10 years. Labour has already stripped more than 10 million pensioners of their winter fuel payments, in a bid to save £1.4bn. A single prescription in England costs £9.65. Prescriptions are free for everyone in Scotland and Wales. The former Conservative government under Rishi Sunak ruled out removing free prescriptions for those aged between 60 and 65 in 2023, following a lengthy consultation.

The Chancellor is also said to be considering reducing the tax-free lump sum savers can take out of their pensions to £100,000. The Telegraph reports that government officials have asked one of the UK’s biggest pension providers to review the impact of such a move. Currently, most savers can take 25% out of their pension pots without paying tax once they reach the age of 55, up to a limit of £268,275. Left-wing think tanks the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Fabian Society have both argued the sum should be cut to £100,000, saying the current cap favours wealthy pensioners.

The Government might want to ban zero-hours contracts, but a report by academics at the London School of Economics (LSE) has found many workers prefer them; have “a very strong preference” for their set-up; and are “willing to forgo some salary for the flexibility their contract offers.” Zero-hours roles attract 25% more applicants than equivalent permanent roles, the LSE research, reported in the Telegraph, found. It also noted that only 15% of workers on zero-hours contracts ever applied for a permanent role with the company they were working for. Author Nikhil Datta, an associate at the Centre for Economic Performance, warned Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner against a heavy-handed clampdown on contracts with flexible hours. “This new research is important for those in government, he said. “Many workers on zero-hours contracts prefer them, and they play an important role for firms facing varying conditions. Policymakers should be cautious with how heavily the use of zero-hours contracts is regulated”. He added that zero-hours contracts “may serve as an important stepping stone of short-term flexible work while searching for more secure work”.

Transport secretary Louise Haigh hinted yesterday that HS2 will end at London’s Euston station, saying an announcement could be made during the Budget on Wednesday, 30^th October. Speaking to Times Radio yesterday morning, Haigh said: “We’ve said before that Euston was always planned to be part of the picture for HS2. We’re hoping to make an announcement on that soon.” Pressed, she added: “It certainly would never have made sense to leave it between Old Oak Common and Birmingham.” Last week, London Mayor Sadiq Khan also said last week it was “looking increasingly positive” the railway line would not terminate at Old Oak Common. In October last year, then-prime minister Rishi Sunak announced that to save £6.5bn, HS2 would only be extended to Euston from Old Oak Common if private investment was forthcoming, something the House of Commons’ Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it was “highly sceptical” about.

Purplebricks CEO Sam Mitchell has condemned the new Labour Government’s anticipated Capital Gains Tax (CGT) raid, telling The Daily Telegraph it is an “anti-landlord” tax that could force landlords out of the market. This, he said, means renters and first-time buyers will pay the price because it will exacerbate housing shortages and push up rents. Mitchell said: “If you put capital gains tax up, you will have this rush of landlords selling up which is bad for tenants, puts rents up and makes it very difficult to become a first-time buyer.” He claimed the online estate agency had already seen a wave of landlords exiting the market ahead of the Budget on 30^th October. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is said to be considering bringing the rate of CGT in line with income tax rates, meaning the maximum CGT tax rate on profits from a second home of 24% could rises to 45%. “Punitive” measures such as the removal of tax relief for mortgage interest and the introduction of a 3% stamp duty surcharge had already contributed to landlords selling up and rents spiralling, Mitchell said, adding: “It seems to be very popular to bash landlords. The trouble is these policies bashing landlords end up hurting tenants because it just further reduces the supply of stock in the sector”.

Lloyd’s of London is warning that a major geopolitical conflict could devastate the global economy and trigger $14.5tn (£11.89tn) in losses over the next five years because of the damage done to critical infrastructure and to global trade. 80% of the world’s imports and exports, around 11bn tonnes of goods move across oceans at any one time, and the closure of vital trade routes can cripple economies.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) is considering whether to ask a judge to break up Google, to prevent the search engine giant from maintaining its internet search "monopoly". In August, a court ruling found Google had maintained its dominance of online search through illegal practices, including paying $26bn (£19.87bn) a year to firms such as Apple and Samsung to ensure it was their default search engine. The DoJ is therefore considering "remedies that would prevent Google from using products such as Chrome, Play, and Android to advantage Google search and Google search-related products".  Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, Lee-Anne Mulholland, said the recommendations constitute "government overreach" and warned such a move could have unintended consequences for US businesses and consumers. Google has to submit its own proposed remedies by 20^th December, however the DoJ is expected to submit detailed proposals by 20^th November.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has warned telecoms companies including BT, EE, Virgin Media and O2 that they must not run “misleading” adverts that have fallen foul of new rules introduced earlier in the year on mid-contract price rises.  The ASA has also told all six providers to ensure they make sufficiently clear that broadband contracts would be subject to mid-contract price increases, and that information about the nature of such rises is presented prominently.

Channel 4 has posted a £52m deficit, the biggest in its 40-year history. The broadcaster, which is publicly owned but commercially funded, said the TV station lost money last year because despite a 10% drop in advertising revenues, it decided to keep investing in programmes. CEO Alex Mahon said: “We chose to prioritise investment in content and recorded a significant deficit in 2023 as a result. We did it knowing that the single-biggest contribution we can make to the financial health of the UK creative economy is what we spend on British IP, and that in such a tough year that was more important than ever.”  Channel 4’s cash reserves stood at £96m in 2023, down from £253m in the previous year. In 2022, Channel 4 posted a £3m surplus.

Popular children’s video game Roblox has been labelled a “paedophile hellscape” by Hindenburg Research (HR), one of Wall Street’s best known short sellers, wiping billions off the company’s value. HR claimed users of Roblox were openly trading child abuse images and alleged it had found hundreds of accounts named after Jeffrey Epstein. Young users were exposed to grooming, pornography and violence, and tafety was being compromised in an attempt to boost profits, HR added, noting that there were no age controls on chat rooms dedicated to adult materials. Bosses had turned down opportunities to improve safety, Hindenburg alleged. “We found Roblox to be an X-rated paedophile hellscape, replete with users attempting to groom our avatars, groups openly trading child pornography, widely accessible sex games, violent content and extremely abusive speech – all of which is open to young children and all while Roblox has cut content moderation spending to appease Wall Street and boost earnings,” Hindenburg said. Roblox rejected the report’s claims saying it had a “robust set of proactive and preventative safety measures designed to catch and prevent malicious or harmful activity on our platform”. However, shares in the company fell by more than 9% when trading opened in New York yesterday, wiping more than $2bn (£1.5bn) off the company’s value.

Go-Ahead has announced it will buy up to 1,200 electric buses from Northern Ireland-based Wrightbus. The order is expected to total some £500m in and will support about 500 direct manufacturing jobs, as well as an extra 2,000 jobs across the wider UK supply chain by 2026. Wrightbus, which makes the new London Routemaster, went into administration in 2019 but was later rescued by Bamford Bus Company owned by Jo Bamford, son of Lord Bamford, chair of British digger manufacturer JCB.

Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund has written of its 9.9% stake in Thames Water, the Financial Times reported yesterday. Thames, which serves 16m people in and around London, is attempting to deal with a huge near-£14bn debt pile to avoid being put into special measures and effectively taken over by the Government. Accounts filed in June by a Luxembourg-registered unit of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) said that it had disposed the stake due to challenging regulatory environment and operational performance, writing down the value of its stake in the utility from £263m to just £1 at the end of last year. The FT also said the report showed Adia has taken a full writedown on a £31m loan awarded to one of the holding companies that owns Thames. Adia and Thames Water declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

UK telecoms giant Vodafone and Google have extended their partnership in a 10-year deal they claimed would be worth more than $1bn. The tie up will see Google's new generative artificial intelligence powered devices to Vodafone customers across Europe and Africa. No financial specifics were provided, Sharecast News says.

Shein has overtaken Boohoo for the first time in Britain’s retail market, as the Chinese fast fashion giant recorded UK revenues of £1.55bn over the past year. Shein, which is hoping to list on the London Stock Exchange, is also closing in on Asos, The Telegraph says.

Shares in FTSE 250 aerospace parts supplier Senior fell as much as 18.3% yesterday as the firm warned on earnings and revealed cost-cutting measures in response to lower output at Boeing and Airbus. Senior said it was making temporary furloughs and permanent job cuts to “match capacity to sales demand profile”, as well as reducing discretionary spending and postponing some capital expenditure. Boeing has struggled since the door of an Alaska Airlines aircraft blew out mid-flight in January, leading to restrictions on Boeing’s 737 MAX production. The planemaker’s commercial aircraft operations have also been hit by strikes which are now in their fourth week.   Airbus has experienced supply-chain issues with its engines and interiors.

Boeing, meanwhile, has withdrawn its 30% pay rise offer to some 33,000 factory workers who are on strike after talks with trade union negotiators collapsed. The Guardian reports “the sides were left locked in acrimonious stalemate showing no signs of being resolved anytime soon”.  “Unfortunately, the union did not seriously consider our proposals,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes head Stephanie Pope said in a note to the employees, calling the union’s 40% pay demands “non-negotiable”. “Further negotiations do not make sense at this point and our offer has been withdrawn,” the note added. Boeing is now on the brink of losing its prized investment grade credit rating and has been forced to introduce temporary furloughs for thousands of salaried employees as the factories producing its bestselling 737 MAX and its 767 and 777 planes are shut.

Central Square, a landmark building in the heart of Leeds’ financial district, has been sold for £78m. It is the city’s largest office deal for more than five years. The buyer of the 230,000 sq ft property, which is tenanted by M&S, PwC and Sky, among others, is Ashtrom Properties UK.

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