Chinese electric vehicles being driven in Britain could be “weaponised” and should be banned from government use, a report by the China Strategic Risks Institute (CSRI) recommends. It warns that Cellular Internet of Things Modules (CIMs) within Chinese-made EVs could collect sensitive data and feed it back to Beijing - China’s national security laws require companies to share data with the government when ordered to do so – as well as “shut down an EV or interfere with its functionality using real-time updates or instructions sent via the CIM”. “This is what John Deere did in May 2022 when it remotely shut down agricultural vehicles stolen by Russian soldiers in the occupied [Ukranian] city of Melitopol” it added. The CSRI report also calls for an end to Chinese carmakers being able to win government contracts, giving its backing to comments made by Professor Jim Saker, President of the Institute of the Motor Industry, who said Chinese EVs could be used as a Trojan horse to disrupt the UK economy. Last year it emerged that the Ministry of Defence used electric cars made by Chinese-owned MG, part of a wider attempt by Whitehall departments to decarbonise their fleets. Sam Goodman, senior policy director at the CSRI, said: “The Government and the public appear to be unaware when it comes to the dependency, disruption, and data security risks the CIMs within Chinese EVs present to the UK. We have heard little from the new Government on the risks Chinese EVs present so far.  We urge that this be addressed, otherwise the UK risks alienating its closest allies, deepening its dependency on China for its EV supply chain and the green transition, and leaving itself exposed to being bullied and blackmailed by Beijing”. The report also says under-priced Chinese EVs in the UK market risks economic security, given that the UK  domestic car industry is responsible for 198,000 British manufacturing jobs and contributes 2.5% of GDP to the UK economy.

Meanwhile, Labour is said to be backing away from plans to impose an election manifesto promise to ban the sale of new petrol-powered cars by 2030, by allowing hybrid vehicles to remain on the market until 2035.

The Renters’ Rights Bill Labour’s version of the Renters’ Reform Bill introduced by former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, began its progress through parliament last week. The Bill introduces legislation “to give greater rights and protections to people renting their homes” and includes a ban on so-called Section 21 “no-fault evictions” and applies the “decent homes standard” to private rental homes, thereby requiring a basic state of good repair. The Government has estimated around a fifth of properties will require upgrades to ensure compliance with these standards. The Bill also gives tenants the right to challenge “unfair” rent increases and prevent “bidding wars” by landlords and letting agents, including a ban on landlords accepting rental bids above the advertised price. It also puts landlords under an obligation to fix serious problems in the home within strict time limits, and gives tenants the right to request the right to keep a pet. A new ombudsman will look into complaints about housing and provide “fair, impartial and binding resolution” to landlords and tenants to reduce the need to go to court, the Government said.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds are said to be arguing about plans to hand workers full employment rights from day one in a job, according to Whitehall sources who have spoken to the press. Rayner has long advocated to give staff full-employment rights from day one, including the right to take companies to an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal. At the moment, people must be employed for at least two years to qualify for this right. However, she is now said to be looking at a probation period of one year, before those rights kick in, while Reynolds thinks nine months is reasonable. “It’s unclear if an agreement will be reached,” one source told The Telegraph. They added conversations about how probationary periods will work under the new system had been “intense” but not acrimonious.

There is more evidence this morning that the jobs market is shrinking. According to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), there were almost 720,000 new job adverts in August, a 3.2% drop in July. Meanwhile, separate data from Make UK shows manufacturers are deferring hiring as industrial output was found to have contracted for the first time since late 2020. “The figures will add to the case for cutting interest rates when members of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC) meet this Thursday,” The Telegraph says.

National Grid is selling its Electricity System Operator (ESO) to the Government for £630m, the FTSE 100 utility said on Friday. The sale paves the way for nationalisation by 1^st October, the date by which the government and energy regulator Ofgem aim to establish the National Energy System Operator (NESO). The ESO balances power supply and demand in real time. The government has said the NESO will “play a vital role in supporting the UK’s energy security, transition to net zero and minimising customers’ bills”. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: “Today marks a milestone for Britain’s energy system as we bring the system operator into public ownership to provide impartial, whole-system expertise on building a network that is fit for the future”.

The High Court on Friday quashed planning permission for what would have been the UK’s first coal mine in 30 years at Whitehaven in Cumbria. The former Conservative Government first granted permission for the new coal mine in December 2022, but Mr Justice Holgate said that giving the go-ahead for the development was “legally flawed” at the Judicial Review hearing brought by Friends of the Earth (FoE) and South Lakes Action on Climate Change (SLACC).  The new Labour government did not defend the original decision so, in essence, FoE and SLACC were bound to win the case.

Harland & Wolff (H&W), the Belfast-based shipyard famous for building the Titanic, is understood to be preparing to file for administration as early as today, plunging into doubt its £1.6bn Ministry of Defence (MOD) contract to build three Royal Navy warships. The Labour Government has refused to honour previous assurances given to the company by the previous Conservative government to underwrite £200m in loans to H&W allow the contract to proceed, meaning if the company does go bust, it will either have to go out to out to tender again, or the MoD will have to allow Madrid-headquartered Navantia, the primary contractor that hired Harland & Wolff, to complete the work at its base in Spain, according to The Sunday Times, which noted no Navy warship has ever been built abroad. Meanwhile, Harland & Wolff is investigating the potential “misapplication” of £25m of corporate funds under previous management. Former CEO John Wood was ousted by shareholders in July. He has called the allegation “ridiculous”.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has warned in an interim report that the planned £15bn merger between Vodafone and Three could lead to price increases and reduced services for tens of millions of mobile customers. The telecoms watchdog also said that it has “particular concerns” that the merger would negatively affect customers least able to afford mobile services as well as those who might have to pay more for improvements in network quality “they do not value”. It could also negatively impact ‘wholesale’ telecoms customers such as Lyca Mobile, Sky Mobile and Lebara which rely on the existing network operators to provide their own mobile services, it said, by reducing the number of network operators from four to three – making it more difficult for them to secure competitive terms, and “restricting their ability to offer the best deals to retail customers”. The CMA will make a final decision on the merger by 7^th December.  

Tesco has lost a Supreme Court case against shop workers union Usdaw over its so-called 'fire and rehire' approach to lowering pay. The decision ends the three-year legal battle which saw Usdaw argue that in attempting to sack staff at its distribution centres in Daventry and Lichfield, before recruiting them again on lower pay, Tesco had acted illegally.

ITV has launched an online shopping tool called Kerching, which automatically adds discount codes when shoppers make internet purchases. ITV will earn commission when customers use the tool, as will the code providers. The Kerching tool is powered by tech firm Kindred, which ITV is also taking a stake in. The move comes as the media company has seen traditional advertising income slump. CEO Carolyn McCall last year said ITV was facing the “‘worst advertising recession since the financial crisis”.

Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed that customer’s personal data, including names, home addresses and possibly bank details has been stolen following a cyberattack last week. The NCA has arrested a 17-year-old male in connection with the incident.

Sky News claims that the publishers of The Sun and The Daily Mail newspapers are implementing significant job cuts in their US digital operations. DMGT, the owner of the Mail, currently employs around 200 people in the United States, down from about 260 seven years ago. An insider told Sky that just under 10% of its US workforce would be laid off. At the Sun, Sky's sources indicated that a considerable proportion of staff would be affected, but a representative denied that the layoffs were as high as the 80% claimed.

Close Brothers’ CEO Adrian Sainsbury has taken a temporary medical leave of absence from the business. Group finance director Mike Morgan will assume Sainsbury's principal responsibilities, supported by chairman Mike Biggs and members of the senior management team, the merchant bank said.

The European Central Bank (ECB) cut interest rates again last Thursday and signalled a "declining path" for borrowing costs in the months ahead as inflation slows and economic growth in the euro zone falters, Reuters reported. The ECB lowered its deposit rate by 25 basis points to 3.50%, having made the same cut in June. Inflation in the Eurozone is close to its 2% target, but a possible recession looms.

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