Jaguar Land Rover to cut up to 500 management jobs
Car industry expert Professor David Bailey of the Birmingham Business School said the tariffs "play a big role in this"."It wasn't that long ago that JLR was reporting bumper profits - £2.5bn profit to the year ending in March - which was its best results in a decade," he told the BBC's Wake Up to Money programme.The firm has also been taking on workers in preparation for producing more electric cars so the tariffs "have definitely had an impact", he said.Although tariffs UK carmakers face have come down from 27.5% to 10%, that is still "a big increase" from the previous tariff of 2.5%, he said, adding that one of its best selling cars, the Defender, is made in Slovakia and that still faces a 27.5% tariff.US President Donald Trump has brought in a number of the taxes, which are paid by importers.JLR initially stopped shipments of its vehicles to the US earlier this year after Trump announced a raft of tariffs.The import tax was later reduced after the UK reached a deal with the US and JLR restarted shipments.JLR is a large employer in the UK automotive sector with more than 30,000 workers.Speaking before JLR made its announcement about job cuts, Preet Kaur Gill, Labour MP for Edgbaston in Birmingham, highlighted the importance of the UK's recent trade deal with the US which cut tariffs on UK cars from 27.5% to 10%. She told BBC Politics Live that it had helped preserve jobs at the company."In my region, Jaguar Land Rover is a really important employer. The fact that we've managed to save 12,000 jobs, bring tariffs down... this is an ongoing relationship and our commitment is to make sure we continue that," she said.JLR has sites in Solihull, Wolverhampton and Halewood on Merseyside, and builds Range Rover SUV models in the UK.
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Reuters
23 minutes ago
- Reuters
Rwanda, Congo agree on outline for economic framework as part of peace deal
WASHINGTON/PARIS, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday agreed on an outline for the regional economic integration framework, according to the U.S. State Department, as the two countries take steps toward delivering on a peace deal signed in Washington last month. The tenets agreed on Friday summarize the framework, which includes elements of cooperation on energy, infrastructure, mineral supply chains, national parks and public health, the State Department said in a statement. Rwanda and Congo signed a peace deal in Washington in June at talks held by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, which aims to bring an end to fighting that has killed thousands and attract billions of dollars of Western investment to a region rich in tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper, lithium and other minerals. As part of the deal, Kinshasa and Kigali agreed to launch a regional economic integration framework within 90 days, the agreement said. A source familiar with the matter said a preliminary draft of the framework has been agreed to and there would now be an input period to get reaction from the private sector and civil society before it is finalized. The framework is planned to be signed at a meeting of heads of state at the White House. No date has been set yet for that meeting, the source said. In the Friday statement, Rwanda and Congo affirmed that each country has "full, sovereign control" over the exploitation, processing and export of its natural resources and recognized the importance of developing mineral processing and transformation capacity within each country, according to a copy seen by Reuters. Kinshasa views the plundering of its mineral wealth as a key driver of the conflict between its forces and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in eastern Congo. Reuters reported in May that Congolese minerals such as tungsten, tantalum and tin, which Kinshasa has long accused neighbouring Rwanda of illegally exploiting, could be exported legitimately to Rwanda for processing under the terms of the deal being negotiated by the U.S., according to sources. The two countries are committed to ensuring that the minerals trade no longer provides funding to armed groups and to create a world-class industrial mining sector in the region, as well as to ensure better cross-border interoperability on mineral supply chains, according to the statement. They also agreed to connect new infrastructure to the U.S.-backed Lobito Corridor, underscoring Washington's aim of greater access to resources in the region and efforts to counter China. The Ruzizi III hydropower project and Lake Kivu methane exploitation were the only specific projects mentioned in the statement, despite U.S. emphasis on critical minerals. The countries said they intended to prioritize financing for Ruzizi and work together to exploit the methane gas sustainably. Friday's announcement comes after the two countries held the first meeting of a joint oversight committee on Thursday in a step toward implementing the Washington peace deal even as other commitments are yet to be fulfilled. In the Washington agreement, the two African countries pledged to implement a 2024 deal that would see Rwandan troops withdraw from eastern Congo within 90 days. Congolese military operations targeting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Congo-based armed group that includes remnants of Rwanda's former army and militias that carried out a 1994 genocide, are meant to conclude over the same timeframe. The deal also said Congo and Rwanda would form a joint security coordination mechanism within 30 days and implement a plan agreed last year to monitor and verify the withdrawal of Rwandan soldiers within three months. But 30 days from the signing has passed without a meeting of the joint security coordination mechanism. The source familiar with the matter said the joint security coordination mechanism meeting would be held on August 7 in Addis Ababa. Congo is also involved in direct talks with M23 hosted by Qatar, and last month the two sides pledged to sign a separate peace agreement by August 18, though many outstanding details need to be negotiated.
Times
25 minutes ago
- Times
Mortgage prices are falling – should you fix?
A fresh mortgage price war has come to the rescue of hundreds of thousands of borrowers whose cheap pandemic home loans are about to expire. More than 760,000 homeowners' fixed-rate deals are due to come to an end this year. And many of those will be braced for crippling rises of up to £300 a month when they come off loans with interest rates as low as 1 per cent. However, lenders are slashing rates this summer as they compete for business in a 'buyer's market', with a record number of properties for sale. This slowdown in the housing market has caused banks to focus on deals for those who are remortgaging. Figures released by the Bank of England this week showed that the 41,800 remortgages approved last month was the most since October 2022, just after Liz Truss's disastrous mini-budget, which sent mortgage rates soaring. On Wednesday the building society Nationwide became the latest lender to cut rates, slashing fixed deals by up to 0.21 percentage points. Shaun Sturgess, a mortgage broker based in Swansea, said: 'For many this is the first window of opportunity in over two years to secure a competitive fixed rate below 4 per cent.' The Bank of England is also expected to cut its base rate to 4 per cent on Thursday after weak growth and a rise in unemployment. This would drive down mortgage costs for the millions of borrowers with tracker or variable-rate deals. The lowest five-year fixed rate available at up to 60 per cent loan-to-value has been cut from 3.96 per cent at the start of May to 3.86 per cent on Thursday from HSBC, while the lowest five-year fix for someone buying a home has stayed the same at 3.88 per cent, available from NatWest. The lowest two-year fix is 3.8 per cent from Santander for someone remortgaging, down from 3.96 per cent at the start of May. While the lowest two-year fix for a buyer is lower, at 3.73 per cent from the same lender, it has been cut by slightly less — down from 3.88 per cent. Some 222,480 homeowners took out five-year fixes between the start of August and the end of December 2020, according to the trade association UK Finance, when the Bank of England base rate was at an all-time low of 0.1 per cent (it is now 4.25 per cent) and fixed mortgage rates could be had for well below 2 per cent. Many took advantage of low pandemic-era interest rates to move to bigger homes, or remortgaged to make home improvements. Between January and August 2020 the average mortgage amount rose from £174,671 to £193,992. Rates then soared after the Bank of England increased the base rate 14 times between December 2021 and August 2023, to a peak of 5.25 per cent, in a bid to tame high inflation. The average mortgage rate hit a peak of 5.74 per cent in July 2023, according to the Bank of England. Five years ago the lowest rate was 1.4 per cent. Someone with a £200,000 25-year mortgage would pay £791 a month, which would rise to £1,056 at a rate of 4 per cent. At a rate of 3.8 per cent, repayments would be slightly lower at £1,034 a month — £264 less a year. Peter Gettins from the broker L&C said: 'Whether you call it a rate war or rate skirmish, banks are keen to compete for your business and are pricing as aggressively as they possibly can. That can only be good news for anyone looking to remortgage or buy.' Borrowers could opt for a tracker deal with a rate that rises and falls in line with the Bank rate. Nationwide's tracker is 0.19 percentage points above Bank rate for two years with no early repayment charge. The mortgage broker Adrian Anderson expects the price war to continue. He said: 'A lot of the banks are fighting for market share. Many will be behind their annual targets because purchase transactions are down, so they will want to try and entice people to take a mortgage with them and increase their loan book.' Aneisha Beveridge from the estate agency Hamptons believes that more competitive rates are increasing affordability for buyers, which will drive house price growth. She said: 'After a sluggish 2024 we expect average house prices across Great Britain to rise 3 per cent year-on-year in the last quarter of 2025, reaching about £277,000.' The average detached house sold for £441,439 in May, according to the Land Registry. A 3 per cent rise in prices would take it to £454,682. • Will you bag a 3% interest rate in the summer mortgage sale? Beveridge added: 'Falling mortgage rates, weakening inflation and rising wages have all helped to ease pressure on household budgets.' Historically, dramatic falls in the Bank's base rate have helped to fuel house price booms, with the 2008 financial crisis and the coronavirus pandemic leading to spikes. The base rate is expected to fall to at least 3.75 per cent before the end of the year. Beveridge said: 'Much of this is already priced in. However, competitive lending — especially for higher loan-to-value products where lending requirements have loosened — should support first-time buyers and second-steppers.' Latest figures from the property website Rightmove put the average rate for a two-year fix at 4.52 per cent, which is 0.74 percentage points lower than the same time last year. The average five-year fix is 4.51 per cent, down 0.36 percentage points compared with June 2024. House prices could also be boosted by high street banks easing the 'stress tests' that are used to make sure borrowers can still afford repayments if their mortgage rate rose. Forecasts by the analyst Oxford Economics predict that the average two-year fixed-rate mortgage with a loan-to-value of 75 per cent could drop from June's 4.32 per cent figure to 4.17 per cent by the end of the year. By July next year it expects this to fall to 4.02 per cent. These falls will support house price growth, with Oxford Economics expecting house prices to hit 3.6 per cent year-on-year growth in the third quarter of the year, and then 2.5 per cent in the final quarter. Edward Allenby from Oxford Economics said: 'We expect house prices to grow, but that growth is expected to soften over the next year. That is because household income growth is likely to slow, whether that is through higher inflation, tighter fiscal policy, frozen thresholds and potentially higher taxes.' In the first quarter of 2025 year-on-year house price growth was 5.5 per cent. An oversupply of homes could also cause price growth to slow. Zoopla reported this week that there were about 553,000 homes up for sale, a record high. • House price boom? Inflation means all is not as it seems Richard Donnell from Zoopla said: 'Price growth is being stunted by the high supply of homes for sale, with 12 per cent more properties on the market than this time last year. 'This supports a 'buyers' market' where there's plenty of choice and offers can be competitive, limiting house price increases.' For homeowners coming to the end of their mortgage term, it looks like a good time to shop around, with significant rate drops for those who want to switch lenders. Gettins said: 'In the last 6 to 12 months the gaps between rates for first-time buyers and those remortgaging have narrowed. Banks are becoming more competitive for those remortgaging as they are for movers, and that's a positive sign for anyone whose deal is maturing.' Analysis by L&C has found that the lowest remortgage rate for a two-year fix is 3.79 per cent, a fall of 0.17 percentage points since the start of May. This has nearly matched the rate for buyers, with the lowest two-year fixed mortgage rate at 3.76 per cent, which is 0.22 percentage points lower than the May equivalent. Experts have said that the high number of people remortgaging is driven by the better rates but also a 'perfect storm' of people coming off their two and five-year mortgages at the same time. Chris Sykes from the mortgage broker MSP Financial Solutions said: 'There have been a series of events that have led to a big remortgage year. 'You probably fixed at five years in Covid before rates rose, and then those getting mortgages two years ago when rates went really high after the Truss budget would have fixed for two years hoping rates would come down.'
BBC News
25 minutes ago
- BBC News
Car finance judgement 'a hard pill to swallow'
A ruling by the UK's most senior judges later has closed down an opportunity for millions of motorists to claim compensation for motor finance Supreme Court decided not to uphold an earlier ruling which found that hidden commission payments to car dealers were the ruling left open the possibility of claims for compensation for large commissions that were BBC talked to two of the people who brought the case to the Supreme Court, plus a person who is planning to make a claim. 'A really big bag of salt' Marcus Johnson from Cwmbran, Torfaen, was one of the claimants in the landmark described the the outcome as "a bitter pill to swallow", although was awarded just over £1,650 on the grounds that his relationship with the lender was said he was "pleased for myself, but not for the hundreds of others" who will now miss out."It's weird," he said. "It's a win, but it's a really big bag of salt to go with it".He was 27 when he bought a blue Suzuki Swift in 2017, and did not know that the commission had been paid, although the lender said he had signed a after passing his driving test in June of that year he walked into a car dealership, and within an hour was driving away in a car he liked, "very excited".It wasn't until threes years later, when he had paid off the finance on the car, that he realised he still had almost the cash price of the car left to was then he decided to contact the three claimants won their test cases, it could have opened up lenders to compensation claims totalling about £ it stands, that bill could shrink to between £5bn and £13bn, according to accountancy and advice firm BDO. 'There's still meat on the bone' Andrew Wrench has been described as "a postman with a penchant for fast cars".He says that description "made me chuckle". The 61-year-old is ex-forces, and also held other positions before becoming a postman, but he is proud to have been described as "the Erin Brockovich of Stoke-on-Trent".He says he is pleased that Marcus was awarded compensation, and that there will be further claims arising from that judgement."There's still meat on the bone," he says, adding that he is glad he helped throw light on the subject, even though his own case was not successful."I just want people to be accountable, and I don't want them getting away with being deceitful and dishonest," he adds. "It all comes down to: honesty is the best policy."Andrew's lawyer, Kavon Hussain of Consumer Rights Solicitors, says that the judgement was "a mixed bag", but showed that the Supreme Court expected car dealers to "always be acting in their own interests" and people should not expect a good deal. 'I'm going to chase my claim' Although it has been a mixed result for the claimants in the case, some people are determined to pursue dealers were paid a bigger commission if they sold a higher interest rate on the were known as discretionary commission arrangements (DCAs) and were banned by regulators in Caffrey, from Blackburn, bought a car in 2009 after maternity leave. Her son was born with certain medical needs, and she wanted a car to get to work and multiple doctor appointments."I'm going to pursue my claim, but I do feel for the people it's put a stop to," she says. "They won't be compensated and I find that quite sad."Jemma feels she was "taken advantage of as a vulnerable new mum". She trusted the car dealership to give her the best deal it could, and paid a high interest rate for her blue Corsa, which she named "Colin". It was not until years later, having read about car finance in the local press, that she went to a law firm to bring a now intends to pursue it.
