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The Guardian
26 minutes ago
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on gambling: a public reckoning with the dark side of this highly profitable industry is overdue
No one should be surprised that the highly profitable UK gambling industry is intensifying its lobbying efforts, with a view to avoiding both higher taxation and stricter regulation of its activities, including advertising. Establishing a presence, and a voice, in parliament is what the leaders of growing business sectors do, and have done at least since the 18th century, when the brewing interest began to shift from a loose grouping of MPs with family links to breweries, into a national campaign. In the five years since Michael Dugher, a former Labour MP and shadow culture secretary, became chief executive of the Betting and Gaming Council, the £11.5bn-a-year industry has seen off a Tory white paper that threatened to curb its advertising, and resisted pressure for the higher taxation that many expected last year. Now, with Rachel Reeves reviewing gambling taxes in advance of the autumn budget, and amid growing calls for ministers to be more active in addressing gambling harms, including addiction, the organisation and its supporters are making fresh efforts to influence MPs in their favour. This week, Gordon Brown threw his weight behind demands for higher taxes to be levied on an 'undertaxed' sector, and for the money to be used to meet the roughly £3bn cost of ditching rules that restrict some benefits to a family's first two children. This is the case also made by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) thinktank, and both it and the former prime minister are right to stress the urgency of child poverty-reducing measures. The linkage between highly profitable gambling businesses, some of which are based offshore, and grim levels of deprivation, is powerful in part because high street gambling premises, including adult gaming centres packed with slot machines, are concentrated in poor areas. But calls for change are not confined to the political left. The cross-party, pro-market Social Market Foundation also thinks the industry should make a bigger contribution. Like the IPPR, it pinpoints the remote gaming duty levied on online casinos, with an identical recommendation that this should jump from 21% to 50%. Currently, this tax accounts for £1.2bn of the £3.6bn in gambling duties overall (including the national lottery), and the thinktanks are right that targeting this form of gambling would be far more beneficial than the harmonisation of rates that has also been discussed. Just as alcohol, spirits and beer are taxed differently, sports betting and gambling should continue to be recognised as distinct activities. Simplifying the tax system, which is a motive for harmonisation, cannot be regarded as the most important thing, when gambling affects so many lives in troubling ways. Taxes aside, the campaign being led by Labour's Andy Burnham in Manchester, and Dawn Butler in London, for councils to have more say over the opening of new gambling premises, is overdue but no less welcome for that. Ministers should change the law so that local politicians have more power over planning in this highly sensitive area. Used as they are to betting shops on high streets, and football shirts emblazoned with gambling sponsors' logos, many voters are probably unaware that regulation in the UK is strikingly lax, compared with other countries. That is all the more reason for politicians to turn down lobbyists' invitations, and focus instead on the need for a public reckoning with this highly profitable industry's harms.
Telegraph
26 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Drivers likely to shut off EU-mandated ‘safety' features
Drivers are likely to shut off EU-mandated safety features in new cars because they are too distracting, according to new research. Half of in-car driver monitoring systems are so intrusive that they are likely to be turned off, thus defeating the point of having them, What Car? magazine found. Mandated by EU laws, such systems are supposed to prevent drivers from becoming distracted from the road ahead. Cameras and other sensors detect if the driver is not paying attention and issue audio and visual alerts. Although these EU rules do not currently apply to the UK, carmakers include the systems anyway on new vehicles because it is cheaper than redesigning their models to remove them. Under Labour's plans for closer alignment with the EU, the UK could formally adopt these EU car safety rules, which also make it mandatory for private vehicles to be fitted with breathalyser technology. During tests around a 10-mile track, the consumer magazine tested six new cars fitted with EU-compliant anti-distraction technology. It discovered that systems from Chinese carmakers Leapmotor and MG were the worst for issuing false distraction alerts, something it said would encourage drivers to disable them before setting off. In contrast, the magazine's reviewers praised Mazda's anti-distraction technology for working 'seamlessly', and also gave positive feedback about Lexus and Kia. Tests involved driving one lap normally, with the driver keeping their eyes on the road ahead. On the second lap, the driver performed four 'distracted driving' actions: they looked across at the infotainment screen; leaned towards the infotainment screen; looked out of the driver's side window; and looked downwards into their lap. Each distracted move was carried out for three seconds. Leapmotor's C10 electric SUV generated three false audio and visual warnings during the first lap while detecting just two out of the four distracted movements. MG's HS system generated two false alerts on the first lap, although it correctly picked up all four distractions on the second lap. Claire Evans, consumer editor of What Car?, called on safety testing body Euro NCAP to 'penalise' carmakers whose systems generated false alarms, potentially themselves causing a distraction to motorists. 'A well-engineered driver monitoring system is an important safety aid that should help to stop drivers from becoming dangerously distracted by focusing on the infotainment touchscreen for too long, and from breaking the law by using a handheld mobile phone,' said Ms Evans. 'Car safety organisation Euro NCAP also needs to introduce far more stringent testing of these systems, penalising those that are poorly integrated into cars instead of simply rewarding manufacturers for including the technology.' Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: 'This technology has the potential to save us from ourselves, but car designers have a duty not just to create such safety systems but also reduce the amount of in-car distraction that takes drivers' eyes off the road and hence sets off the alerts. 'Many of us will have spent too much time fiddling with, and focussing on, a touchscreen on the centre console when we should have been looking out of the windscreen at the road ahead. 'Ultimately though, drivers should be aware of their responsibilities without relying on the tech to tell them: don't drink and drive, don't drive while holding a phone, don't get behind the wheel while tired, and let your passenger change the music.'
Reuters
29 minutes ago
- Reuters
Switzerland facing 39% US tariff as president leaves Washington empty-handed
WASHINGTON/ZURICH, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter left Washington empty-handed on Wednesday after a hastily arranged trip to avert a crippling 39% tariff on the country's exports to the United States, its biggest market, three sources familiar with the matter said. Keller-Sutter said she had a "very good meeting" with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, but one of the sources said she did not meet with U.S. President Donald Trump or any of his top trade officials. The Swiss president had been seeking a tariff rate of 10%, which U.S. officials rejected, the source said, adding that most countries are facing much higher tariff rates and reducing the U.S. trade deficit remained Trump's goal. Washington is potentially seeking more energy and defense exports to Switzerland, according to a Swiss source familiar with the discussions. In return, the Swiss are looking for lower duties on goods sold into the U.S., a leading buyer of Swiss watches, machinery and chocolate. Trump announced a tariff rate of 31% for Switzerland in April as part of a broad push to reorder global trade, but increased the threatened tariff to 39% last week. "We had a very good meeting today. We had a very friendly and open exchange," Keller-Sutter told reporters after the meeting at the State Department in Washington. She did not answer a question about what further offers Switzerland would make. The higher tariff is due to take effect on Thursday. On social media, Keller-Sutter later wrote that she and Rubio had discussed bilateral cooperation, the tariff situation and international issues. The Swiss delegation was preparing to leave Washington without a deal on Wednesday, a source close to the Swiss delegation said, with the country's cabinet due to hold a meeting on Thursday or Friday. "We came over with the intention of presenting new ideas to the American administration to resolve the tariffs matter, which we have done," the source said. "We are ready for negotiations to continue." Switzerland was stunned by Trump's decision last week to apply the steep rate - among the highest announced since he launched his global trade reset - which threatens to inflict major damage on its export-orientated economy. Keller-Sutter and Business Minister Guy Parmelin flew to Washington on Tuesday for last-minute negotiations aimed at reducing the tariffs before they go into effect on Thursday. Additional talks are possible, even after the higher rate takes effect, the first source said. Parmelin had already raised the possibility of Switzerland buying U.S. liquefied natural gas to help secure a better deal. Under a deal the EU struck with Washington last month to secure a 15% tariff rate, Brussels agreed to buy $750 billion worth of LNG, oil, and nuclear energy products over the next three years. While the EU made no formal pledge to buy more U.S. arms, it did indicate to U.S. negotiators that U.S. suppliers would benefit from an increase in defence spending in line with higher NATO commitments agreed under pressure from Trump. Both concessions, along with a pledge to invest more in the U.S., were seen as important in clinching a deal, said a person familiar with the U.S.-EU negotiations. Switzerland already purchases some military hardware from the U.S. and has placed a 6-billion-franc ($7.43-billion) order to buy Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), opens new tab F-35A Lightning II fighter jets. While the Swiss government is focused on sweetening its offer to Washington and says it is not planning countermeasures against the U.S. tariffs, some Swiss politicians have called for the F-35 deal to be scrapped over the trade dispute. Earlier on Wednesday, Keller-Sutter and her team met with Swiss business leaders including Roche (ROG.S), opens new tab Chairman Severin Schwan as well as Alfred Gantner and Marcel Erni, founders of Swiss private equity firm Partners Group (PGHN.S), opens new tab. The group, which also included Daniel Jaeggi, president of global energy and commodity firm Mercuria, spoke about the tariffs situation, the government said, without giving further details. Further meetings are planned with executives from other Swiss companies present in the United States. Business associations warn that tens of thousands of Swiss jobs are at risk if the 39% tariffs are implemented. Swiss cheese producers, for example, are bracing for a steep drop in sales in the United States, which bought 11% of cheese exports like Gruyere and Emmentaler last year. "The taxes are enormous," said Anthony Margot, a fifth-generation cheese maturer. "We can't replace a market like the United States overnight." The blue chip Swiss Market Index was down 1% in early afternoon trading on Wednesday. Following talks with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Switzerland had agreed a draft statement with the United States in early July that was reported to include a 10% tariff rate. Trump's U-turn on Friday, however, followed what some U.S. officials said was a fraught telephone call with Keller-Sutter. Swiss sources said the call was not a success, but denied there was a falling out between the two leaders. Keller-Sutter did not meet with Greer, Bessent or Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick during her visit this week, the first source told Reuters. ($1 = 0.8080 Swiss francs)
