Dutch government collapsing as far-right leader pulls out of coalition
Geert Wilders has withdrawn his PVV party from the Dutch governing Coalition, likely collapsing the government and triggering new elections.
Wilders stated his Coalition partners wouldn't support his proposals to halt asylum migration as the reason for his withdrawal.
The move ends an already unstable Coalition formed last July and is expected to delay decisions on increasing defence spending to meet NATO targets.
Coalition partners have reacted with anger, accusing Wilders of irresponsibility amid the war in Ukraine.
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STV News
24 minutes ago
- STV News
ScotRail fixing AI announcer after ‘controversy' over voice, says Swinney
ScotRail is 'fixing' an AI train announcer after claims it uses a woman's voice without her permission, the First Minister has said. John Swinney said there had been some 'controversy' over the case, after Scottish voiceover artist Gayanne Potter claimed the publicly-owned rail operator based its AI announcer – who is known as Iona – on recordings she made in 2021. But after prompting from Fiona Hyslop, he said: 'The transport secretary tells me they're fixing it, so they will be fixing it.' The issue was raised at First Minister's Questions at Holyrood, with Scottish Conservative MSP Dr Sandesh Gulhane asking if it is how the Scottish Government – which took ScotRail into public ownership in 2022 – 'supports actors'. The Tory pressed the case with Swinney after Ms Potter, in a widely shared Facebook post, accused ScotRail of dismissing her concerns. She said Iona came from voice data held by Swedish-based company ReadSpeaker, who she did recordings for in 2021 – adding that by using her voice in an AI model the company had acted outside of the terms of her agreement with them. Ms Potter spoke of her 'distress' at discovering Scotland had 'installed the ReadSpeaker model 'Iona' that contains my biometric voice data as their new announcer on all their trains'. She insisted: 'I did not know. I was not asked. I did not consent.' Swinney said he is 'sure' the rail operator will be 'engaging constructively with all concerned'. He added: 'I think sometimes these things do indeed need careful handling and I am sure ScotRail will be doing exactly that.' Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Times
39 minutes ago
- Times
Business live blog, Thursday June 5 — as it happened
Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, has said she will finish her term after speculation she will join the World Economic Forum. Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum who departed this year, said Lagarde has discussed leaving the bank to succeed him in 2027, before the end of her eight-year term. Lagarde told journalists she is 'fully determined to deliver on my mission and determined to finish my term'. 'You're not about to see the back of me,' she said. The ECB has cut its expectation for inflation, and expects price growth to average 2 per cent in 2025 from a forecast 2.3 per cent in March. It also predicts slower price growth in 2026, with annual inflation forecast to land at 1,6 per cent against a previously guided 1.9 per cent. This reflects lower assumptions for energy prices and a stronger euro. Meanwhile, economic growth is also expected to lag next year, with GDP rising 1.1 per cent in 2026 — slightly below March's forecast for 1.2 per cent. It said: 'While the uncertainty surrounding trade policies is expected to weigh on business investment and exports, especially in the short term, rising government investment in defence and infrastructure will increasingly support growth over the medium term.' Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager. Analysts expect the ECB to hold rates steady its next meeting in July as it assesses the potential conclusion of trade negotiations with the White House. The second half of the year could see up to two more rate cuts if the growth outlook deteriorates, potentially falling to 1.5 per cent by the end of the year. Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG, said: 'Although growth projections were broadly unchanged, the outlook for the economy is more uncertain and could be subject to a significant downward revision in September.' She added: 'The decision to retain flexibility is warranted given the uncertain economic backdrop.' Sylvain Broyer, chief European economist at S&P Global Ratings, said 'There is strong reason to believe that the current ECB rate cycle has likely bottomed out at around 2 per cent, provided the European economy can absorb the shock from US tariffs without significant disruption. A rate cut was deemed all but inevitable after data from April showed annual consumer price inflation fell below the ECB's 2 per cent target at 1.9 per cent. The ECB's latest forecast cut its inflation projections to an average of 1.6 per cent in 2026 'reflecting lower assumptions for energy prices and a stronger euro'. The bank said: 'The governing council is determined to ensure that inflation stabilises sustainably at its 2 per cent medium-term target. Especially in current conditions of exceptional uncertainty, it will follow a data-dependent and meeting-by-meeting approach to determining the appropriate monetary policy stance.' Christine Lagarde, the ECB president, will hold a press conference at 1.45pm UK time. The European Central Bank has cut its main interest rate to 2 per cent — the lowest since December 2021 — as it battles the threat of deflation and slowing economic growth caused by US tariff policy. Rate-setters on the bank's governing council voted to trim the eurozone main deposit rate by 0.25 percentage points, in line with market expectations and the eighth rate cut since June 2024. The ECB has been easing monetary policy at the fastest pace of any major central bank this year, as the Bank of England and US Federal Reserve continue to have concerns about stubborn inflation. Centrica has struck a £20 billion deal with Norway's Equinor to bring natural gas to the UK. The owner of British Gas will take delivery of five billion cubic metres of gas per year up to 2035. Chris O'Shea, Centrica's chief executive, said the deal will improve Britain's energy security as about half of all UK gas was imported from Norway last year, after an increase in demand following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The contract will also call for natural gas sales to be replaced with hydrogen in coming years. O'Shea said: 'This landmark agreement underscores the vital role that natural gas plays as a transition fuel as we navigate towards a low carbon energy future. Today's deal not only ensures the UK's energy security has improved but also paves the way for a burgeoning hydrogen market.' The FTSE 100 is pushing back toward record territory, up 0.3 per cent or 28 points at 8,829 at noon. The rise in the blue-chip index was being led by the miners Fresnillo, Antofagasta, Anglo American and Endeavour, which are benefiting from a renewed rally in the gold price. The yellow metal was up another 0.88 per cent to top $3,400 in the morning session. Europe was also in positive territory with Germany's DAX breaking its all-time high at 24,350 as traders anticipate the eighth cut to interest rates this year. The decision is due at 1.15pm UK time, with a 0.25 percentage point cut to 2 per cent considered nailed on. Britain's biggest student landlord is in talks to buy a smaller rival as the wave of consolidation rolling through the listed property sector accelerates. Unite has tabled a cash-and-shares proposal worth about £710 million to buy Empiric Student Property. Unite has now been granted permission to look under Empiric's bonnet to see whether it wants to make a formal bid. Empiric shares rose 5 per cent on the announcement, topping 100p for the first time since 2021. If a deal were to happen, it would cement Unite's position at the top of the student accommodation market. It already has 68,000 beds; buying Empiric would give it about another 7,700. As well as Unite and Empiric, Assura and Primary Health Properties — the pair of NHS landlords — are also in talks about merging, and LondonMetric recently struck a £699 million deal to buy Urban Logistics, the warehouse owner. Procter & Gamble will cut 7,000 jobs, or about 6 per cent of its total workforce, over the next two years, as it confronts uneven consumer demand and costs heightened by US tariffs. 'This is not a new approach, rather an intentional acceleration of the current strategy to win in the increasingly challenging environment in which we compete,' executives at the world's largest consumer goods company said. President Trump's tariffs are likely to increase cost of importing raw ingredients, packaging materials and some finished products into US from China for the Ohio-based firm. It has said it will be forced to raise prices on some products — which include Gillette razors, Fairy washing-up liquid, Pampers nappies and Head & Shoulders shampoo — with a knock-on effect on demand. The company has about 108,000 employees, and said the job cuts would account for roughly 15 per cent of its non-manufacturing workforce. Building and construction firms reduced staff numbers at the fastest pace in nearly five years last month, in the face of higher labour costs and reduced demand. The S&P Global Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 47.9 in May from April's 46.6, a bigger increase than forecast but the fifth consecutive month that the index has fallen below the 50 level that divides growth from contraction. 'The construction sector continued to adjust to weaker order books in May, which led to sustained reductions in output, staff hiring and purchasing,' S&P Global's Tim Moore said. Construction firms' outlook for future activity rose to its highest so far this year, mirroring the picture for the larger services sector in a survey released on Wednesday, as businesses grew more upbeat about sales prospects and potential help from future falls in interest rates. But this was not enough for businesses to choose to hold on to staff. As well as the fastest job shedding since August 2020, usage of subcontractors fell by the most since May 2020. Today's new car sales data from the SMMT includes more bad news for Elon Musk. UK sales of Tesla, the EV manufacturer led by President Trump's former efficiency tsar, crashed 36 per cent to just 2,000 in May. In the year to date, Tesla sales are down nearly 8 per cent at 15,000. In contrast, sales of BYD, the Chinese upstart, came in at 3,000. For the year to date BYD has now sold 14,800 vehicles in the UK. BYD sold 8,700 vehicles in the UK in the whole of 2024. • Tesla UK sales down 45% in new blow for Elon Musk The number of new cars registered in May rose by 1.6 per cent to 150,000, of which 32,000 were all-electric vehicles, accounting for 21.8 per cent of the market. That is a rise of more than 25 per cent on the same month last year. However, EVs' market share remains some way off the 28 per cent target for zero emission vehicles set by the government for 2025. Meanwhile, sales of petrol and diesel cars are falling to historic lows. In May petrol car registrations fell 10,000 year on year, down 12.5 per cent to 71,000, accounting for 47.5 per cent of all sales. Diesel sales now account for just 5.2 per cent of all registrations. Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders which collates the data, warned: 'Manufacturer discounting on new products continues to underpin the market, notably for electric vehicles. This cannot be sustained indefinitely as it undermines the ability of companies to invest in new product development.' Shares in CMC Markets, the spread-betting group founded by Lord Cruddas, are nursing a double-digit fall as annual profits and dividends came in shy of investor expectations. In the 12 months to the end of March, profits rose 6 per cent on a like-for-like basis to £84.5 million, while the final dividend, to be paid on August 15, was lifted by 14 per cent to 8.3p per share. However, the consensus in the City was that CMC would turn a profit close to £91 million, while the final dividend was also a halfpenny below what had been expected. 'Costs are the disappointment,' Vivek Raja, a finance industry analyst at Shore Capital, said, pointing to CMC's operating costs of £230.2 million — almost £5 million more than the company had been guiding to. The shares, which had risen 40 per cent in the month leading up to today's results, have dropped 42½p, or 15 per cent, to 242p this morning. The UK's headline inflation figure was 0.1 percentage points too high for April due to an error in the vehicle tax data collected, the Office for National Statistics has admitted. Official data published last month showed Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation jumped to 3.5 per cent in April, up from 2.6 per cent in March. But the beleaguered statistics agency said that it had since spotted an error in vehicle excise duty data provided by the Department for Transport, which is part of the information used to calculate inflation. The number of vehicles subject to the tax in the first year of registration was too high in the data given, it said. This meant CPI, as well as Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation, were overstated by 0.1 percentage points in April. The ONS said it would not be revising the official published figures and no other periods were affected by the error. The City regulator has pledged to ensure that a compensation scheme for car buyers who were mis-sold finance is 'comprehensive, swift, and easy'. Banks including Lloyds Banking Group, Close Brothers and Santander UK have together already set aside more than £1.5 billion to cover potential compensation claims. The Financial Conduct Authority aims to dissuade consumers from resorting to claims management companies (CMCs) which will take chunks of compensation in fees. It also suggested that some estimates of how much customers might be due have been too high. 'We've seen a range of redress rates suggested. This includes some highly speculative figures by some CMCs and law firms,' the FCA said. Banks have argued a too-punitive scheme could harm a market that customers rely on to buy cars, and damage Britain's appeal as an investment destination for financial services. Fasten your seatbelt. Shares in the budget carrier suffered a near-25 per cent drop after pulling full-year guidance due to 'lack of visibility across our trading seasons'. Shares lost 24 per cent, or 415p, as markets opened to £12.80. It came despite the London-listed, Hungary-based airline carrying a record 63.4 million passengers in the year to March 31, up 1.4 million on last year, with a 4 per cent rise in unit revenue (income per seat) driven by higher fares and increased load factor. Total revenue was up 3.8 per cent to €5.4 billion but operating profit was down more than 60 per cent to €167.5 million, blamed on rising costs. The airline is still suffering the fallout from Pratt & Whitney engine problems, with 37 of their Airbus aircraft stuck on the ground last month, and 34 expected to still be grounded by the end of the first half. József Váradi, chief executive, said: 'Despite the unproductivity of a grounded fleet, we successfully delivered a second consecutive year of profitability.' The FTSE 100 is trading flat at 8,801.49 at the start of trading in London, while more UK-focused FTSE 250 fell 87 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 21,033.41. The pound is flat against to dollar at $1.3555. The dollar has strengthened slightly after falling yesterday as jitters over President Trump's tariffs has resulted in a slump in hiring by US companies. Miners are dominating the risers, while a slump in Wizz Air shares after pulling its full-year guidance weighed on airline stocks. The company was one of the few so-called 'fintechs' listed on the exchange, Richard Fletcher, Business Editor, writes. In recent years, a string of companies have shifted to New York, including bookmaker Flutter and Ferguson, the plumbing group. But for the London Stock Exchange itself, the move will barely register. The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) makes 70 per cent (and rising) of its revenues from providing data and analytics services, rather than running the exchange. At some point will our politicians need to ask: is the LSEG now an 'absentee landlord' with little interest in the stock market that is so important for the economic health of the country? The posh tonic maker, Fever-Tree, plans to equally split the cost of President Trump's 10 per cent tariff on UK exports to the US with brewer Molson Coors, as part of their recent tie-up. Fever-Tree also said that Charles Gibb, its North America chief executive, will step down and be succeeded by Judd Hausner, whom it said has extensive experience from the US beer industry. The company, based in Hammersmith, west London, and known for its premium cocktail mixers, counts the US as its largest market, where underlying brand performance is 'well ahead of the competition'. In January, Molson Coors took a stake in Fever-Tree, securing exclusive rights to distribute and market its mixers and tonic waters across the Atlantic. The announcement came in an update before the company's AGM later this morning. The new chief executive of Dr Martens has set out his plan to turn around the troubled fashion brand alongside full year results, with a shift from a 'channel-first to a consumer-first' mindset and would target expansion into selling sandals, bags and leather goods as he made his City debut. • Dr Martens to expand range and cut discounts in quest for profits Ije Nwokorie was appointed chief executive in January after Kenny Wilson stepped down following five profit warnings in three years. The results show the challenge he faces. Profits fell 64 per cent to £34.1 million in the year ito the end of March, down from £97.2 million the year before but ahead of City forecasts for profits of £30.6 million. Revenue fell 10 per cent to £787.6 million. The FTSE 250 outsourcer Mitie has agreed to buy Lord Ashcroft's AIM-listed software company Marlowe in a £366 million cash and shares deal. Marlowe shareholders will receive 1.1 new Mitie shares for each share they hold and 290p in cash, implying a value of 466p per Marlowe share. Marlowe shares closed up 10 per cent at 406¼p last night after it emerged that Mitie was in talks to buy Marlowe. Alongside the offer, Mitie has reported a fall in full-year profits to £145.4 million, down from £156.3 million. Revenue rose 13 per cent to £5.09 billion in the year to the end of March. One of Britain's largest financial technology companies, Wise, is to shift its primary listing to New York, in a further blow to the London Stock Exchange. 'We believe the addition of a primary US listing would help us accelerate our mission and bring substantial strategic and capital market benefits to Wise and our owners,' the company alongside full-year results this morning. • Wise to move main listing to New York in further blow to London The results showed that pre-tax profits at the money transfer group rose 17 per cent to £564.8 million in the year to the end of March, up from £481.4 million. Revenue rose 15 per cent to £1.21 billion, up from £1.05 billion. The focus today will be on the European Central Bank, which is widely tipped to cut interest rates for the eighth time in a year today after eurozone inflation fell below target. It is expected to lower its main deposit rate by 0.25 percentage points to 2 per cent at 1.15pm UK time. The ECB will also publish new forecasts for the European economy. Christine Lagarde, the ECB president, will hold a press conference at 1.45pm. A quarter-point cut would take rates to their lowest since January 2023 and would mean the ECB has lowered borrowing costs by 2 percentage points from an all-time high of 4 per cent, by far the fastest easing among the world's major central banks. Goldman Sachs expects one more 25 basis-point rate this year after today's meeting. • President Trump has renewed his attack on Jerome Powell, calling on the head of the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates after data revealed a sharp slowdown in hiring.• Sales of new Tesla cars in Britain were down more than 45 per cent in May compared with a year earlier.• Thames Water creditors have warned there is 'a very short and closing window' for the troubled utility to avoid nationalisation after KKR walked away from a financing plan this week.
North Wales Chronicle
an hour ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Starmer describes free school meal expansion as ‘down payment' on child poverty
Charities and campaigners have urged the Government to axe the two-child benefit cap to ease child poverty as ministers set out plans to expand free school meals to all pupils in England in families on universal credit. Asked whether he would go further and abolish the welfare limit, Sir Keir Starmer said: 'I would say this is a down payment on child poverty.' The government just gave half a million kids the nutrition they need to learn, grow and thrive. What a win! 🍽️💥 @Keir_Starmer @bphillipsonMP @StephenMorganMP @leicesterliz #FreeSchoolMeals — Jamie Oliver (@jamieoliver) June 5, 2025 The Prime Minister added that he was 'determined' to drive down child poverty and identify its root causes. Currently, households in England on universal credit must earn below £7,400 a year (after tax and not including benefits) to qualify for free school meals. More than one in four pupils in England are now eligible for free school meals, the latest figures show. An additional 77,700 children became eligible for free school meals over a year, according to data published by the Department for Education (DfE). Eligibility for free school meals stood at 25.7% of all pupils in January this year, the equivalent of 2.17 million children – up from 24.6%, or 2.09 million, in January 2024, the data shows. The Government has said the expansion of free school meals to all pupils in families on universal credit from September 2026 will make 500,000 more children eligible for free lunches during the school day. Ministers have also suggested that the change will lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty. Alongside the extension of free school meals, the DfE said it is working with experts across the sector to review the School Food Standards to ensure every school is supported with the latest nutrition guidance. Sir Keir said Thursday's announcement was part of a broader package of provisions including breakfast clubs and 'so it needs to be seen within that group of measures'. He added: 'But yes, it's a down payment on what I want to do in relation to child poverty.' The Government's child poverty taskforce is due to publish its strategy later this year. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told Times Radio that the meals extension would be funded and the Government will 'make sure that schools have what they need to deliver this'. Asked why the expansion was not coming into force now, Ms Phillipson told BBC Breakfast: 'We're working as quickly as we can because we do appreciate the urgency, but we also need to work with schools to make this change happen.' Parents have to apply for their children to receive free school meals and eligible children are not automatically enrolled. The announcement has been largely welcomed by education leaders and campaigners, but some organisations have called for the Government to go further and introduce auto-enrolment. Arooj Shah, chairwoman of the Local Government Association's (LGA) children and young people board, said: 'Councils still face data sharing and resource challenges in ensuring as many eligible children as possible receive what they are entitled to. 'Introducing automatic enrolment, using existing government data to capture all those who are entitled to free school meals, would also streamline the process and ensure as many children as possible can benefit, at a time when many families are still under financial pressure.'
