Marketing Newscast

(Edited 20 February 2025)

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has been accused of falsely claiming he was a solicitor before being elected as an MP. The Guido Fawkes political website revealed yesterday that in fact he was only a “trainee solicitor” at the Addleshaw Goddard law firm in Manchester between August 2009 and May 2010, when he quit before qualifying to run for Parliament. However, Reynolds has previously described himself as a solicitor, including on a constituency website, in the House of Commons, and on his LinkedIn profile, which has now been changed to read “trainee solicitor”. Labour sources said the LinkedIn issue was an admin error by Reynolds’ office and that his former constituency website was not written by him. They also gave examples of Reynolds describing himself as a trainee solicitor on Instagram post and his current website. Shadow business and trade secretary Andrew Griffith said on X: “In a Government run by lawyers, he just wanted to fit in. Unfortunately, he’s still a business secretary with no business experience.” Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick posted: “Reynolds was never a solicitor. Like the Chancellor, the Business Secretary fabricated his CV.” The BBC revealed earlier that Rachel Reeves’ LinkedIn profile exaggerated the length of time she worked at the Bank of England, and that she and colleagues were investigated over use of expenses while a senior manager at Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) in the late 2000s. The Times has also reported that she lied about the amount of time she spent working for HBOS and did not work there as an economist, as she claimed, but held a post in retail banking, “running a small administrative complaints department that also dealt with IT matters”. She too blamed administrative errors by her team.

Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) the think tank set up by the former Prime Minster, has said that Energy Secretary Ed Miliband’s claim that net zero will create hundreds of thousands industrial jobs is vastly overstated. Instead, the TBI said, investing in green technology was unlikely to reverse the long-term decline of British industry and warned it was a “mistake” to let net zero dominate the Government’s entire economic strategy. “It must be a pillar of the UK’s growth strategy, but it cannot be the whole strategy,” a TBI report argued. The Labour party General Election Manifesto promised a “Green Prosperity Plan” to “create 650,000 jobs across the country by 2030”. However, TBI analysis concluded that green manufacturing was likely to employ only 425,000 people by 2050 in a “best-case scenario;” a more likely one was that it employs just 350,000 people by the middle of the century, half the number working currently in the oil and gas sector, or in carbon-intensive manufacturing. While the TBI did predict that “fully capitalising on the net-zero transition … could lift the UK’s annual growth rate by 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points over the next 25 years,” it warned tough global competition could diminish this projection, so “betting everything on green growth would therefore be a mistake,” it concluded. A Government spokesman said: “From carbon capture and storage in the north east and north west, to hydrogen projects across the country, we’re delivering thousands of jobs for our industrial communities. Our industrial strategy will also take advantage of the UK’s unique strengths and untapped potential, enabling our already world-leading services and manufacturing sectors to adapt and grow, with high quality, well-paid jobs.”

More gloomy retail news: consumer confidence has plunged to a record low, after five consecutive months of falls, according to a survey from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Opinium. The index of confidence stands at -37, a pitiful score, but one BRC CEO Helen Dickinson said was “little surprise” because “many households are worried” about spending. “People’s expectations of the economy reached a new low [in January],” she explained, noting that: “Even Gen Z (18-27), the most upbeat generation on the economy and their own finances, saw a drop off in optimism”. Women also had less confidence than men about both the economy and their own finances, by 13 and 17 points respectively. Dickinson also warned that shop owners were preparing to raise prices and cut jobs to offset £7bn of costs from the Budget, including National Insurance and Business Rates increases and new packaging and recycling levies.

A separate survey by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has found that 33% of company owners are now expecting to make job cuts, up from 17% at the end of October. In particular, the FSB cited concerns that Labour’s planned workers’ rights reforms would add extra pressures to companies at a time when they are already facing higher minimum wage and National Insurance costs. FSB Policy and Advocacy Chair Tina McKenzie said: “The figures speak for themselves – plans to allow employees to sue their employers on their first day on the job will wreak havoc on our already fragile economy, while changes to statutory sick pay will make employers think twice about their hiring plans.” She said businesses supported current protections against unfair dismissal but that “extending these rights to any and all cases from day one risks opening the door to frivolous claims.” A Government spokesman said: “This Government has delivered the biggest upgrade to people’s rights at work in a generation and our measures already have strong support from business, as well as overwhelming public support. As we deliver our Plan to Make Work Pay, we will ensure all businesses have their say and are given the time to prepare for any changes as we deliver our pro-business, pro-worker agenda.”

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has warned that the merger of haulage company Wincanton by American giant GXO Logistics – a deal which completed more than a year ago - could raise the costs of delivery services and reduce choice for supermarkets who rely on them to move goods across the country. GXO and Wincanton are currently two of only three suppliers of dedicated warehousing services used by UK grocers. The initial ruling means the CMA could potentially unwind the £764m deal. GXO called the CMA’s findings “disproportionate,” noting it had found “no competition concerns with the vast majority of the Wincanton business” and had focused on “a very small group of large and sophisticated companies which will represent less than 10% of Wincanton’s revenue”. The Wincanton takeover was “pro-growth” and would “deliver efficiencies for UK businesses,” a spokesperson added. While the investigation continues, New York-listed GXO will have to carry on running Wincanton separately. In January, the then CMA Chairman Marcus Bokkerink was ousted by Minsters who told the competition watchdog it needed to pull back on red tape to boost economic growth.

Thames Water has been offered £4bn for a majority stake in its business by KKR, Bloomberg reports, citing sources as saying that the US asset manager has no plans to sell any assets should its offer succeed. On Tuesday, the debt-ridden utility received High Court approval for a £3bn loan from a consortium of its top-tier creditors, without which it would have run out of money at the end of next month. Thames has not commented on Bloomberg’s story.

Wood Group has been awarded a $120m contract extension by Shell UK to provide brownfield engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) to onshore and offshore assets across the UK. CEO Ken Gilmartin said: "We are proud to continue our decades-long relationship with Shell in the UK, focusing on the continued delivery of safe, reliable energy supply. The extension is recognition of our people and their commitment to deliver best-in-class outcomes for our clients." Wood secured the original EPC contract in 2021. Meanwhile, Wood Group CFO Arvind Balan has resigned with immediate effect following an incorrect description of his professional qualifications he put into the public domain. "Regrettably, I made an honest oversight with respect to the description of my professional qualification as a chartered accountant instead of a certified practicing accountant” he said." The FTSE 250 firm said in a statement that an announcement on his successor, and interim cover, will be made in due course.

FTSE 100 mining giant Glencore has warned it could ditch its London listing. Speaking to journalists after its annual results today, Glencore CEO Gary Nagle said that questions had been raised over whether the UK was the right place for Glencore, and whether it needed to move exchanges. “We want to ensure that our securities are traded on the right exchange, where we can get the right valuation,” he said, adding: “If there’s a better one, and those include the likes of the New York Stock Exchange, we have to consider that.” Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, told City AM the conversation had “delivered a sucker punch” to British capital markets. “It’s a hard reality check – the allure of a US listing is typically pursued by big tech names, so seeing a giant miner looking overseas for a higher price tag and better investor access is a major setback,” he said. Almost 90 companies delisted from the London Stock Exchange last year alone.

Lloyds Banking Group has reported a significant 20.4% drop in annual profit. Britain’s largest mortgage lender revealed a pretax profit of £5.97bn for 2024, down from £7.5bn in 2023. The bank attributed the decline to the impact of interest rate cuts on lending margins and the ongoing sluggishness in the economy. The fact Lloyds also revealed it has nearly tripled the amount it is setting aside to cover any potential losses relating to the car finance mis-selling scandal is also a factor. Lloyds has now put aside £1.2bn, an extra £700m on the 3450m earlier earmarked, to cover potential compensation payments.

Quiz Clothing, the fashion retailer chaired by former JD Sports chief Peter Cowgill, has called in administrators from Teneo. Roughly a third of its stores will shut in a pre-pack deal which will preserve hundreds of jobs, but cull some 200.