Tuesday newspaper round-up: Business rates, National Grid, Brexit
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Tuesday 13 Aug 2019
(Sharecast News) - More than 50 major UK retailers, including Marks & Spencer, Harrods and Iceland, have demanded tax cuts from the government to safeguard the future of the high street amid intense pressure from online rivals. In a letter to the chancellor, Sajid Javid, the bosses of some of the nation's biggest retail chains called for an urgent reform of the business rates system, which taxes companies based on the buildings they occupy. - Guardian
National Grid had experienced three blackout "near-misses" in as many months before Friday's major outage left almost a million homes in the dark and forced trains to a standstill around the UK. The system operator, already under investigation by the energy watchdog, faces criticism from within the industry that it has not done enough to guard against the risk of blackouts. - Guardian
Boris Johnson has the support of more than half of the public to deliver Brexit by any means, including suspending Parliament, according to a poll. The ComRes survey for The Telegraph found that 54 per cent of British adults think Parliament should be prorogued to prevent MPs stopping a no-deal Brexit. The poll suggested the Prime Minister is more in tune with the public's views on Brexit than MPs, following his promise to deliver Brexit by October 31 "do or die". - Telegraph
Britons are pessimistic about the prospects for the economy but are happier than they were a year ago and remain confident about their personal finances. They are also more satisfied and feel that their lives are worthwhile, according to the Office for National Statistics. Despite a period of political upheaval, the ONS found that personal wellbeing had been rising for four years. - The Times
Argentina's beleaguered peso currency fell sharply yesterday as voters flirted with a return to interventionist economics by snubbing market-friendly President Mauricio Macri in favour of the opposition in Sunday's primary vote. The peso weakened by 30.3 per cent to a record low of 65 per dollar, after Alberto Fernandez, the opposition candidate, whose running mate is former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, dominated the primary by a much wider-than-expected 15.5 percentage point margin. - The Times
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