Business
Free welcome cafe opens in Highworth to help community connect
A free cafe has been set up in a town to help prevent loneliness by encouraging people to connect with others.
The monthly Warm and Welcome Wednesday Cafe in Highworth, Wiltshire, has been set up by the volunteers behind Highworth Community Larder, which redistributes food that would otherwise have been thrown away.
The cafe is available on the third Wednesday of the month at the Council Rooms on Gilberts Lane, offering company and a free drink and cake between 09:30 – 11:00 BST. Highworth Town Council is providing the room for free.
Alison Durrant, one of the volunteers involved, explained that the cafe is also able to offer resources and advice to help with issues such as finances.
The community larder was launched several years ago when volunteers found there was plenty of surplus produce from local allotments that could be donated to those in need.
The group signed up to the national networks for similar projects, such as the Community Fridge Network, and the local primary school offered space for the food from allotments and local supermarkets.
Ms Durrant said they started with about 30 visitors and now have close to 100 every week.
Richard PriceWest Midlands
UK ParliamentAbout 30,000 people are employed directly by JLR, with a further 200,000 working in the firm’s supply chain.
Antonia Bance – Labour MP for Tipton and Wednesbury and also a member of the Business and Trade Committee – is among the MPs to have written to the business secretary.
She said they were trying to make sure that there was attention on the matter and that the risk to jobs in the supply chain was properly understood.
JLR bosses were limited in what they were able to say, she said, although MPs had received briefings from the firm, but they had not included how long the situation would last.
Getty ImagesShe said she was hearing from supply-chain firms that said they were experiencing cash-flow problems.
This meant some firms were left unsure whether or not they could continue employing staff.
“A number of the plants in my area have sent all of their staff home and stopped production” Bance said.
“Most of them are continuing to pay their staff, but obviously that’s a real financial strain on these sometimes quite small businesses, particularly when there is no end in sight.”
Firms had gone to their own lenders and had been able to extend their overdraft facilities, she added.
JLR had been considering what it could do to support the supply chain, but Bance believed the government could help with a furlough scheme or by guaranteeing loans.
‘Proud industry’
This would help save jobs and skills in the region, she added.
“We are not talking about businesses who are otherwise in trouble, we’re talking about businesses who are thriving, who are looking to take on more staff, and if this cyber attack hadn’t happened would be running up towards Christmas at full tilt,” Bance said.
It would be “completely understandable” if people starting looking for other jobs if they did not feel firms could continue employing them, she added.
Tata, which owns JLR, should be doing “absolutely everything they can, including financial help,” to ensure the supply chain survived, she said.
“I do think there’s a responsibility on the owners, but I do also think that if we want to be a country that makes things again, if we are proud of our industry – and here in the West Midlands we could not be more proud of what we make and what we sell around the world – government may have to step in.”
Minister for industry Chris McDonald said he had met with West Midlands mayor Richard Parker as well as JLR bosses to discuss their plans and would meet with supply chain businesses in the coming days.
“We know this is a worrying time for those affected, and although Jaguar Land Rover are taking the lead on support for their own supply chain, our cyber experts continue to support them to resolve the issue as quickly as possible,” he said.
The signatories to the letter included:
West Midlands
- Antonia Bance MP
- Alex Ballinger MP
- Chris Bloore MP
- Laurence Turner MP
- Sureena Brackenridge MP
- Sarah Edwards MP
- Josh Newbury MP
- Gurinder Singh Josan MP
- Sonia Kumar MP
- John Slinger MP
- Valerie Vaz MP
- Preet Kaur Gill MP
- Warinder Juss MP
- Liam Byrne MP
- Jodie Gosling
- Cat Eccles MP
- Dr Allison Gardner MP
- Tahir Ali MP
- Jacob Collier MP
- Rachel Taylor MP
- Matt Western MP
- Gareth Snell MP
Merseyside
- Derek Twigg MP
- Anneliese Midgley MP
- Kim Johnson MP
- Maria Eagle MP
- Bill Esterson MP
- Peter Dowd MP
- Ian Byrne MP
- Paula Barker MP
- Marie Rimmer MP
 "GST Rate Cuts On 11 Bengal-Specific Items Will Boost State’s Economy: Sitharaman")
New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday that while every citizen in the country would benefit due to the GST rate cuts, there were 11 Bengal-specific items on which the tax rates had been reduced to 5 per cent to benefit the economy and people of the state.
Addressing the GST 2.0 outreach programme here, Sitharaman also highlighted that the decision to make the reforms come into effect from September 22 was largely due to the fact that the government wanted consumers to benefit ahead of Durga Puja.
GST on Shantineketan leather goods has come down by 5 per cent, while the rate on Bankura terracota craft is now also at 5 per cent, which will help craftsmen as the demand for these products will go up due to the decline in prices. Similarly, the GST rate on Madhurkati match and Purulia Chau masks and wooden masks of Dinajpur have also been reduced to 5 per cent.
Other items from West Bengal that will benefit due to the GST rate cuts include processed mango items from Malda and Darjeeling tea, which will now be taxed at 5 per cent. The reduction in the duty on jute bags will also lead to an increase in the demand for these items, which will benefit the farmers and manufacturers in the state, the Finance Minister said.
The rates were not fixed randomly but aimed to help the middle class, the poor and farmers, she added. The GST 2.0 reforms, under which the tax rates were cut, would also help the MSME sector and lead to higher economic growth and the creation of more jobs in the country.
Sitharaman also said that the GST Council is a constitutional body and the opposition-ruled states, including West Bengal, had agreed that as far as the reduction in GST slabs and the cut in GST rates on health schemes were concerned, they are with the council’s recommendations, and there was enormous support for the reforms.
“States came together and agreed to the proposal to reduce the slabs. I wrote personal letters to all Finance Ministers of states,” she remarked. “Bureaucrats deliver when leaders support the system. The Prime Minister had stated that he wanted simplicity in the GST tax system,” Sitharaman said.
She said the Finance Ministry has been constantly reviewing the rules to push ahead with tax reforms. “No one imagined that the income tax rate on personal income would be slashed,” Sitharaman remarked.
A Spirit Airlines Airbus A320 taxis at Los Angeles International Airport after arriving from Boston on September 1, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Kevin Carter | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Spirit Airlines CEO Dave Davis on Wednesday braced staff for more job cuts and said the carrier plans to slash its schedule in November to reduce costs weeks after declaring its second bankruptcy in less than a year.
The airline is planning its November schedule and Davis told employees in a memo, which was reviewed by CNBC, that they will see a 25% cut in capacity over 2024 “as we optimize our network to focus on our strongest markets.”
The carrier’s capacity was down a similar degree from when it came out of bankruptcy in March through the end of June, and the new cuts point to how the airline is thinking about its near-term schedule as it seeks to reduce costs. The struggling discount carrier is in negotiations with vendors and aircraft lessors, and is evaluating its fleet size, as it tries to shrink itself to find more stable footing, Davis said.
“These evaluations will inevitably affect the size of our teams as we become a more efficient airline,” Davis wrote in his note to employees. “Unfortunately, these are the tough calls we must make to emerge stronger. We know this adds uncertainty, and we are committed to keeping you as these decisions are made.”
When asked how many of its employees would be affected, Spirit told CNBC in an email: “We have engaged our labor unions to discuss the impacts of the network and fleet adjustments on our Team Members, and we will share more as these discussions progress.”
The airline has already announced furloughs and demotions of hundreds of pilots. Some flights attendants have already taken voluntary unpaid leaves of absence.
“Although management has not yet indicated they will seek to make changes to our [collective bargaining agreement], our bankruptcy attorneys working alongside our AFA legal department are prepared for any next steps management may take,” Spirit flight attendants’ union, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, told staff in on Wednesday. “Again, this bankruptcy will be much more difficult than the last one and we must be prepared to act to protect our interests as Flight Attendants.”
Spirit, known for its bright yellow planes, low fares and myriad fees, had been successful but high costs, shifting travel preferences and increased competition from larger rivals threw the airline off course. A failed acquisition by JetBlue Airways left the carrier on its own.
When Spirit emerged from bankruptcy in March, its leaders were hoping to find more stable financial footing. But the carrier avoided big changes in the process and instead focused on a deal with its bondholders, which exchanged almost $800 million in debt for equity, and it was greeted after bankruptcy with persistently higher costs and weaker-than-expected domestic travel demand.
It reported that it lost nearly $257 million since March 13, after it exited Chapter 11, through the end of June.
Earlier this month, Spirit announced flight cuts to 11 destinations and said it wouldn’t start a 12th as planned, while competitors like United Airlines, Frontier Airlines and JetBlue Airways have unveiled plans for new flights to try to win over Spirit customers.
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MPs write to business secretary over JLR supply chain jobs
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