Sky Business News Articles

A former boss of Arqiva, the communications technology group, is the leading candidate to become the next chief executive of the British chip designer which has been embroiled in a row over its Chinese ownership.
Sky News has learnt that Simon Beresford-Wylie, who left Arqiva earlier this year, is in talks to take the helm at Imagination Technologies, the Hertfordshire-based group.

Sources said that Mr Beresford-Wylie was one of a small number of a contenders for the Imagination job and had emerged as the favoured successor to Ron Black, who quit in April amid a storm over plans by its Chinese backers to take control of the company’s board.
Mr Beresford-Wylie, a Briton, has little direct experience of the semiconductor industry, but is well-regarded for the job he did at Arqiva, where he oversaw the £2bn sale of its masts division earlier this year.
Imagination declined to comment on Sunday, but is understood to be keen to finalise the appointment of a new chief executive within weeks.

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The identity of other possible successors to Mr Black is unclear.

Ministers are being kept informed about the appointment process, which comes at a time of heightened sensitivity because of the $40bn takeover of chip designer ARM Holdings by Nvidia of the US.

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The recruitment of a UK citizen to lead the company would be welcomed in Whitehall, with ministers put under pressure by MPs earlier this year to intervene in a row about corporate governance at Imagination.
Sir Peter Bonfield, the former chief executive of BT Group, was appointed as a non-executive director of the company a fortnight ago.
Sky News revealed this month that Ed Vaizey, the former culture minister, was also in talks to join its board.
The series of appointments forms part of an effort to alleviate concerns about the intentions of China Reform Holdings, an investment vehicle with close links to Beijing, which is the principal investor in Imagination’s owner, Canyon Bridge Capital Partners.
Canyon Bridge took control of Imagination in 2017.
The chip developer plays a critical role in the fast-growing internet of things economy, boasting that its graphics processing units (GPUs) are used in 30% of the world’s mobile phones and, in total, 11bn devices globally.Imagination was the tenth most prolific UK-based filer of patents in the European Union last year – ahead of Dyson and the chip designer ARM Holdings, which is currently owned by Japan’s SoftBank but which is the subject of talks about a sale to Nvidia of the US.Earlier this year, Imagination became the subject of a public tussle over its future ownership when Sky News revealed China Reform’s plot to stage a boardroom coup, leading executives to conclude that it wanted to redomicile the company to China.
The bust-up prompted the departure of Mr Black and the launch of probes by parliament’s foreign affairs select committee and the Trump administration in Washington.
In response, Canyon Bridge pledged to keep Imagination headquartered in Britain and told the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, that it would appoint a slate of independent directors.Canyon Bridge retains offices in the US but redomiciled to the Cayman Islands after CFIUS’s intervention in the Lattice deal.The British company’s sale to Canyon Bridge was approved by the US government subject to its disposal of MIPS, a graphics processing unit operating in the US.
The recent row over China Reform’s intentions sparked the resignations of other senior executives who have since been persuaded to remain with Imagination.
One of them, Steve Evans, chief product officer, wrote in his resignation letter: “China Reform have clearly set out to take control of the business for reasons best known to themselves, and I will not be part of a company that is effectively controlled by the Chinese government.”
Both he and John Rayfield, chief technical officer, are understood to have rescinded their resignations following assurances about Imagination’s future governance.
Another of the company’s former bosses, Sir Hossein Yassaie, warned the government that China Reform was using “COVID cover” in a bit to seize control of Imagination.
Company executives have hinted that a relisting of the British-based company is an option likely to be explored in the coming years.
Mr Beresford-Wylie could not be reached for comment on Sunday.

Royal London is pursuing a takeover of its fellow financial services provider, LV=, in a deal that would create a “mutual champion” with nearly 10m customers across the UK.
Sky News has learnt that the two groups are in detailed negotiations about a tie-up.

City sources said this weekend that a transaction would bring together the pensions, life insurance and asset management businesses of Royal London and LV=, ending the latter’s 177-year status as an independent business.
LV=’s board is understood to have met this week to discuss the progress of a strategic review that got under way in June, with a decision about a deal with Royal London potentially being reached within days.
Insiders said the two parties were not yet in exclusive discussions, with Bain Capital, the private equity backer of motor insurer esure also said to be keen on acquiring LV=.

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The precise valuation of the group previously known as Liverpool Victoria is unclear, although people close to LV= said it would be in excess of £500m but “substantially less” than £1bn.

A transaction would bolster Royal London’s status as the UK’s biggest mutual life, pensions and investment company, with £139bn of assets under management.

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By comparison, LV= manages assets worth £14bn, and has been a substantially smaller business since concluding the sale of its general insurance operations to Germany’s Allianz at the end of last year.
Royal London would finance the purchase using the proceeds of a £600m debt-raising it undertook late last year, according to people close to the situation.

Image: LV= used to sponsor cricket’s County Championship
Industry analysts pointed to the strategic logic of a tie-up between Royal London and LV= given the overlap between their products and their mutual status.
If a deal between them can be struck, it could lead to the LV= brand disappearing from the life and pensions market, one said.
Between them, the two groups employ close to 6,000 people, more than two-thirds of whom work for Royal London.
Under its new management team – led by chairman Kevin Parry and chief executive Barry O’Dwyer, who joined a year ago – Royal London has identified an opportunity to absorb smaller financial mutuals with strained balance sheets.
In June, it announced that it would take on the Police Mutual, a friendly society which represents police officers across the UK.
One insider described Royal London’s approach as being akin to that of Nationwide, Britain’s biggest building society, which merged with several smaller peers during the 2008 banking crisis.
LV=’s 1.1m members are expected to be asked to vote on any transaction recommended by its board, which is chaired by Alan Cook.
A deal would not close until next year.
A person close to it insisted that it could yet decide against endorsing a deal which led to the loss of its independence and instead seek a joint venture or another form of partnership.
At the beginning of this year, LV= ended its long friendly society status by becoming a company limited by guarantee – a transition that it said would allow its board to act more effectively on behalf of members.
Fenchurch Advisory Partners, which is part of the investment bank Natixis, is advising LV= on its talks with potential buyers.
Other suitors for the business are reported to have included Phoenix Group Holdings, the listed insurer, and Cinven, the buyout firm.
Royal London, LV= and Bain Capital all declined to comment.

Rishi Sunak could not have been more stark.
Unveiling his latest package aimed at tiding the UK economy through what threatens to be the bleakest winter for many years because of the COVID-19 crisis, the chancellor admitted: “I cannot save every business. I cannot save every job.”

That much became clear as the City’s economists picked through the details.

‘Sunak support will help viable jobs’

Mr Sunak declined to put a figure on the cost of his measures, but the market consensus is that they will come to around £5bn, which may sound like a lot but, in the context of a £2trn economy, is a rounding error.
Drill further into the numbers and it is quite clear that the chancellor’s new jobs support scheme is less generous than the Kurzarbeit scheme in Germany on which it is based.

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Both with Kurzarbeit and a similar scheme in France, the state alone covers the costs of hours not worked by an employee, whereas the burden here falls chiefly on the employer.

Under the most recent iteration of the furlough scheme, the employer only pays around 20% of the cost of employing a worker whose hours have been restricted or curtailed entirely by the lockdown, whereas this will rise to 55% under the new job support scheme.

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It is hard to see why an employer, struggling to stay in business and uncertain about the future, might be prepared to pay this additional cost rather than taking the easier option of laying off workers.
As Sanjay Raja, economist at Deutsche Bank, put it: “The chancellor’s jobs support programme falls short of other European schemes extended to project jobs through a second wave of the pandemic.

The figures behind Sunak’s latest support

“The chancellor’s job support scheme is both shorter in duration and is limited solely to part-time workers. In effect, those companies who can somewhat manage to keep trading over the winter months will get some government support, while others who can’t will either be required to pause trading or to continue with ongoing redundancy plans.”
Asked by reporters by how much unemployment might rise during coming months, Mr Sunak declined to give a figure, instead pointing them towards recent forecasts made by the Bank of England and the independent Office for Budget Responsibility.
The Bank is predicting a rise in the jobless rate to 7.5% by the end of the year, up from the current 4.1%, but that was a prediction made before the government’s latest curtailments on social movement announced earlier this week.
The OBR sees the jobless rate being closer to 9% – translating to a total of around 3.1 million unemployed.

Businesses react to the chancellor’s plan

So which are the workers who are most at risk of losing their jobs in coming months?
This may, at first, seem obvious from a look at the industries making most use of the existing furlough scheme: the arts, entertainment, nightclub, leisure, events and wider hospitality sectors.
But it is not as straightforward as that.

Labour: Targeted support scheme was needed

Allan Monks, from the economic and policy research team at JP Morgan, points out that employees currently working less than a third of their usual hours are probably most at risk.
That is because, under the new job support scheme, their wages are not covered until they are working a third of their usual hours. So, for businesses employing such people, there would be a big cost saving to be made by letting them go.
Similarly, for those who are working a third of their hours or around that level, their employer also faces a big increase in costs when the new scheme replaces the existing furlough scheme.

The chancellor’s key announcements

Mr Monks adds: “The more hours workers are currently doing, the smaller the rise in business costs associated with keeping them on under the new scheme. That’s because at higher levels of hours worked, the subsidy that firms must pay for unworked hours shrinks.”
Accordingly, he notes, it is difficult to estimate how many jobs will be lost under the new scheme without knowing how many hours furloughed employees are currently working.
Nor is that the only kink in the system. The new programme appears to create incentives for companies to keep people in full-time work while letting go those who are only employed on a part-time basis.
One quirk, identified by Mr Monks, is that it would be more effective for a company to have one person on full pay rather than three on one-third of full pay.

Where jobs have been lost in the UK economy

Another, identified by the Resolution Foundation think tank, is that it would cost a business £1,500 to employ one full-time worker on £17,000 per year but more than £2,000 per month to employ two half-time workers on the same full-time equivalent salary.
So the workers most likely to be at risk once the furlough scheme ends and the new job support scheme comes in would appear to be those already working around a third of their normal hours and especially those in the leisure, hospitality, arts and entertainment sectors – pubs, bars, restaurants, hotels and cinemas.
The quirks in the system also mean that those employees currently perhaps working on a part-time basis, if they are valued by their employer, are likely to be asked to do more hours at the expense of less-valued colleagues being let go.
The chancellor did at least achieve one notable coup on Thursday when Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the CBI and Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, stood alongside him on the steps of 11 Downing Street as he unveiled the new package.

CBI boss stands behind Winter Economic Plan

Not even in the ‘beer and sandwiches’ era of the 1970s, when all-powerful union barons would be invited to No 10 for meetings with Labour prime ministers like Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan, has a TUC general secretary received such an accolade – and certainly not from a Conservative chancellor. Nor has the CBI always been supportive of government policy.
On Friday, Dame Carolyn fended off criticism of Mr Sunak’s package, pointing out that the existing furlough scheme – like the new job support scheme – also contained an employer contribution.
She told Sky News: “It’s a tough message but I think it’s the right message – we want jobs that have a future to be protected.
“What employers will be asking themselves is do they think these jobs will come back and, if they do, they will make that investment.
“Many are doing that – they want to keep their skilled people, they want to do the right things by their staff, and we think many employers will take advantage of this because they do see demand coming back over the longer run.
“For employers who don’t see demand coming back, this will not be the right scheme – they will be looking at the loan schemes, at the other relief that there is in place, but for many employers, particularly those with skilled people in manufacturing supply chains, this will be a real lifeline.”
In fairness to the chancellor, he is not disguising the fact that not every job will be saved, even hinting at times that he thinks his cabinet colleagues have unnecessarily endangered jobs by placing fresh impositions on social movement.
Perhaps the greater criticism that can be laid at his door is that he said rather less, yesterday, on helping find new jobs for the thousands of Britons who are set to lose theirs.
Dame Carolyn argued that employees put on part-time hours could be usefully retrained and reskilled during the hours in which they were not working.
Few familiar with the UK’s woeful record on productivity will disagree with that.

Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund is in talks to buy a stake in Rolls-Royce Holdings as one of Britain’s most important industrial groups scrambles to raise billions of pounds of new funding.
Sky News has learnt that the Kuwait Investment Office (KIO), which is part of the Gulf state’s state investment vehicle, is negotiating over a deal as part of a potential £2.5bn cash call.

Sources said on Friday that Rolls-Royce was in talks with the KIO – a London-based arm of the Kuwait Investment Authority – and Singapore’s Government Investment Corporation (GIC).

Rolls-Royce to axe 9,000 jobs

GIC’s interest was reported last week by the Financial Times.
In total, £500m of new shares have been allotted to sovereign wealth investors, meaning the two sovereign funds could acquire stakes worth £250m each, the sources added.

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Rolls-Royce, the aircraft engine-maker, has seen its balance sheet battered by the coronavirus pandemic, and has been forced to cut thousands of jobs as it braces for a protracted slump in demand from aviation customers.

The company, headed by chief executive Warren East, is considering launching a rights issue to raise up to £2.5bn as soon as 1 October, insiders said.

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Image: Warren East is the company’s chief executive
A Rolls-Royce spokesman said: “We continue to review all funding options to enhance balance sheet resilience and strength.
“Amongst other options, we are evaluating the merits of raising equity of up to £2.5bn, through a variety of structures including a rights issue and potentially other forms of equity issuance.
“No final decisions have been taken as to whether or when to proceed with any of these options or as to the precise amount that may be raised.”
The scale of the share price slump at Rolls-Royce – its valuation has fallen by more than 80% in the last year – means that a £2.5bn cash call would involve the company raising almost its entire market capitalisation by issuing new equity.

Revolution has warned of plans to reduce the number of bars it operates in the wake of the new 10pm coronavirus curfews enforced on the hospitality sector.
Revolution Bars, which has 74 outlets across the UK, said challenges to its recovery since the national lockdown had been “exacerbated” by the decision this week to impose tighter restrictions on opening hours.

It revealed that a restructuring through a so-called company voluntary arrangement (CVA) was among a number of options being explored by its board.

The first night of the 10pm curfew

Revolution shares fell by 20% on the news.
“No decisions have yet been made and there is much further work to complete before the board decides on any appropriate course of action,” the statement said.

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“Revolution has a strong balance sheet following the £15m equity fundraising and the extension of its banking facilities announced in June but the board believes that the long term nature and potential impact of the latest operating restrictions means that it must consider all necessary options to ensure that its business remains viable.”

It is the first such operator to reveal the potential for bar closures and job losses since the curfews came into force in England and Wales.

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Bars and restaurants must also close their doors from 10pm each night in Scotland from Friday as national governments move to ease the pace of COVID-19 infection rates.
News of the looming restrictions prompted leading figures in the hospitality sector to criticise the curbs – with the chairman of pub group JD Wetherspoon, Tim Martin, describing the government as “jokers”.

Tim Martin: ‘Government are nuts!’

The boss of Fuller’s told Sky’s Ian King Live that the decision would inevitably lead to further jobs losses at a time when ministers are keen to keep as many in employment as possible.
The chancellor has faced accusations that his Winter Economic Plan to support employment abandons anyone still on furlough at the end of next month.
He argues that not every job is viable and the government must target its support accordingly.

The West End entertainment giant which owns the Piccadilly and Apollo theatres is bringing in a new investor to secure new funding aimed at steering it through the coronavirus crisis.
Sky News has learnt that shareholders in Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) have agreed to sell a small minority stake to TEG, an Australian live entertainment and ticketing business.

The plan will see Providence Equity Partners, which has already injected tens of millions of pounds to support ATG through the pandemic’s initial stages, and TEG providing a total of £160m of new equity to one of the giants of London’s Theatreland, insiders said on Friday.

Where jobs have been lost in the UK economy

Lenders to ATG were briefed on the new financing this week, they added.
The injection of new capital by Providence and TEG, which is backed by the media and technology-focused buyout firm Silver Lake, follows a tentative reopening of British theatres.

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Social distancing measures and the ‘rule of six’ preventing larger gatherings have combined to prolong the financial crisis facing the industry, with prominent figures such as Lord Lloyd-Webber warning that the arts sector is at “the point of no return”.

MPs on the Commons culture select committee this week called for “a robust strategy” to pave the way for the return of larger audiences in theatres and performance venues.

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ATG owns many of the most historic theatres in London, including the Lyceum and Savoy, as well as many other famous sites in Britain, Germany and the US.

The chancellor’s key announcements

Its UK portfolio includes Liverpool’s Empire Theatre, and the Duke of York’s Theatre in London, while on Broadway in Manhattan, it owns the Lyric and Hudson.
The company has a workforce of more than 4,000 full-time equivalent employees.
ATG theatres have been home to some of the world’s most successful plays and musicals, including The Lion King, Les Miserables and Wicked.
Since the COVID-19 outbreak put Britain into lockdown in March, live entertainment groups – like those in many other industries – have scrambled to reorganise their finances.
One source said that an initial equity injection from Providence had been an important first step towards stabilising the business, but that the length of the disruption to the theatre industry meant that new funding was required.

Image: London’s West End is expected to face renewed challenges as a result of the new curfew on bars and restaurants
ATG recently announced that all pantomimes would be suspended until the Christmas season next year.
TEG, which owns the Ticketek ticketing brand, was reported earlier this year to be interested in acquiring music venues in the UK which have been impacted by the pandemic.
The size of the stake it is buying in ATG was unclear on Friday morning, but was said to be a “small minority”.
ATG was founded in the 1990s by the husband-and-wife team Sir Howard Panter and Dame Rosemary Squire, who have since gone on to set up a rival theatrical group.
The company is run by Mark Cornell, who joined the company four years ago, having been an executive at the luxury goods owner LVMH and Sotheby’s, the auctioneer.
Providence bought ATG in 2013 in a £350m deal, and has since overseen a stellar increase in revenues and profits, with massive hit shows including Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
The US-based buyout firm had been preparing to run a sale process for the business during the course of the year, hiring the investment banks Goldman Sachs and Jefferies to oversee an auction.
Providence declined to comment on Friday.

Tesco has said it is introducing limits on some key household essentials, just days after its chief executive appealed for no “unnecessary” panic buying as coronavirus restrictions are tightened.
The UK’s largest supermarket chain revealed a limit of three items per customer on flour, dried pasta, toilet roll, baby wipes and antibacterial wipes.

It comes a day after ‘big four’ rival Morrisons introduced similar measures, blaming evidence of stockpiling.
All the major supermarkets introduced temporary rationing in March after shelves were stripped bare of essentials in the weeks leading up to the COVID-19 lockdown.

Tesco boss: No need for any stockpiling

They were slowly lifted as stocks recovered and stores are anxious to avert a repeat.

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Tesco said its restrictions applied to all store and online sales, though digital orders would also see limits on a number of additional items such as rice and canned vegetables.

“We have good availability, with plenty of stock to go round, and we would encourage our customers to shop as normal,” a Tesco spokeswoman said on Friday.

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“To ensure that everyone can keep buying what they need, we have introduced bulk-buy limits on a small number of products.”
It is understood the decision was a reaction to evidence of a small uplift in demand for the goods.
A major manufacturer of toilet rolls told Sky News its customers, which include supermarket chains, had lifted orders by 23% over the past week.
Mike Docker, joint managing director at WEPA UK, said: “We have learnt a number of lessons from earlier in the year, with back up production facilities and hauliers on standby we strongly believe the UK will have sufficient supplies of toilet rolls, provided consumers behave responsibly and act on the advice provided by the supermarkets when buying.”
Morrisons reinstated a limit of three on products such as toilet roll, disinfectants and bleach.
The other members of the big four chains, Sainsbury’s and Asda, are yet to impose any restrictions.

Image: Supermarkets are anxious to avoid a repeat of pre-lockdown panic buying seen in March
Dave Lewis, the chief executive of Tesco, sought to reassure customers on Wednesday after the prime minister told people to work from home where possible and ordered restaurants and bars to close early to tackle a spike in the pandemic.
Mr Lewis told Ian King Live: “I think the UK saw how well the food industry managed last time, so there’s very good supplies of food.
“We just don’t want to see a return to unnecessary panic buying because that creates a tension in the supply chain that’s not necessary.
“And therefore we would just encourage customers to continue to buy as normal.”

Online fashion retailer Boohoo is facing criticism over its handling of the treatment of workers within the company’s Leicester supply chain.
The review, led by Alison Levitt QC, was commissioned by the company in July after media allegations of sweatshop conditions at third-party suppliers during the coronavirus pandemic prompted a dramatic plunge in its share price.

The claims, which first surfaced in 2017, came to a head when The Sunday Times alleged that workers at a Boohoo supplier in the city were being paid as little as £3.50 an hour – well below the minimum wage – during Leicester’s local lockdown.

‘Modern-day slavery is all around us’

Sky News has been told that up to 10,000 people could be victims of modern slavery in the city’s wider textile industry, which serves clothing brands globally.
Ms Levitt said her inquiry for Boohoo found no evidence the firm had committed any crimes, but concluded staff at factories in Leicester had worked in poor conditions for low pay and that Boohoo had “capitalised on the commercial opportunities” offered by the COVID-19 restriction.

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She found that Boohoo “believed that it was supporting Leicester factories by not cancelling orders, but took no responsibility for the consequences for those who made the clothes they sold”.

Her report stated: “From (at the very latest) December 2019, senior Boohoo directors knew for a fact that there were very serious issues about the treatment of factory workers in Leicester.”

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“Whilst it put in place a programme intended to remedy this, it did not move quickly enough,” she added.
She also pointed to inaction by the authorities on enforcement of the law.

Concerns over exploitation of UK textile workers

Boohoo shares, which have steadily recovered ground since the July slump, rose by up to 20% after the publication of the report.
Chief executive John Lyttle responded: “Ms Levitt’s Independent Review …has identified significant and clearly unacceptable issues in our supply chain, and the steps we had taken to address them, but it is clear that we need to gofurther and faster to improve our governance, oversight and compliance.
“As a result, the group is implementing necessary enhancements to its supplier audit and compliance procedures, and the board’s oversight of these matters will increase significantly.
“As a board, we recognise that we need to rebuild confidence that these matters will be dealt with appropriately and sensitively, and that they will not recur.”

The Treasury borrowed the third-highest sum for any month on record in August, according to official figures – as the chancellor prepares to unleash his latest support for the coronavirus-hit economy.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that public sector net borrowing, excluding the effects of bank bailouts, was estimated to have hit £35.9bn last month – the highest sum ever recorded for an August.

That was £30.5bn more than in the same month last year and explained by the government’s efforts to fund its COVID-19 medicine for jobs and efforts to tackle the disease.
Live updates on coronavirus from UK and around world

Coronavirus: Job Support Scheme released

The chancellor’s key announcements

The ONS said it took borrowing in the first five months of the financial year to £173.7bn – another record for the period since records began in 1993.

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It meant that the UK’s national debt, which topped £2trn in July, now stood at a new peak of £2.024trn – up £249.5bn on August 2019.

The sobering figures were released just a day after Rishi Sunak revealed a new package of measures to support jobs and businesses through the winter months as virus restrictions are tightened UK-wide to control infection rates.

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The headline was the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) that will replace the current furlough support when it fully expires at the end of next month.
It will help those in “viable” jobs who are back at work, but only provide a top-up in wage support to cover reduced hours.
Separate ONS figures released on Thursday estimated that 12% of the workforce were on partial leave or remained on full furlough earlier this month.

Jobs scheme quite small compared to other COVID-19 measures

Where jobs have been lost in the UK economy

The terms of the JSS prompted warnings in some quarters that those still on furlough were being abandoned amid earlier Bank of England projections of three million unemployed by Christmas.
There was growing evidence of disquiet in the government’s own ranks.
Tory MP John Redwood took to Twitter to register his own protest.
He wrote: “The Chancellor needs to improve his scheme to save jobs. Businesses that are closed by law to stop the virus need compensation. Many of their jobs will be needed when the law is relaxed.”

The Chancellor needs to improve his scheme to save jobs. Businesses that are closed by law to stop the virus need compensation. Many of their jobs will be needed when the law is relaxed.
— John Redwood (@johnredwood) September 25, 2020

Mr Sunak has repeatedly warned that not every business or job can be saved as he moves to provide more incentives to keep people in work and the economic recovery on track despite the deepened virus restrictions.
He has argued it would be “fundamentally wrong” for people to be kept in jobs that can only exist due to state funding but has declined to say which sectors are likely to be lost.

The first night of a 10pm curfew on pubs and restaurants has passed largely without incident in England and Wales – but some venues are warning that the absence of late-night drinkers could put their future into jeopardy.
In London, there was a small police presence on the streets of Soho last night, but no problems were reported.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick joined a patrol in Shoreditch, a fashionable area in the capital’s east, to remind the public of the measures they need to follow to stop coronavirus from spreading.
Live updates on coronavirus from UK and around world

Image: There was a small police presence on the streets of Soho last night
Scotland Yard is planning to step up its enforcement of COVID regulations in the coming days and weeks as infection rates in London continue to rise.

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The big test for premises and the police will likely come on Fridays and Saturdays, where greater numbers of people head to pubs and bars.

The Met said enforcement – which could include on-the-spot fines – will only take place as a last resort, but warned officers “will not hesitate to use their powers to deal with flagrant breaches of the regulations”.

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Image: Workers also closed up early at Cardiff’s Central Bar
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said: “The vast majority of Londoners have stuck to the rules and responded positively to the unprecedented situation we are in. We thank them for that.
“Throughout the last few months we have continued to step in where necessary to protect the public, even as the rules relaxed, with officers working hard to tackle challenging incidents such as unlicensed music events throughout the summer – sometimes facing extreme hostility and even violence.

Image: The new restrictions could be in force for the next six months
“However, it is clear that there is a renewed need for everyone to do everything they can to minimise the risk of transmission of what is a potentially deadly disease – that means everyone following the rules.”
Wolverhampton Police posted a video on Twitter thanking the public for complying with the new regulations, and said all venues had shut at 10pm.
However, the measures in Wales are slightly different, as pub-goers get an extra 20 minutes to finish their drinks following last orders at 10pm.

Image: Cardiff city centre quickly emptied after pubs and restaurants closed at 10pm
The curfew comes as the UK reported 6,634 new coronavirus cases in the 24 hours to 9am on Thursday – the highest daily total ever recorded.
A further 40 people are reported to have died within 28 days of testing positive for COVID-19, official figures show. The last time the daily death toll was higher than 40 was on 14 July, when 44 deaths were recorded.
Sky News correspondents in London and Birmingham were in the city centre as 10pm approached to see how the curfew was handled.

Image: Police look on as an entertainer walks past in Soho
LONDON: “Overall, people were compliant”By Ashna Hurynag, news correspondent
If anyone was anticipating anger on the first night of the nationwide curfew, they’d be pleasantly surprised. Overall, people were compliant – and after initially flooding the streets when the clock hit 10pm, they dispersed into the night.
In Soho – the party district that promises a feast of fun and festivity – the fluorescent vests and jackets of enforcement officials stood out among the revellers lapping up the last few hours of social freedom at their favourite dining hotspots.
But barely seconds after they’d taken their final sip of their drink, just minutes before 10pm, venues were wiping down tables, stacking chairs and ushering people out the doors.

Bars and restaurants who have clawed their way through a difficult summer were eager to abide by every letter of the new restrictions and do everything in their power to sidestep a hefty fine.
Licencing inspectors, community wardens and even the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police were out enforcing the new curfew.
Some Met officers marched door to door in the early evening reminding premises of the new kick-out time.
But they hardly needed checking up on, the venues were broadly prepared for the early shutdown despite the few days’ notice.
Yet many feel frustration knowing how many millions of pounds will be lost during this six-month ban on late night frivolity.

Image: Many are openly questioning whether their business will survive six months of this
BIRMINGHAM: “By 10pm, it felt more like 4am”By Becky Johnson, Midlands correspondent
By 10pm. Birmingham city centre was eerily quiet.
The pubs and bars on Hurst Street had called last orders at 9.30pm. By the official closing time, everyone had trickled away.
On a street that usually has some of busiest bars in the city, it felt more like 4am.
“This is when people are usually just arriving,” one bar owner said. “The students don’t usually come out until 10pm or 11pm. People must have just decided it’s not worth coming out at all.”

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It wasn’t any busier in other parts of the city centre.
“We usually do 40% of our trade after 10pm,” the marketing manager of Aluna, a cocktail bar in the Mailbox said. “That’s all gone.”
A group of students were scathing about the new rule and whether it will reduce coronavirus transmission.
“People will just risk the rules. The night won’t end here. They’ll be having parties,” they said.

A “normal” Thursday night is a vague memory here, pre-pandemic, when people crowded into pubs and clubs.
“We did okay” tonight, one bar owner said. “But by okay, I mean we did 25% of the business we did on a normal Thursday.”
Many are openly questioning whether their business will survive six months of this.