(Sharecast News) - Barclays will spend more than £100m cutting high‑street roles as part of a major cost‑reduction drive, according to The Times. The FTSE 100 lender is set to be the first of the UK's big four banks to update investors on quarterly profits following reports that chancellor John Healey plans to raise taxes on the sector in his 28 October budget. Analysts expect Barclays to post around £2.4bn of Q3 profit, up from £2.1bn a year earlier, putting it on track for a record £10.4bn full‑year haul. Group finance director Anna Cross told analysts the bank will book £125m of Q3 restructuring costs in its UK arm, largely tied to personnel reductions.
The UK must abandon its planned 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars if it wants access to the EU's flagship industrial programme, Renault boss François Provost told The Sunday Times. Provost said Britain would need to align with Brussels on tariffs for Chinese imports to join the "Made in Europe" scheme, formally the Industrial Accelerator Act, which currently excludes UK carmakers. He described the UK's combustion‑engine ban as "stupid", arguing there was "no good date" for mandating 100% electric sales.
Ministers are frustrated that the Welsh Government is obstructing a US‑backed space defence radar project in Pembrokeshire, The Telegraph reported. Plaid Cymru was said to oppose the installation on ideological grounds, with one Labour source claiming the party views the US as an "enemy". The impasse threatens progress on a joint defence initiative signed by the UK, US and Australia, and comes amid strained transatlantic relations after the US withdrew bomber jets from RAF Fairford last month over security concerns.
Andy Burnham's pledge to bring water companies under greater public control could deepen the sector's financial troubles, Moody's has warned, according to The Telegraph. The ratings agency said persistent political scrutiny and uncertainty over future ownership were undermining investor confidence and raising the cost of capital needed for major upgrades. It cautioned that the Prime Minister's stance - short of full nationalisation but still signalling stronger state involvement - risks another sector‑wide downgrade and delays to essential reform.
The NHS faces a tougher‑than‑usual winter, health secretary Yvette Cooper has warned, as she announced £140m of extra funding for urgent care, The Guardian reported. The money will support 14 projects across England, including new urgent‑care centres, ambulance fleet expansions and emergency‑department upgrades. Cooper said the service had been preparing since July after an exceptionally heavy summer, with 7.3m A&E attendances between June and August - the highest on record for the period.
Israeli settler militants assaulted European diplomats, a French mayor and the archbishop of Cambrai during an olive‑harvesting visit to Taybeh in the occupied West Bank, injuring three people, The Guardian reported. Bernard Baudoux, mayor of Aulnoye‑Aymeries, was knocked to the ground while entering a diplomatic vehicle. His wife and Archbishop Vincent Dollmann were also threatened by a group of masked men, some carrying clubs. The attackers had earlier assaulted Palestinian harvesters, including a woman in her 70s, and smashed the window of a Belgian diplomatic vehicle.