Tuesday paper round-up: Election to be called for 6 May

6th Apr 2010 06:41

Gordon Brown will on Tuesday call an election for May 6, giving him four weeks to overturn a clear Conservative advantage in the opinion polls to gain his first electoral mandate as leader and extend 13 years of Labour rule.The prime minister will travel to Buckingham Palace this morning, following a cabinet meeting, to ask the Queen to dissolve parliament a week on Tuesday, the FT reports.Dramatic reform of public sector pensions is needed to reduce the £1 trillion liability facing taxpayers, according to the Confederation of British Industry. The CBI says that the value of all the future pensions obligations to public sector workers such as civil servants, teachers and NHS staff amounts to just over £40,000 for every household, although this is higher than the official estimate of the liabilities, the Independent reports.Oil hit an 18-month high of $86.70 a barrel in New York yesterday, adding to expectations that petrol prices will today pass the record levels of the summer of 2008. Crude oil for May delivery was at its highest level since the peak of the financial crisis in October 2008 as a raft of statistics boosted confidence in the American economy. The 1p tax and the latest crude price rises are pushing average pump prices towards the record 119.7p reached in July 2008, when oil prices peaked at $147 a barrel, the Times reports.Oil prices, government bond yields and stocks rose on Monday to their highest levels since the autumn of 2008 as investors grew more confident that the US economic recovery is gaining speed. Buying was sparked by data suggesting that the service sector expanded for the third month running and by the positive US jobs report released last Friday, when most markets were closed, the FT reports.The International Monetary Fund is poised to recommend an unprecedented new "excess profits tax" on banks worldwide. The Fund is expected to suggest the tax - which is effectively on banks' cashflow - as one of the best ways governments can raise significant amounts from banks without drastically distorting the financial system, the Telegraph reports.More than two months after it was unveiled, at the end of weeks of media build-up and a frenzied weekend of hype, the official number is in: Apple sold 300,000 of its new iPad on the first day on sale in the US. It was a figure that many in the business community found underwhelming, given the pictures over the weekend of excitable buyers lining up outside Apple stores all over the country, the Independent reports.The new head of Qinetiq is on a collision course with staff over plans to cut redundancy terms for thousands of its UK employees.Leo Quinn, who took the helm in November last year, has told union representatives of the former government defence research group that it can no longer afford lucrative redundancy terms for the roughly half of its UK staff who are former defence ministry employees still entitled to public sector-type conditions, the FT reports.MPs will today issue a stinging critique of Kraft's U-turn over the closure of Cadbury's Somerdale plant and seek assurances that there will be no more redundancies at other factories. The Business, Innovation and Skills Committee is deeply sceptical about the motivation behind Kraft's promises to reprieve Somerdale while it was fighting a hostile takeover bid for Cadbury. The US food group reneged on its commitment to keep the factory open shortly after it won the battle, the Times reports.The US Government is seeking a record fine of $16m (£10.5m) against Toyota, the troubled Japanese carmaker, for deliberately hiding a defect linked to a string of accidents involving runaway cars. The proposed fine would be the largest civil penalty issued to a carmaker and is likely to add fuel to dozens of lawsuits already filed against the company, the Times reports.The demand for new staff fell last month, according to Britain's biggest recruitment website, fanning fears of a further jump in unemployment. The figures compiled by Reed.co.uk reversed a slow but steady rise in job opportunities recorded since the start of the year. Its job index fell from 105 to 102 in March ? still higher, however, than the figure of 100 for December, the Times reports.The prospect of co-ordinated strikes across the public sector moved closer yesterday when two big unions agreed to joint industrial action to resist spending cuts. The National Union of Teachers voted to combine forces with the biggest civil service union to hold simultaneous strike ballots if pay is frozen or pensions and working conditions are cut, the Times reports.Greek banks are being hit by a wave of redemptions as the country's most wealthy citizens and corporations look to move their money offshore or to international financial institutions perceived as safer homes for their assets. Wealthy Greeks and companies have been clamouring to move their cash deposits to banks such as HSBC or France's Société Générale, which operate large branches in the country, the Telegraph reports. Richard Glynn, the new Ladbrokes chief executive who stands to make £12m if he doubles the share price in five years, has been allowed to retain his holding in a smaller betting rival. Mr Glynn has won permission to keep his holding in Sporting Index, the spread-betting firm he currently chairs, in a move that has raised eyebrows in the City over a potential conflict of interest, the Telegraph reports.