AI could lead to more job cuts at BT, says chief executive
The chief executive of BT has said that advances in artificial intelligence could presage deeper jobs cuts at the FTSE 100 telecoms company, which has already outlined plans to shed up to 55,000 workers.Two years ago, the company said that between 40,000 and 55,000 jobs would be axed as it set out to become a “leaner” business by the end of the decade.However, in a weekend interview, its chief executive, Allison Kirkby, said the plan, which includes stripping out £3bn of costs, “did not reflect the full potential of AI”.“Depending on what we learn from AI … there may be an opportunity for BT to be even smaller by the end of the decade,” Kirkby said in an interview with the Financial Times.BT, which is the biggest broadband provider in the country, laid out plans in 2023 to cut the size of its workforce, including contractors, by 2030.
Philip Jansen, who was chief executive at the time, said the company could rely on a much smaller workforce and cost base by the end of the decade.Kirkby, who took over from Jansen last year, has pushed for the company to streamline its operations – selling its Italian business and its Irish wholesale and enterprise unit – and focus more on improving in the UK.Last month, BT spun off its international business into a separate division, but is reportedly open to offers for this area of the business, according to the FT, which cited a person familiar with the matter.Kirkby also said she did not think the value of BT’s broadband network business Openreach was reflected in its share price.If this continued, BT “would absolutely have to look at options”.
The “time to reconsider” whether to spin off the business would take place once it has completed upgrading its network to full fibre, she said.However, Kirkby said her preference would be for the BT share price to reflect the worthof Openreach rather than to spin it off.Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionIt emerged last week that BT was weighing up a potential takeover of the telecoms and broadband company TalkTalk.Its smaller rival has about 3.2 million customers, although it has struggled since it was taken private by Toscafund, a London-based investment firm, in a £1.
1bn deal that added £527m of debt to its balance sheet in 2021.
Reeves braced for OBR forecasts to blow £20bn hole in tax and spending plans
Rachel Reeves is braced for revised forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to blow a £20bn hole in her tax and spending plans before the autumn budget.Even without changing the totals the chancellor set out in her spending review on Wednesday, a weaker forecast from the the Treasury’s independent watchdog could force her to find significantly more money at the budget to meet her “non-negotiable” fiscal rules.Reeves has said repeatedly that flexing her fiscal rules – designed to provide certainty over UK public finances – is not an option even if the economic outlook deteriorates.At her spring statement, she left herself on course to meet those rules with less than £10bn of headroom to spare, on a total budget for day-to-day spending of more than £1.3tn
Vodafone terminates contracts of 12 franchisees who joined £120m lawsuit
Vodafone has terminated the contracts of 12 franchisees who have continued running the brand’s high street stores while also being part of a £120m high court claim against the telecoms group.The legal case was launched in December, when 62 franchisees claimed Vodafone had “unjustly enriched” itself at the expense of scores of vulnerable small business owners by slashing commissions to franchisees operating the mobile phone company’s retail outlets.A dozen of the claimants had remained in the franchise programme even though they had joined 50 former colleagues in pursuing the legal case. Some of the 62 said they had had suicidal thoughts because of the pressure exerted by the telecoms group – while many claimed the company’s actions made them fear they would lose their livelihoods, homes or life savings after running up personal debts of more than £100,000.Vodafone, which says the legal claim is worth £85
Letting banks loose is back on the agenda as UK politicians chase growth at any cost
As the old ways of turning a profit become more difficult – from assembling cars to selling soap powder – politicians of all stripes want the City to inject some dynamism into the economy.From Labour to Reform, the siren call of London’s financial district is strong. If only, they ask, the wheels of the banking industry could be cranked to spin faster, surely much more money could be generated and we would all be rich.While Rachel Reeves boasted of the huge benefit to economic growth from public investments in rail and renewable energy as central pillars of the government’s spending review, in truth it is not enough to propel the economy forward.To generate the kind of income that will pay for the next 30 years of an ageing society, plans to link Manchester and Liverpool by a marginally faster and more reliable train, though good in itself, is not the answer
Grilled cheese shop offers Minnesotans a second chance after prison
All Square, a neon-lit diner in Minneapolis, specializes in grilled cheese sandwiches with a twist. Variations on the menu include Jamaican jerk chicken with guava jam, brown sugar bacon doused in ranch dressing, and Granny Smith apple slices coated in brie and mozzarella.But the sandwich shop offers more than elevated comfort food. All Square, which also operates a food-truck catering service, exclusively hires formerly incarcerated Minnesotans.“It started with the idea of: how do we respond to this systemic issue of excluding formerly incarcerated folks from, well, everything once we welcome them home?” said Emily Hunt Turner, a civil rights lawyer who founded the restaurant in 2018
There hasn’t been a ‘big chancellor’ since Osborne: IFS chief gives final mark
“In my lifetime, who have been the big chancellors?” says Paul Johnson, as he prepares to hang up his spreadsheets as the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. “You’ve had Healey, Lawson, Clarke, Brown. Arguably Osborne. We haven’t had one since then. They’re the long-lasting ones
‘Grenfell was caused by corporate greed’: report calls for far stronger penalties over unsafe cladding
Companies who are found responsible for unsafe cladding should face unlimited fines and permanent bans from public contracts, according to a report that also says England’s existing laws have not gone far enough to prevent future tragedies.The thinktank Common Wealth said the law fails to effectively hold companies to account for corporate negligence, leaving the door open for another disaster like the Grenfell fire, which killed 72 people in June 2017.The report’s author, Leela Jadhav, said England was falling behind other countries which have stronger due diligence laws.“The Grenfell Tower fire was a disaster caused by corporate greed, not an accident,” she said. “Justice in real terms means sanctions, prosecutions and a more robust and enforceable accountability regime
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