Boost for Aviva boss Amanda Blanc as watchdog gives Direct Line takeover the green light
In a major boost for Amanda Blanc on her fifth anniversary as chief executive of the insurance giant, the Competition and Markets Authority cleared the £3.7billion takeover.
The deal will create the UK's largest home and motor insurer – but it also puts up to 2,300 jobs at risk.
Direct Line boss Adam Winslow, who joined from Aviva last year, is stepping down. There is said to be no love lost between Winslow and Blanc after their spell together at Aviva.
The combined group will shed up to 7 per cent of its total workforce as it eliminates overlapping roles.
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The Sun
27 minutes ago
- The Sun
The Range is selling an iconic Cadbury chocolate bar almost 20 years after it was axed from the UK
THE Range is bringing back a Cadbury favourite that vanished in 2002. A savvy shopper spotted Cadbury Dream bars on the shelves at the discount store. Dream bars, made from white chocolate and cocoa butter, were launched in the UK in 2001 but discontinued just a year later. A shopper shared their discovery on the Facebook group Food Finds UK, posting a photo of the sweets for sale at a discount store. One commenter tagged a friend, saying: "You used to love Dream chocolate when we were younger." The iconic Dream white chocolate bars made a comeback in 2020, appearing in select UK stores including B&M. Before the B&M relaunch, UK shoppers could only buy Dream online from GB Gifts, who imported the bars from Australia for £5.99. Chocolate fans have also spotted other classic treats returning to shelves this month. The Wham Bar is back - but as an ice lolly - now available at Iceland stores. First launched in the 1980s by Scottish confectioners McCowan's, Wham Bars once sold 30 million bars a year. After McCowan's went into administration in 2011, Tangerine Confectionery took over the brand. One shopper posted on the NewfoodsUK Facebook group: 'Wham Ice Cream Lollies are back at Iceland Foods.' The Wham ice lollies are exclusive to Iceland, with a four-pack priced at just £2.50. Meanwhile, Cadbury Dairy Milk Balls - said to be similar to the discontinued Cadbury Tasters from the mid-2000s - have been spotted at Iceland for £3.50, or two packs for £6. Marmite Peanut Butter has also made a comeback, just nine months after being axed. Originally launched in 2019, then discontinued five years later, Unilever has now confirmed the spread is back for good. It's available at Tesco, Sainsbury's and Ocado. How to save money on chocolate We all love a bit of chocolate from now and then, but you don't have to break the bank buying your favourite bar. Consumer reporter Sam Walker reveals how to cut costs... Go own brand - if you're not too fussed about flavour and just want to supplant your chocolate cravings, you'll save by going for the supermarket's own brand bars. Shop around - if you've spotted your favourite variety at the supermarket, make sure you check if it's cheaper elsewhere. Websites like let you compare prices on products across all the major chains to see if you're getting the best deal. Look out for yellow stickers - supermarket staff put yellow, and sometimes orange and red, stickers on to products to show they've been reduced. They usually do this if the product is coming to the end of its best-before date or the packaging is slightly damaged. Buy bigger bars - most of the time, but not always, chocolate is cheaper per 100g the larger the bar. So if you've got the appetite, and you were going to buy a hefty amount of chocolate anyway, you might as well go bigger. 2
Telegraph
27 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Cabinet minister refuses to rule out tax rises after welfare U-turn
A Cabinet minister has refused to rule out tax rises as he said there will be 'financial consequences' from Sir Keir Starmer's welfare U-turn. Pat McFadden also said ministers 'will keep to the tax promises' in the Labour election manifesto. Rachel Reeves has seen the £4.8 billion predicted savings from welfare changes whittled away through the Government's changes to planned welfare reforms to keep backbenchers onside. In a late concession on Tuesday evening, ministers shelved plans to restrict eligibility for the personal independence payment, with any changes now only coming after a review of the benefit. Almost 50 Labour MPs revolted despite the concessions. Mr McFadden, The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, told Times Radio on Wednesday that there will be 'financial consequences' to the decision, and indicated that they would be set out at the budget expected in the autumn. Economists at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and Resolution Foundation think tanks warned that Tuesday's concessions meant Ms Reeves could now expect no 'net savings' by 2029/30 – a key year for meeting her fiscal targets. 'So many moving parts' Mr McFadden told BBC Breakfast he is 'not going to speculate' on what could be in the budget, but said that ministers 'will keep to the tax promises' in their manifesto. Asked explicitly whether he could rule out tax rises, the Cabinet minister told the programme: 'I'm not going to speculate on the budget. 'We will keep to the tax promises that we made in our manifesto when we fought the election last year. But it doesn't make sense for me to speculate on something where, as I say, there are so many moving parts of which this is only one element.' Ministers have repeatedly insisted that Labour will not raise taxes on 'working people', specifically income tax, national insurance or VAT. But Ms Reeves also remains committed to her 'ironclad' fiscal rules, which require day-to-day spending to be covered by revenues – not borrowing – in 2029/30. Despite the last-minute concessions, a total of 49 Labour MPs rebelled and voted against the legislation, the largest revolt of Sir Keir's premiership. Overall, the legislation cleared its first parliamentary hurdle by 335 votes to 260, a majority of 75. The changes were announced by minister Sir Stephen Timms to MPs in the Commons, and came after a first round of concessions offered last week did not seem enough to quell the rebellion. Mr McFadden described the wrangling as a 'difficult process', but told Times Radio that the Government 'got to a position where the second reading of the Bill was passed'. Rachael Maskell, MP for York Central, had tabled an amendment designed to halt the legislation, which was backed by a total of 44 Labour MPs. Ms Maskell said on Wednesday that the concessions signalled a 'change in power between the Prime Minister' and disabled people. She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Tuesday saw 'the Bill disintegrating before our eyes'. Ms Maskell added: 'And I think throughout the day, what we saw was a change in power between the Prime Minister and his Government and disabled people across our country, they having their voice at the heart of Parliament, and that's why I put the reasoned amendment down.' The York Central MP also said that she is 'glad' that the debate was 'had in public' and 'now disabled people should feel empowered to have their voice at long last in an ableist Parliament '.
Telegraph
43 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Rattled Reeves was ‘in a bad place' on night before Commons tears
Rachel Reeves's week from hell ended with her crying on the Government front bench on Wednesday afternoon, but the cracks had been evident for some time. Three about-turns on welfare policy, a rising public spending bill she will have to pay in the autumn, and a mysterious crisis in her private life have come together to create a personal and political disaster for the Chancellor. As a born-again fiscal hawk, Ms Reeves has been battling for weeks to keep the Government's welfare plans together, while Labour rebels and Downing Street have torn them apart. Last Thursday, she was at a visit to a JCB factory when she learned that Sir Keir Starmer had performed his first policy reversal, junking up to £2.5 billion of the savings she had hoped to make from the benefits bill. But within hours of the concession, with the Government facing down a rebellion of more than 100 MPs, it became clear that it would not be enough. Ms Reeves, who as a moderate does not command support among rebellious Left-wingers, was dispatched as part of a ministerial team to convince MPs to vote for the softer plans. Those involved in the intense lobbying effort say the talks took an emotional toll on everyone involved. On Saturday, reports emerged that Ms Reeves had spent much of the day in tears after negotiations with colleagues and fights with intransigent backbenchers. The reports were denied by the Treasury. The following day, another newspaper published a story claiming that Ms Reeves had made Marie Tidball, disability campaigner MP, sob by threatening her on a phone call. That report was also denied. But by Monday, Labour MPs were openly on the warpath about the welfare changes and were blaming the Prime Minister and his Chancellor for refusing to engage with their concerns. 'The policy needs tweaking, but this could have been handled a hell of a lot better,' admitted one minister, grimly. Ms Reeves and her concerns about the Budget were blamed for the dispute, with a large chunk of the rebel caucus calling for her to break her fiscal rules or introduce a radical wealth tax. Sir Keir was being pulled in opposite directions by his Chancellor and his MPs, with both threatening dire consequences if he went the wrong way. Ms Reeves, in return, has made the case that any reversal on welfare would make the Government's financial position even more precarious. In the end, it was the rebels who won the battle for Sir Keir's heart. On Tuesday morning, as the Government was preparing for a humiliating second policy reversal, Ms Reeves appeared before MPs for a routine session of Treasury questions. 'She was in a bad place,' recalled one MP who was in the chamber at the time. 'She's not very good in the Commons and is not a confident performer anyway, but she was just not on her game. She wasn't taking criticism very well, and got quite rattled a number of times.' The tense exchange with Labour backbenchers and opposition MPs bubbled into a row with the Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who complained that the Chancellor was taking too long to answer questions. Sir Lindsay began coughing during her answers – a warning to stop rambling – before interrupting her: 'Order!' Ms Reeves snapped back: 'Oh, all right! Fine.' As the cameras panned away, one MP in the chamber recalled: 'She sat down in a massive huff and rolled her eyes at him, which he did not appreciate whatsoever.' The exchange barely registered in Westminster on a day of high drama, but did prompt a raised eyebrow from the political sketch-writer Quentin Letts, who tweeted: 'Rare for any MP, let alone a Cabinet minister, to behave thus to a Speaker. Feeling under pressure?' Behind the scenes, the Chancellor was indeed under significant strain. Walking around the Palace of Westminster on Tuesday evening, as the Government performed yet another expensive about-turn from the despatch box, Ms Reeves was left to contemplate how to raise another £5 billion in the Budget and keep her job. She returned to her office briefly at one stage in the debate, looking glum, and waited for the final vote at 7.20pm before travelling back to her Downing Street flat. With policy debate and political backbiting happening around her, it has since emerged that Ms Reeves was also dealing with 'personal matters' that made her week even more difficult. Downing Street and Treasury sources were tight-lipped about what problems the Chancellor was facing, but she arrived in Parliament again on Wednesday for Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) without having spoken to Sir Keir. Arriving at the entrance to the chamber, behind the Speaker's chair, she bumped into Sir Lindsay, who was still furious about their tiff the previous day. The dam breaks In a heated conversation lasting no more than a couple of minutes, he admonished the Chancellor about her conduct and pointed out that the online post about it had received 60,000 views. It was at that point, bystanders attest, that the dam broke. Ms Reeves 'burst into tears' moments before she would appear on camera at PMQs. As 12 o'clock neared, she looked visibly upset to colleagues filtering into the Commons. Walking quickly to her place behind Sir Keir, Ms Reeves accidentally sat on Bridget Phillipson's lap, causing a 'bit of a kerfuffle', according to one observer. 'She was very, very emotional,' said one MP, who watched the Chancellor enter the room. 'It was hard to watch. From the beginning, she was wiping away tears.' Chris Ward, the Labour MP who acts as Sir Keir's parliamentary aide, was quickly brushed off when he reached across from the bench behind to check on her welfare. That moment, captured on the Commons TV cameras and shared quickly online, has since become one of the defining political images of Ms Reeves. 'Something very strange going on' The markets immediately clocked that something was wrong, spiking gilt yields and tanking the value of the pound. All attention was diverted from Sir Keir and Kemi Badenoch and towards the Cabinet minister quietly sobbing on the front bench. Those close to Ms Reeves insist that her tears were not caused by the week's politics. Wild rumours of an early-morning bust-up in Downing Street between the Prime Minister and Chancellor were swiftly and aggressively denied by all involved, even those alleged to have spread them. There has been no attempt to explain further why Ms Reeves was so visibly upset, despite attempts by the Conservatives to force a more fulsome response. 'There is something very strange going on, and 'personal matter' doesn't really clear it,' Mrs Badenoch's spokesman said. Instead, the rest of the Chancellor's afternoon was hidden from public view, first in her Commons office and then in Downing Street, where she worked for the remainder of the day. The last sighting of her was at 12.30, when PMQs ended and she reached for support from her sister Ellie – the Labour Party's chairman. 'She grabbed Ellie and dashed off to the office,' an MP recalled. 'She was rushing. She clearly just wanted to get the hell out.'
