Bank Staff 'Under Pressure To Sell', Which? Says

Staff at Britain's largest banks remain under pressure to sell products to customers, often regardless of whether they are appropriate, an investigation claims.

Two thirds of bank staff with a sales role said there is now "more pressure than ever" to meet their targets, according to a Which? survey of front line bank employees.

Almost half of the 500 people interviewed said they knew colleagues who had mis-sold products to meet their targets, and 40% reported that they are encouraged to sell even when it is not appropriate.

Which? interviewed branch and call-centre staff from HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays and Santander, and found that even when incentives are removed, the practice prevails.

Although over 40% said incentives for sales have decreased, more than 80% said the pressure to meet sales targets has stayed the same or increased.

The research comes despite a string of mis-selling scandals over recent years, knocking customers' trust in UK banks.

The PPI mis-selling scandal has cost the big banks £10bn to date

The most high-profile - the mis-selling of payment protection insurance - has already cost the big banks more than £10bn in compensation claims, with that bill expected to rise.

Of the staff surveyed, over a third said they are not comfortable with the pressure they are under to sell products, and two thirds added that they are sometimes or always ordered to sell more.

Which? chief executive Peter Vicary-Smith called for "big change" across the banking industry, with customers - not sales - put first.

"Our survey reveals the stark realities of the sales culture that still exists at the heart of the banking industry," he said.

"Senior bankers say the culture is changing but this shows it just isn't filtering through to staff on the front line who remain under real pressure to put sales before service, even after incentives are taken away.

"We're calling on the banks to be much more transparent about their sales targets and incentives.

"We also want to see bankers meet professional standards and comply with a fully independent code of conduct."

A spokesman for the British Bankers' Association (BBA) said that any incentives for front line staff are now based on clear criteria related to customer service.

"Selling people products they do not need is not putting the customer's interests first and therefore is ultimately bad for the bank," he said.

"The banks will be looking at the findings of this small survey - along with their own internal research - to understand why any staff might feel otherwise."

Which? said it will provide a collection of evidence on the banking industry to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards, the Government and opposition MPs, and the Financial Standards Authority (FSA).

Barclays and the Co-operative bank have already announced plans to refocus their incentives schemes on customer service.

A spokeswoman for Barclays said: "From this week all Barclays UK front line staff are rewarded solely on customer service.

"This follows our announcement in October which was welcomed by Which?"

An HSBC statement said the bank encourages its employees to act "with integrity in the best interest of our customers".

"No one in the UK retail bank, not just customer facing staff, can earn a bonus without meeting the bank's values and behaviours criteria," it said.

And a spokeswoman for RBS said that its staff are rewarded on the basis of customer service and the performance of their branch overall.

"This is part of our move to make sure that customer service is the top priority for all of our staff," she added.

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Starbucks Tax Row: Protests Planned Across UK

Coffee chain Starbucks is braced for protests over its tax arrangements despite announcing changes to its payments.

The US-owned giant said it expects to pay around £10m in UK corporation tax for each of the next two years, following the revelation that it paid just £8.6m in 14 years of trading in Britain and nothing in the last three years.

Activist group UK Uncut is planning more than 40 demonstrations across the country, "transforming" Starbucks stores into refuges, creches and homeless shelters.

The anti-cuts direct action group said the number of protests planned for today had increased since Starbucks made its announcement.

UK Uncut said it also wanted to highlight the "disproportionate" impact of the Government's spending cuts on women.

Sarah Greene, a UK Uncut activist, said: "It is an outrage that the Government continues to let multinationals like Starbucks dodge millions in tax while cutting vital services like refuges, creches and rape crisis centres.

"It does not have to be this way. The Government could easily bring in billions that could fund vital services by clamping down."

Hannah Pearce, a UK Uncut supporter, said that offering to pay some tax "if and when it suits" does not stop a company being a tax avoider, adding: "This is just a desperate attempt by Starbucks to deflect public pressure - hollow promises on press releases don't fund women's refuges or child benefits."

Union boss Mark Serwotka says Starbucks' tax stance is "scandalous"

She called on the Government to force Starbucks and other tax avoiding firms to "pay their fair share, instead of cutting welfare and tax credits for single mums and disabled women".

A spokesman from Global Women's strike, one of the women's groups supporting Saturday's action, said: "Women - in families, homes, communities and jobs - bear the brunt of austerity.

"At our Women's Centre we see more women cut off benefits, losing their jobs, being made homeless and going hungry.

"Already, 3.5 million children live in poverty, one in five mothers skips a meal to feed her children, and many walk miles to get food handouts because they can't afford the bus fare.

"Women are also expected to pick up the pieces as services disappear or turn people away, saying they are overwhelmed."

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union, which is supporting the protests, said: "With hundreds of thousands of public sector workers having their jobs, pay and pensions cut, and people entitled to benefits being demonised and targeted in the most shameful way, it is utterly scandalous that some multinational companies believe they can get away with contributing little or nothing to our economy.

"We fully support this weekend's action which, along with previous campaigns by UK Uncut and others, will highlight the fact that if large companies like Starbucks paid their fair share it would change the debate about public spending overnight."

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Starbucks Tax Row: £10m Climbdown

Starbucks has vowed to pay more corporation tax than it is obliged to as the coffee chain denies hiding profits from the UK taxman.

The company's UK managing director Kris Engskov told Sky News that the decision to "take action" followed anger from its customers in recent weeks.

Starbucks will now pay around £20m in corporation tax over the next two years, after paying nothing last year.

The U-turn comes after the Government pledged to crack down on tax avoidance after public outrage over how little some multinational companies contribute to the UK Exchequer.

Mr Engskov told Sky's Jeff Randall: "We are paying corporate tax and we are going to do that beyond what is required by the law and whether we make a profit in the next two years and I think that is what we should do.

"We have reacted to our customers... We have seen that doing business responsibly is good for the bottom line and this is a good example of that."

In the same interview, he said the US coffee giant had not been profitable in the UK since it brought its brand to Britain 14 years ago.

Kris Engskov runs Starbucks in the UK

And he admitted their 2011 report and accounts may be wrong when they referred to the fact that the UK was making a "significant portion of the net revenue and earnings of our international operations". 

This could mean major penalties for the company.

Since arriving in the UK, Starbucks has paid just £8.6m in corporation tax despite taking billions of pounds in revenue from its shops, which now number more than 750.

The low bill has been explained by the practice of transfer pricing, which involves charges being made by companies in the same group based in different jurisdictions, with the effect of depressing profits in the higher-tax jurisdiction.

In Starbucks' case, that relates to the royalty fee paid to a sister company in the Netherlands for the right to use its brand and coffee recipe.

While the previous tax arrangements were legal, its actions were called into question amid a wider debate about tax avoidance which has also engulfed the likes of Amazon and Google.

The companies were accused of "immorally" minimising UK tax bills in a damning report by the Public Accounts Committee of MPs.

Its chairman, Margaret Hodge MP told Sky News the development was a "step in the right direction" which had been brought about by "people power."

The firm has argued that its UK operations already inject £300m into the UK economy annually.

Mr Engskov, speaking earlier in a speech to business leaders, admitted that the "emotion" surrounding the tax payments had "taken us a bit by surprise".

"Since we started doing business here, we have always organised our tax affairs according to the letter of the law - always," he said.

"We have used existing and agreed-upon measures to pay what is expected of us, but not more - just as most companies do and I am sure many of the people here today run their businesses in similar ways."

But in his remarks to the London Chamber of Commerce he admitted: "With the backdrop of these difficult times, in the area of tax, our customers clearly expect us to do more."

Mike Lewis, tax justice policy adviser for charity ActionAid UK,said: "Starbucks' tax back-down proves that companies do have a choice about where and how they pay taxes."

Other critics suggested the country should wait to see the colour of Starbucks' money.

Hannah Pearce, a UK Uncut spokesperson said: "Offering to pay some tax if and when it suits you doesn't stop you being a tax dodger.

"Starbucks have been avoiding tax for over a decade and continue to deny that it paid too little tax in the past. Today's announcement is just a desperate attempt to deflect public pressure.

"There's no money yet, and hollow promises on press releases don't fund women's refuges or child benefits."

An HMRC spokesman said: "Corporation Tax is not a voluntary tax. The public expects businesses to pay their fair share and we will challenge, through the courts if necessary, any structures or tax payments that do not comply with the UK tax law."

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IFS: Spending Cuts Warning After Mini-Budget

By Ed Conway, Economics Editor

The Government's austerity plans involve slashing the majority of Government department budgets by a third, a leading think tank has warned.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said that in order to fulfil the plans laid down in the Autumn Statement the Government would have to slash the budgets of its non-protected departments - everything but health, schools and international development - by a further 16% in real terms in the three years to 2017-18, or 30% since 2010.

The IFS said that such cuts to departmental budgets, including police, local government, defence, environment, transport were "almost inconceivable".

The think tank urged the Government to commit to doing some of the work through tax rises rather than spending cuts.

However, Conservative officials signalled that there were no plans to implement any tax rises after the election, implying that all the fiscal work will have to be done through spending cuts.

It will be seen as one of the clearest signals yet that the Conservative party intends to fight the next election on the basis solely of spending cuts rather than tax rises.

In the 2010 election, it committed to bring the deficit down through 80% spending cuts and 20% tax rises.

However, the officials said that this was no longer the plan in the following Parliament.

The IFS said that the Chancellor would need to find a further £27bn of specific spending cuts or tax rises in 2017/18, based on the latest plans, unveiled on Wednesday.

Its director, Paul Johnson, said that if George Osborne kept to his 80:20 scheme that would imply £7bn of tax rises.

With the Conservatives effectively ruling this out, attention will inevitably turn to the question of whether those Government departments are capable of weathering the extra burden.

Mr Johnson said that if tax rises are not to be considered "at some point you will have to think about health spending cuts".

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Autumn Statement: The Key Points At A Glance

The main measures and forecasts from the Chancellor George Osborne in his Autumn Statement:

:: Most working age benefits, including Jobseeker's Allowance, will rise by 1% in each of the next three years. Changes to welfare "save £3.7bn by 2015/16". Child benefit to rise by 1% for two years from April 2014.

:: ISA limit raised to £11,520 and basic state pension to rise 2.5% from April. Public sector workers to see average 1% rise in earnings.

:: National pay arrangement in NHS and prison service to continue, and no changes to civil service arrangements, but greater freedom for schools to set pay in line with performance.

:: Will collect £7bn more in tax than the last Government to tackle "evasion" and loopholes. More resources (£77m) to ensure multinational firms "pay their fair share" and avoidance is reduced.

:: Fuel duty escalator "scrapped". Planned 3p a litre rise due in January is cancelled.

:: Income tax threshold increased by £235 in 2013. Means no tax paid on earnings under £9,440.

:: "Need to ask more of the better off": No new homes tax. From 2014/15 the pension lifetime pot relief will fall from £1.5m to £1.25m; annual allowance down from £50,000 to £40,000. This affects top 2% of pension pots.

:: Threshold for 40% rate of income tax to rise by 1% in 2014 and 2015 from £41,450 to £41,865 and then £42,285.

:: Corporation Tax rate cut by further 1% from April 2014.

:: The Bank Levy Rate will be increased to 0.130% next year.

:: Capital Gains Tax annual exempt amount to increase by 1% over the same period, reaching £11,100 and Inheritance Tax nil-band rate to rise from £325,000 now to £329,000 in 2015/16.

:: £1bn more for road improvements - upgrading A1, A30, and M25. Funding guarantee for extension to Northern Line tube.

:: £600m more on scientific research infrastructure.

:: £1bn to expand good schools and build more.

:: The deficit has fallen by a quarter in "just two years". Forecast to fall this year to 6.9% of GDP. Borrowing forecast for 2012/13 is therefore £108bn. It will take one extra year to reach his debt target.

:: Office for Budget Responsibility now forecasts GDP growth -0.1% in 2012, blaming Eurozone crisis. Sees growth of 1.2% in 2013, 2% in 2014 and 2.3% in 2015. OBR expects jobless rate to peak at 8.3% (currently 7.9%).

:: Has delivered £12bn in Whitehall spending cuts. More on the way. Government department resource budgets reduced by 1% next year with schools and hospitals protected.

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West Coast Main Line Future To Be Revealed

A deal allowing Virgin to continue running trains on the West Coast Main Line is expected to be confirmed later.

It is believed Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin could also publish the independent report he commissioned when he was forced to scrap the West Coast franchise bidding process.

Virgin has run the line since 1997, but in August the Department for Transport (DfT) announced that a new 13-year West Coast franchise had been awarded to rival transport company FirstGroup.

It was only after Sir Richard, who had branded the bidding process "insane", mounted a legal challenge to the decision that Mr McLoughlin scrapped the bidding process, saying there had been mistakes by the DfT.

Three DfT officials were suspended and negotiations were started with a view to getting Virgin to run the line for between nine and 13 months before a short interim franchise was offered followed by a longer one later.

The details and length of the shorter deal are expected to be announced today, with speculation that Virgin could carry on for as long as two years.

When he pulled the plug on the West Coast franchise bidding, Mr McLoughlin appointed businessman Sam Laidlaw to produce an independent report into the fiasco.

After producing damning initial findings, which listed failings by the DfT, Mr Laidlaw presented his full report to the department last week.

But with one of the suspended department officials, Kate Mingay, mounting a legal challenge to her suspension, Mr McLoughlin announced that he was delaying the Laidlaw report publication until this week.

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Tesco To Cut Losses On US Chain Fresh & Easy

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

Tesco is to launch a review of its loss-making US operations as its chief executive attempts to convince the City that he has a credible strategy to boost the fortunes of Britain's biggest retailer.

I have learned that Philip Clarke will announce today that Tesco is to undertake a strategic review that could lead to the sale or closure of some or all of its US stores. Investment bankers have been appointed to assist with the review, which is expected to take several months.

The statement will signal an ignominious end to Tesco's US ambitions, five years after it opened its first shop there under the Fresh & Easy brand name.

It will also cast a pall over the legacy of Sir Terry Leahy, Mr Clarke's long-serving predecessor, who stepped down last year. Under Sir Terry, Tesco embarked on a plan to emulate the global footprint of Wal-Mart, the owner of Asda, by acquiring and building market share in eastern Europe and Asia.

Tesco operates approximately 200 Fresh & Easy stores, and employs roughly 5,000 people in the US. Since the business was launched, it has accumulated losses running into several hundred million pounds.

Mr Clarke is already under pressure because of the group's sluggish performance in its home market, and has unveiled a £1bn transformation programme focused on improving customer service and the availability of fresh produce in its shops.

The news about the US review come alongside Tesco's third-quarter results, which are expected to reflect the ongoing travails of much of the British retail sector.

George Osborne, the Chancellor, will undoubtedly be keen to see what Mr Clarke says about the health of the high street in the run-up to the crucial Christmas trading period as he makes final preparations for his Autumn Statement.

The Chancellor releases his Autumn Statement today

While Tesco has been treading water under its new boss, rivals including J Sainsbury and Waitrose have been performing strongly.

There was, however, a glimmer of good news for the biggest supermarket chain, with the Financial Times reporting that industry data showed Tesco enjoying stronger-than-expected sales growth in recent weeks.

Tesco declined to comment on Tuesday evening on its plans for Fresh & Easy.

Today's news about the US is likely to please the City, although seasoned Tesco-watchers have been anticipating the development since Mr Clarke said in October that he needed to be persuaded that the US arm had a future in the group.

It is unclear whether there will be a serious appetite from third parties to buy the Fresh & Easy chain, which leaves open the prospect that Tesco may have to make significant lay-offs as part of its plans to exit the US market.

Theoretically, its strategic review could involve Mr Clarke determining that Tesco should persist with its efforts to conquer the US, but analysts said that was highly unlikely.

"He needs to show some clear leadership on this," one said. "Doing nothing is not an option."

The news of Tesco's decision to review its US business comes as it emerged that another British retailer has rather different expectations for its operations in the country.

As I reported earlier on Tuesday evening, Sir Philip Green is to sell a 25% stake in Arcadia's Topshop and Topman chains to Leonard Green & Partners, a private equity group.

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Autumn Statement: Osborne Tightens The Screw

The Chancellor is to admit that more drastic action is needed to balance the Government's books but will warn in his mini-budget that there are no "miracle cures".

George Osborne is to confirm that Whitehall departments are being ordered to find further cuts to fund £5bn of projects designed to kick-start the economy.

In the Autumn Statement he is also widely expected to concede that sluggish growth means it will take longer to tackle the deficit, and that a key coalition target - to have public sector debt falling by 2015-16 - may be missed.

Mr Osborne will argue that he is "confronting the country's problems, instead of ducking them".

"The public know that there are no miracle cures. Just the hard work of dealing with our deficit and ensuring Britain wins the global race," he will say.

The capital projects will include building or expanding up to 100 new academies and free schools over the next two years, with cash directed at areas experiencing a shortage in classroom places, as well as investment in transport and science and skills.

Labour said the announcement amounted to an admission that the reduction in infrastructure spending since 2010 had been "a catastrophic mistake" and weakened the economy.

Health, schools, international aid, HM Revenue and Customs and nuclear decommissioning will be protected from the latest round of cuts.

The Chancellor is also expected to target the pension pots of higher earners.

He may cut the amount of annual tax relief high earners receive on pension contributions from £50,000 a year to £30,000. Implementing the full cut could raise as much as £1.8bn for the Government.

Mr Osborne is expected to announce a crackdown on people and businesses avoiding or evading tax, with a £77m boost for HM Revenue and Customs to track down those not paying their fair share.

He will also use the statement to signal his approval for up to 30 new gas-powered electricity power stations, as well as floating possible tax breaks and regulatory reforms to encourage investment in innovative "fracking" technologies for extracting gas from shale deposits.

Follow Sky's live coverage of the Autumn Statement on Wednesday:

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Tax: Starbucks, Google And Amazon 'Immoral'

By Darren McCaffrey, Sky News Reporter

Starbucks, Google and Amazon have been accused of "immorally" avoiding paying their fair share of tax in the UK, as the Chancellor prepares a blitz on tax dodgers.

MPs on the Public Accounts Committee criticised the companies for the "unconvincing and, in some cases, evasive" evidence they gave on why their corporation tax payments are so low.

Starbucks told the committee it had made a loss for 14 of the 15 years it has operated in the UK, a claim the committee said it found "difficult to believe".

In a report, the MPs added that Amazon's representative left them frustrated because he was "evasive and unprepared to answer legitimate questions".

They also said Google "undermined its own argument" that profits should be taxed in the countries where they are made because it transfers its non-US profits, including from the UK, to Bermuda, which has a more advantageous tax system.

Starbucks says it is reviewing its tax arrangements

Margaret Hodge, who chairs the Public Accounts Committee, said: "Global companies with huge operations in the UK generating significant amounts of income are getting away with paying little or no corporation tax here.

"This is outrageous and an insult to British businesses and individuals who pay their fair share.

"Corporation tax revenues have fallen at a time when securing proper income from taxes is more vital than ever.

"There is little credible information about what is going on. The evidence we took from large corporations was unconvincing and, in some cases, evasive."

Starbucks has now declared that it is preparing to change its tax affairs so that it pays more into Britain's coffers and there is growing pressure on others to follow suit.

The report was published as George Osborne prepares to unveil a £154m crackdown on wealthy companies and rich individuals who dodge tax.

Officials will be ordered to use the cash to draft in an army of investigators to target high earners who aggressively avoid or evade paying tax.

The money will also fund extra staff to speed up work challenging multinationals' transfer pricing arrangements to stop global companies using legal loopholes to shift profits out of the UK.

However, Mr Osborne has warned against pricing Britain out of the world economy.

"If we make our taxes less competitive, that will just mean more companies stay out of Britain," he said.

But Katja Hall, from the Confederation of British Industry, told Sky News that tax avoidance is not a widespread problem.

"Companies pay £163bn in tax in the UK every year and the large majority of companies pay the right amount of tax," she said.

The Institute of Directors condemned the "hectoring from Westminster" and called for the tax system to be simplified.

Director General Simon Walker said: "If these firms are immoral to take advantage of tax loopholes, then politicians are surely immoral for creating the loopholes in the first place.

"Taxes should be simpler to cut down on avoidance and relieve the burden our complex tax code puts on companies who do try to do the right thing."

An HMRC spokesman said: "HMRC ensures that multinationals pay the tax due in accordance with UK tax law. We have been very successful in reducing tax avoidance by large businesses in recent years.

"We relentlessly challenge those that persist in avoiding tax and have recovered £29bn additional revenues from large businesses in the last six years, including £4.1bn in the last four years from transfer pricing enquiries alone. These figures speak for themselves."

The latest tax crackdown will be outlined in this week's Autumn Statement, which is also expected to contain bleak news for benefits claimants.

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Dandy Comic Publishes Its Final Print Edition

The Dandy's final printed edition goes on sale today as it marks its 75th anniversary by relaunching as an online-only publication.

Britain's longest-running comic will now be available to download online, and as a smartphone and tablet app.

Dundee-based publisher DC Thompson announced in August that the weekly children's comic would make the transition into cyberspace following dwindling sales in recent years.

The issue features a cameo from Sir Paul McCartney, who said in 1963 it was his ambition to appear in the comic, and a pull-out of the first issue from December 4 1937.

The website will feature old favourites Desperate Dan, Bananaman and Korky the Cat in new animated strips, featuring voice overs and sound effects.

Users will also be able to play interactive games, watch videos and create their very own virtual pet.

David Bain, the comic's head of digital development said: "The Dandy is alive and well, and it's going to continue as usual. It's just as of next week it's going to be available online on a regular basis, with all the famous characters and scripts and storylines and humour, as well as games, goodies and interactivity.

"It's all about fun, humour and a bit of mischief, a bit of pranking."

Ellis Watson, chief executive of DC Thompson said: "I appreciate it's almost a deliberately naive venture into the unknown for a publisher that's been cutting down trees for 75 years, squishing them flat and smearing ink all over them.

"We're not super slick, we're not Silicon Valley, but what we are is some pretty talented animators and story tellers that are really excited about seeing if we can introduce these wonderful characters to another couple of generations."

The first online issue will be free of charge, with following issues being priced at £1.49. A yearly subscription for the digital comic will be £29.99.

During its peak circulation in the 1950s, the Dandy sold two million copies each week. This figure has dropped in recent years to around 8,000.

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Singapore Airlines In Virgin Sell-Off Talks

Singapore Airlines has confirmed it is in talks to sell its 49% stake in British carrier Virgin Atlantic.

SIA did not name the interested parties, but the Reuters news agency reported that Delta Air Lines had held recent talks to buy SIA's stake.

Delta, the second-largest US airline by operating revenue, has been looking to acquire a stake in Virgin Atlantic for more than two years in an effort to expand its access to London's Heathrow airport, sources said.

Previous talks broke down over price and other issues, and there is no guarantee that the recent discussions would result in a pact, Reuters quoted the sources as saying.

Delta wants to expand at Heathrow, which operates at close to full capacity

The European Union requires that EU carriers be under European control, meaning Delta would need to involve an EU airline if it sought majority control of Virgin.

Delta has been considering ways to partner with Air France-KLM, which could take an additional stake in Virgin and allow the carriers to acquire majority ownership. Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson owns 51% of the airline.

Delta has made clear that it would like to expand at Heathrow, a lucrative airport for prized corporate passengers where landing slots are generally hard to acquire.

Virgin is the second-largest carrier at Heathrow after British Airways.

Branson, who set up Virgin Atlantic in 1984, has been weighing the airline's future for some time and two years ago appointed Deutsche Bank to examine offers.

"We are always talking to many airlines on a number of different matters but we never comment on the details of these discussions," a Virgin Atlantic spokeswoman said. Delta declined to comment.

Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, is operating at close to full capacity after the Government blocked its expansion in 2010.

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Mega Monday To Make Online Sales History

Online retailers are expecting today to be the busiest shopping day in history.

Recent years have seen online shopping figures consistently peaking on the first Monday in December, dubbed Mega Monday.

Visa Europe predicts £320m will be spent on its cards alone as online transactions top 6.8 million, an increase of 21% on last year, making December 3 this year the busiest online shopping day in history.

It said: "A combination of pay day for the majority of consumers falling on the last Friday of the month and a weekend spent browsing the shops results in shoppers logging on to buy their gifts online on the subsequent Monday.

"All of these factors will result in consumers spending £222,222 per minute, making 4,722 transactions every 60 seconds."

This month will also see more than £11bn withdrawn from cash machines, equating to more than £41,000 per second in the pre-Christmas peak.

Sainsbury's Bank predicts a 1.3% rise in cash withdrawals compared with December last year, to reach a total of £11.1bn.

Friday December 21 is expected to be the busiest day for cash withdrawals, as it is traditionally when shoppers rush to buy last-minute gifts, while this Monday could give online retailers boosts of up to 70%.

Visa Europe commercial director Dr Steve Perry said: "On Mega Monday, people across the UK will go online and use their Visa cards to make 6.8 million transactions, the most in a single day in UK history. That's 21% more than in 2011, signalling that consumers are becoming increasingly accustomed to the advantages of shopping online for everyday purchases and special items, especially in the lead-up to Christmas."

Amazon.co.uk also predicts Cyber Monday to be its biggest single day, with orders set to peak at 9.20pm.

Christopher North, managing director of Amazon.co.uk, said: "Monday December 3 could be the busiest day in the history of Amazon.co.uk, and we're preparing for it by hiring more than 10,000 seasonal employees across our eight UK fulfilment centres."

Marks & Spencer also said it was prepared for what it expects to be its busiest day of the year.

Online analyst Experian expects UK consumers to make 115 million visits to retail websites on this year's Cyber Monday, an increase of 36% on last year.

The busiest shopping day on the high street often falls two days before Christmas Day, with the weekend of December 22 and 23 expected to draw peak numbers of shoppers this year.

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Millions Of Households 'Feel Squeezed'

More than 10 million households are feeling financially squeezed and almost one in 10 have defaulted on a loan, bill or housing costs, a consumer group has said.

Releasing its findings ahead of Chancellor George Osborne's Autumn Statement this week, Which? urged the Government to ensure spiralling energy and food costs are kept under control.

The group's "squeezometer" found almost one in four people are feeling financially squeezed, equating to 10.2 million households.

Researchers found 9% of households have defaulted on a loan, bill or housing costs.

Some 6% of households have gone into an unauthorised overdraft or used a payday loan to tide themselves over.

Researchers highlighted consumers' top worries as the price of fuel, energy and food.

A string of energy firms have recently announced bill hikes, putting further pressure on families this winter.

Food costs are also on the increase, and last week the Office of Fair Trading said eight  supermarkets have agreed to a set of principles following concerns over special offers and promotions for food and drink.

The supermarkets have agreed not to artificially inflate prices to make a later "discount" look more attractive.

Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: "With 10 million households feeling the squeeze and consumer confidence remaining low, the government has a job on its hands to convince people that everything possible is being done to keep unavoidable costs like energy and food bills under control.

"We're looking for further progress in reforming the energy market, an end to misleading food price promotions, and more competition in banking to take some of the pressure off hard-pressed consumers."

The research asked 2,100 UK adults in October if they had experienced a range of financial difficulties in the previous month.

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Making Sense Of Britain's Lopsided Recovery

One of the most common observations you encounter here in London, where Sky News is based, is that despite all the headlines about recession - about the fact that this has been the worst slump in modern British history - it often doesn't feel as if there has been a recession at all.

And it turns out that this is quite right - London and the South East never experienced a double-dip recession at all. And parts of London - particularly the east end of inner London - didn't even see a fall in their economic output in nominal terms during the deepest years of recession, in 2008/09, according to analysis of official statistics by Sky News.

Meanwhile, other parts of the country have seen the sharpest and deepest collapse in recent economic history. The double-dip recession was largely experienced by Northern Ireland and the North East of Britain, according to analysis from Capital Economics.

The difference in economic experience between London and other parts of the UK (it's not even necessarily just a North-South divide as parts of the South are also suffering) is greater than ever before on modern record. And the gap has widened more here in the UK than in any other major economy in recent decades.

With both the Labour and Conservative leaders trying to claim the mantle of being the "one nation" party, it's clear that in economic terms, Britain is anything but.

We have been travelling to postcodes all around the UK to see how the experience of the recession, and the fledgling recovery, has varied throughout. We were disturbed by much of what we saw - families facing more hardship than ever before, while others in London are oblivious. Some households stuck deep in negative equity while others reap the benefits of a property boom.

We have produced a series of television and web pieces about the divergence in experiences depending on the postcode in which you live; we're calling it 'The Lopsided Recovery'.

The first of those pieces concerns the overall growth picture. The official GDP figures show that Britain faced a very sharp recession in 2009, then recovered in 2010 and early 2011, only to face a double dip in 2012. You can see this by looking at the green line in the graph below. But this masks an enormous divergence between regions.

The North East has had a far deeper recession than the broader UK. The size of its economy is still more than 5% below its 2008 peak. Meanwhile, London's economy has more than regained its pre-crisis peak. It never even saw a recession in 2012.

The green line shows the double-dip recession

And if you look in nominal terms (in other words, before you adjust for inflation), East London expanded in 2008 and 2009. It was the only part of the UK to avoid a nominal-terms contraction in that year - aside from Aberdeen, home to the North Sea oil industry, which also grew throughout.

These kinds of divergences in experience are not unusual in an economy - there are always regional disparities in all countries as it's impossible for everyone to be growing at precisely the same speed all the time. But there is evidence that the gulf in experience is greater in the UK than elsewhere.

According to official EU figures, the disparity in real incomes between regions in the UK is greater than in any other European country.

Eurostat said the disparity is greater in Britain than other EU nations

An economic paper produced by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills a couple of years ago found that while the regions of Britain converged economically more than other major countries between 1950 and 1985, between 1995 and 2007 they have diverged more than in other nations.

The worrying trend for the UK is that such disparities have only widened in the recent recession. This looks stark enough on paper - it is even more striking in person.

In Newry, Northern Ireland, where the economy is also more then 5% below the pre-crisis peak, Damien Quinn of one of the neighbourhood community associations, talks of a sharp rise in suicides. Worn out by years of trying and failing to get work, young men (it is almost always young men) are killing themselves to escape the alternative: permanent unemployment, drug dependence and poverty. The latest funeral was just the week before he spoke to us.

Convergence has been reversed in recent years

In Hartlepool, Angie Wilcox of the Owton Manor Residents Association, sees a growing number of people coming through her doors for cheap food and help as they battle unemployment. She fears that welfare reforms will only make locals more desperate.

Meanwhile, in East London's Old Street, the area nicknamed 'Silicon Roundabout', Julia Fowler, who runs tech fashion start-up Editd, says she has barely seen any evidence of recession. It is harder than ever to find decent employees; she has been expanding the business since it started in the depths of recession. For those in London, the main problems are that the cost of living - particularly when it comes to housing - just keeps rising, along with the local economy.

There's nothing inherently perverse about one part of the country performing better or worse than another. After all, a nation state is a union of different economic and cultural areas. However, the longer one part of the country remains so far shy of the rest, the more it will have to be subsidised by its richer regional neighbours. This kind of regional redistribution already happens: according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research, London taxpayers pay a subsidy of around 20% which goes to its regional neighbours; Northern Ireland receives a subsidy of almost 30%.

The longer such imbalances persist, the more resentment is generated on both sides: one has only to look at Greece and the rest of the Eurozone, which is an analogous situation, except in a dysfunctional currency area. And the longer certain parts of the country are excluded from economic success, their people consigned to more or less permanent unemployment, the more difficult they will find it to regain their feet at any point in the future.

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