Skip to content
Search
AI Powered
Latest Stories

Retail trade union calls for election to tackle cost of living crisis

Retail trade union calls for election to tackle cost of living crisis
People pass closed-down shops on July 1, 2022 in Chatham, England. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
Getty Images

Retail trade union is calling for an election to deliver a government that will tackle the cost of living crisis and deliver a new deal for workers now that prime minister Boris Johnson has resigned.

Scandal-ridden Johnson announced on Thursday (7) that he would quit as prime minister after he dramatically lost the support of his ministers and most Conservative lawmakers, but said he would stay on until his successor was chosen.


Bowing to the inevitable as more than 50 ministers quit and lawmakers said he must go, an isolated and powerless Johnson said it was clear his party wanted someone else in charge, but that his forced departure was “eccentric”.

“Today I have appointed a cabinet to serve, as I will, until a new leader is in place,” Johnson said outside his Downing Street office where his speech was watched by close allies and his wife Carrie.

Responding to the political turmoil amid acute cost of living crisis owing to decades-high inflation in the country, Paddy Lillis- Usdaw General Secretary- said that “we need an election and a Labour Government to turn around the economy and get the country back on track”.

“While the government has been paralysed by internal scandal and focused on desperate attempts to save a discredited PM; working people have been struggling to make ends meet in the midst of the Tories’ cost of living crisis. The government’s repeated failure to bring forward a promised employment bill means there has not been a much needed new deal for workers,” Lillis said.

“The Prime Minister’s omnishambles has lurched from one crisis to another, with widespread law-breaking, tolerance of appalling behaviour and a disregard for the ministerial code of conduct across the government. In the meantime working people are suffering in low-paid and insecure work at a time when prices, fuel and energy costs are rocketing.

“It is time for a change, he cannot continue as a caretaker. The ministers who stayed to the bitter end or resigned at the eleventh hour, along with the Conservative party as a whole have absolutely no credibility. This is the third PM in six years to be brought down by Tory infighting.”

More for you

Post Office cash deposits and withdrawals
Post Office, DPD partners to rollout ‘Click and Collect’ services
Post Office, DPD partners to rollout ‘Click and Collect’ services

Parliament to launch inquiry into Post Office Horizon scandal compensation delays

Parliament is to launch an inquiry into delays in compensation settlements for sub postmasters affected by the Horizon scandal.

The newly-formed Business and Trade Select Committee will call ministers, subpostmasters and their lawyers to give evidence next week with a second session to follow in mid-November. The Committee’s chair, Liam Byrne MP told ITV News that there was “definitely a delay” in people coming forward for payment.

Keep ReadingShow less
C-store body warns of 'inflation-busting increase in wage costs'
Woman Holding British Pound
Getty Images/iStockphoto

C-store body warns of 'inflation-busting increase in wage costs'

Convenience store body Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) today (30) has warned the Chancellor about the negative effects of the new National Living Wage (NLW) increase, a day after the Chancellor announced a pay rise for over 3 million workers next year, with NLW rates rising by 6.7 perc cent.

From April 2025, the NLW will increase from £11.44 to £12.21 while 18-20 National Minimum Wage will rise by £1.40 per hour to £10 - the largest increase on record, marking the first step towards a single adult rate.

Keep ReadingShow less
Bacup Wine and Convenience shop, 34 Burnley Road, Bacup.

Bacup Wine and Convenience shop, 34 Burnley Road, Bacup.

Robbie MacDonald via LDRS

Shop’s licence bid rejected over illegal vapes and ‘no regard’ for children’s safety

A Rossendale shop has had a licence bid rejected after repeatedly selling vapes to children and having illegal products on its premises.

Management at the Ibra Superstore at 34 Burnley Road, Bacup, have shown ‘no regard’ for children’s protection and safety, and have insufficient controls for licensing, Rossendale councillors have ruled.

Keep ReadingShow less
SPAR retailer hits target to secure £100,000 free stock from James Hall

SPAR retailer hits target to secure £100,000 free stock from James Hall

SPAR North of England retailer Dara Singh Randhawa’s family store has been awarded £100,000 of free stock after hitting all his targets since moving to the symbol.

Dara and his family, who have their SPAR store in Patrington in the East Riding of Yorkshire, joined SPAR through its association with James Hall & Co. Ltd in August 2023 having taken the decision to maximise the store’s potential.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pound Sterling bank notes
iStock

National Living Wage to increase to £12.21 in April 2025

The government has on Wednesday announced its acceptance of the Low Pay Commission’s (LPC) recommendations on the rates of the National Minimum Wage (NMW), including the National Living Wage (NLW).

The rates which will apply from 1 April 2025 are as follows:

Keep ReadingShow less