LONDON’S BUSINESS NEWSPAPER
THE KLEIN-MAN IN THE KNOW THE COLUMN THAT GETS THE SQUARE MILE TALKING P11 THURSDAY 26 JANUARY 2023
ISSUE 3,923
BY MAYORAL DECREE LORD MAYOR NICHOLAS LYONS ON HIS LONG CITY CAREER P13
CITYAM.COM
FREE ARTS BATTLE
La tragedia: Opera House and BP split JAMES SILVER
VOLT FROM THE BLUE AUSSIE FIRM MOVES FOR BRITISHVOLT AS HOPES FOR RESCUE OF COLLAPSED FIRM INCREASE
NICHOLAS EARL AND STAFF HOPES for a thriving UK electric vehicle industry received an unexpected spark last night after an 11th hour Aussie bid for the recently collapsed Britishvolt. The once-feted battery start-up, which had planned to build a lithium-ion battery plant in the north east, fell into administration last week. But Recharge Industries, looking to build a similar plant just outside of
Melbourne, told financial press down under that a takeover of the firm would make geopolitical sense amid ongoing concerns over the use of Chinese kit in future technologies. “Strengthening our friends in the UK, especially when most others are kicking them when they’re down, is in our interest and definitely in the spirit of (Australia-UK-US security pact) Aukus,” he told the Australian Financial Review. Recharge sits under New York
investment outfit Scale Facilitation. A number of firms are said to be considering a move for Britishvolt, with widespread media reports that Indian giant Tata could also be circling. While ministers are not directly involved in the administration process, which is being undertaken by EY, the rescue of Britishvolt would be seen as a boon for the UK manufacturing sector at large. Last night business minister Nusrat
Ghani said that “any credible options” would be taken seriously. Britishvolt’s administration in part came about because of a refusal by the UK government to devote taxpayer cash to the project until it had hit specific milestones related to construction and private sector financial commitments – which it failed to do. Production of lithium-ion batteries in the UK is considered a vital part of any future electric vehicle industry in the UK.
OIL giant BP has ended its more than three-decade-long association with the Royal Opera House after a barrage of activist pressure. BP had previously sponsored outreach programmes for the Opera House, including the BP Big Screens initiative which showed opera and ballet in Trafalgar Square. An activist group calling itself ‘Culture Unstained’ welcomed the move, describing BP as a “climate-wrecking business” that has no business in the arts world. BP is planning to invest £1bn in electric vehicle charging in the UK in the next 10 years and is developing three UK offshore wind projects which would power over six million homes. BP said they were “proud” to have supported the Opera House. They aren’t the first to have been attacked by activists for sponsorship of the Arts, with Shell being forced to end a more than decade-long partnership with the National Gallery.
Spoons boss blames the taxman as he prepares to offload a host of London pubs JACK MENDEL AND STAFF PUBS in Holborn, Islington and Battersea are on the block as Wetherspoon’s founder Tim Martin looks to rightsize his cheap-andcheerful empire. Martin slammed the government in a typically colourful trading
update, complaining that the “vast disparity” in the treatment of pubs and supermarkets was encouraging Brits to swig on the sofa rather than head down to the local. “Supermarkets pay zero VAT in respect of food sales, whereas pubs and restaurants pay 20 per cent,” he said yesterday.
“This tax benefit allows supermarkets to subsidise the selling price of beer.” The Norwich-born entrepreneur however said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the year to come despite the combined headwinds of a cost of
living crisis and significantly higher energy bills. Sales were still around 0.7 per cent down on prepandemic levels, he said. Rail strikes also had a “negative” effect, Martin told the news agency Reuters.
The firm is trying to sell around 35 more pubs on top of the 10 it has already offloaded in recent months. “Unless the industry campaigns strongly for equality, it will inevitably shrink... which will not help high streets, tourism, the economy overall, or the ancient institution of the pub,” he added.
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