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FT Business News

FSA searches for new enforcement chief

The financial watchdog is casting its net across three continents and has asked headhunters to help find a replacement for Margaret Cole

Pig farmers eye huge China market

The UK agriculture minister is heading to Beijing to put the finishing touches to a breakthrough trade deal offering £50m of pork sales

Legal bargains plan goes before MPs

Solicitor-general is to bring plan to parliament which would see companies pay large fines in exchange for suspension of criminal case

HMRC faces quest to replace tax chiefs

Four of the top five officials are set to leave in a spate of departures that will strip the department of its most experienced professionals

GM set to build new Astra on Merseyside

Jaguar Land Rover continues to ramp up production of Evoque ‘baby Range Rover, at Halewood, which was threatened with closure a decade ago

Concerns raised on apprenticeship programme

A committee of MPs has welcomed the rise in numbers but questioned the quality and duration of some schemes

Cameron holds line with business leaders

The UK is ‘moving in the right direction’, says PM, insisting he will not “blow the budget on more spending” to try to stimulate the economy

BBC confirms digital switch for ‘Blue Peter’

The long-running children’s show is being moved off BBC1 as part of a shake-up aimed at making savings of £700m a year

Bank of England optimism dented again

International debate is red-hot with estimates of effects of austerity on growth, but UK inflation report did not address the issue of how these might apply here

Surprise fall in UK unemployment

Unemployment in the UK has fallen unexpectedly by 45,000 to 2.63m while annual average earnings growth has slowed to 0.6 per cent

Greggs to propose alternative to VAT move

Ken McMeikan, chief executive, will make a formal response to the Treasury concerning government plans to add the tax to all hot takeaway food

Businesses brace for Greek exit

Some Asian and US groups say they will feel little impact from Greece leaving the euro while their European counterparts prepare for the worst

Face ‘hard truths’, CBI head tells bosses

Sir Roger Carr will warn colleagues they have lost respect, have an outdated sense of entitlement and are failing to export to the right markets

Weak controls cost A4e work contract

The training company that was embroiled in allegations of fraud has been stripped of a government project but cleared to retain 16 others

EU to push for binding investor pay votes

Barnier’s initiative would hand bank shareholders voting power to curb ‘morally indefensible’ pay and limit the gap between the lowest and highest paid

Brooks brands charges a witch-hunt

Former News International chief to appear in court next month on charges that she conspired to conceal documents, computers and other material

EDF confident Hollande will not hurt UK deal

Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive, says France’s new president will not block EDF’s plans to build two nuclear reactors in the UK

Loans for youngsters to start a business

Downing Street’s enterprise adviser outlines plans for a £10m fund to allow under-25s to set up a company with loans like those for undergraduates

ECJ official backs flight delay damages

European Court of Justice advocate-general says passengers delayed by three hours or more have right to compensation from their airline

Collins joins queue to criticise May

Colin Matthews, chief executive, says meetings with foreign executives confirmed fears about the effects of long queues at immigration

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