Economy
Osborne will oversee 1.3 million job losses |
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| Economy | |
| Written by Paul Williams | |
| Wednesday, 30 June 2010 | |
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Morning Business News, Wednesday 30 June: George Osborne, job losses, austerity budget, BBC faces strike action, investors get into BP, Anadarko.
George Osborne's austerity budget will result in the loss of up to 1.3m jobs across the economy over the next five years according to a private Treasury assessment of the planned spending cuts. BBC faces strike actionThe BBC was threatened with a strike yesterday as it became the first public sector body to take the axe to its pension scheme. About 18,000 employees will have future pension benefits watered down in a move the BBC said would eventually cut its pension bill by one third. New recruits will no longer be able to join the scheme, a defined-benefit plan that guarantees a decent pension regardless of the gyrations in share markets or life expectancy. They will be offered a cheaper defined-contribution scheme, the Times reports. BP shares riseBP Plc (LON:BP) shares are over 7% higher this morning after a prominent City expert suggested it should be bought by US rival Exxon Mobil in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Fred Lucas, an energy analyst at JP Morgan Cazenove, speculated that Exxon or Shell could swoop on the beleagured British oil giant for approximately £88bn. Exxon is the most financially strong oil company, he said, adding that it could make a cash and stock offer while spinning off $50bn (£33bn) of refining and marketing assets. "We must emphasise," Mr Lucas adds in the note, "that this is our idea and it is only an idea," the Telegraph reports. AnadarkoAnadarko, the US partner to BP in its ill-fated Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, approved several key aspects of the UK company's designs for the project that have been sharply criticised by Washington lawmakers. Anadarko, which owns 25% of Macondo, also knew of significant operational decisions made by BP that some lawmakers believe could have been a factor in causing the explosion at the well, according to senior executives at both companies, the FT reports.
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