Morning Business News, Wednesday 28 July: BP Plc, Vedanta Resources, utility bills and double dip recession.

BP Plc (LON:BP) shares are likely to eek out further gains in the near future say brokers at Credit Suisse and Macquarie.

Vedanta Resources faces protests

A band of celebrities, human rights organisations and concerned investors plans to swamp Wednesday’s annual meeting of Vedanta Resources (LON:VED) to voice long-escalating complaints about what they see as the Indian miner’s persecution of a nature-worshipping tribe in India.

Bianca Jagger will read a letter on behalf of tribal elders from the Dongria Kondh, a tribe that allegedly opposes the FTSE 100 group’s plans to build a bauxite mine on their homeland in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa state. Vedanta disputes this claim, the FT reports.

Utility bill increases

Householders face a £300-a-year rise in their gas and electricity bills and significant cuts in how much energy they use if Britain is to “keep the lights on” and meet its climate change targets, the Government has said.

In the Coalition’s first annual energy statement to the Commons, Chris Huhne, the Energy Secretary, outlined plans to transform Britain’s power system and cut carbon emissions by 80% within the next 40 years, the Telegraph reports.

Osborne increases chance of double dip

George Osborne's emergency Budget has increased the chances of the British economy experiencing a second recession next year.

The country's longest-established economic think tank, the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, says today that the chances of output falling next year have risen from about one in seven to a fifth, as result of the tough measures the Chancellor announced on 22 June, the Independent reports.