Closing summary: No. 10 in dispute with Microsoft over approach to business
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is quite at home on the US West Coast (so much so that he and his wife own a penthouse in Santa Monica), so he probably will not welcome being drawn into a war of words with one of the world’s biggest tech companies over his government’s approach to business.
Microsoft reacted furiously after the UK’s competition regulator on Wednesday blocked its $69bn (£55bn) mega-deal to buy games maker Activision Blizzard. Microsoft president Brad Smith criticised the UK’s post-Brexit direction, taking aim at the central project of the Conservative government over the past seven years. He said:
For all of us who had some hope that the UK post-Brexit, that the UK would construct a structure that would even be more flexible, that would be better for investment, better for technology, we’re now finding that the opposite appears to be true.
Sunak’s spokesman was forced to respond that Smith’s comments were “not borne out by the facts”.
We continue to believe, as I set out, that the UK has an extremely attractive tech sector and a growing games market. We will continue to engage proactively with Microsoft and other companies. That won’t change.
In other news from the business world today:
The UK government had probably hoped that its biggest business intervention of the week would be its gambling white paper, which laid out tighter regulations for the sector aimed at preventing heavy losses on the most addictive online products.
The new boss of the Confederation of British Industry said it is likely to be renamed as part of an overhaul following a sexual harassment scandal revealed by the Guardian.
The US economy slowed sharply from January through March, decelerating to just a 1.1% annual pace as higher interest rates hammered the housing market and businesses reduced inventories.
The train drivers’ union Aslef has announced three more days of rail strikes in May and June, dashing hopes that the long-running dispute could be coming to an end.
You can continue to follow our live coverage from around the world:
In the UK, Steve Barclay says the Royal College of Nursing left him with no choice but to go to court to block unlawful strike
In the US, Kevin McCarthy basks in rare win after Republicans unite to pass debt ceiling plan
In our coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war, Moscow makes nuclear weapons threat if ‘patience’ is ‘tested’; Mykolaiv death toll rises to seven
In our coverage of the Sudan crisis, the UK appeals to generals to put Sudanese people first as fighting intensifies in Darfur
Thank you for following today, and please do join me tomorrow for more live coverage. JJ
Flutter Entertainment, the owner of Betfair and Paddy Power, has said the UK government’s gambling reforms could cost the FTSE 100 company between £50m and £100m a year from 2024 onwards.
That adds to £150m already “removed” from its revenues by voluntary actions and extra costs made ahead of the rules, it said.
Liz Ritchie founded campaign group Gambling with Lives, with her husband after their son, Jack, took his life because of gambling addiction. She said:
After a long fight we’ve won concessions on some of the key areas but so much more needs to happen to reduce the horrendous harm caused by one of the most loosely regulated gambling industries in the world.
We’ve won the argument against a powerful gambling lobby but this is just the beginning. There’s another family devastated by gambling suicide every day, and we won’t stop until the deaths do.
Peter Jackson, Flutter’s chief executive, said the reforms were “a significant positive moment for the UK gambling sector, raising standards and bringing the regulatory framework into the digital age”.
Flutter said it will lobby in the consultations on rules for “providing support to the minority at risk of gambling harm without interfering disproportionately with the enjoyment of the vast majority”.
