Business news live: Pound falls against dollar as Brexit turmoil deepens

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Sterling has fallen sharply against other major currencies (AFP/Getty)

Political upheavals in Westminster have sent the pound down sharply against the dollar and euro today.

Asian and European stock markets are also down after US Democrats called for in impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump, deepening the uncertainty facing America's economy.

Key Points

• Pound crashes against dollar and euro as political uncertainty deepens
• Tobacco giants Philip Morris and Altria cancel $200bn mega-merger
• Wrightbus falls into administration, putting 1,400 jobs at risk

   

[25 September 2019 12:43 · ben.chapman]

'Angry, disappointed and let down'

Wrightbus worker Gordon Mairs expressed disgust after dedicating decades to his job.

He said: "I feel angry, disappointed and let down."

He said last week they were close to a deal to save the plant but the situation had taken a downturn over the last day or two.

"Officially we were made redundant this morning, we have no jobs. Twenty-two years I have been an employee."

He started as an apprentice and worked his way up to become a quality inspector.

"Officially now I have no job."

PA news agency

[25 September 2019 13:05 · ben.chapman]

Water company warns of hosepipe ban

A company providing water to 3.6 million homes across London and the Home Counties has said it may ban customers from using hosepipes in Spring.

"After three years of lower than average rainfall, we are considering introducing temporary restrictions on water use (known as hosepipe bans) in Spring 2020," Affinity Water said in a statement.

"Like all water companies, we depend on rain for the water we supply to you. Even with the recent spell of rain, it is not enough. We will need consistent, above average, rainfall throughout autumn and winter 2019/20 for water levels to recover."

[25 September 2019 13:11 · ben.chapman]

Tobacco giants Philip Morris and Altria cancel merger

Merger talks between two of the world's largest cigarette companies, Philip Morris and Altria, have been called off.

It also emerged he chief executive of Juul, the e-cigarette maker which is 35 per cent owned by Altria, will step down.

Juul today announced it would halt its advertising in the the US.

The shake-up comes as the outlook for vaping products looks increasingly uncertain.

A number of recent deaths have been linked to a mysterious lung condition thought to be caused by vaping.

[25 September 2019 13:26 · ben.chapman]

Nissan recalls 1.2 million cars in US

Nissan is recalling 1.23 million SUVs and saloon cars over problems with cameras in the vehicles.

The cameras are designed to help drivers reverse but have a fault which can give an inaccurate image, Nissan said.

The Japanese car maker said in a letter to US authorities that the fault  "could lead to an increased risk of an accident in the event the driver does not re-adjust the display before reversing."

Affected models include the popular Rogue and Altima. 

[25 September 2019 14:44 · ben.chapman]

A terrible day for the pound which is now down 0.9 per cent against the dollar in this session to $1.238.

Sterling has also dropped 0.5 per cent against the euro to €1.127.

[25 September 2019 15:38 · ben.chapman]

Google won't pay licence fee for using publishers' content in results 

Google will not pay publishers in France for using snippets of their content in its search results, as a new EU directive demands.

Instead, the tech giant will change the way it shows previews for news stories o avoid having to pay any fees.

Google will stop showing lines of text and a photo for articles by European publishers in France, the first country to implement an EU directive aimed at protecting companies and individuals that create content.

The directive requires search engines to pay for offering up anything more than "very short extracts" of news articles.

Publishers have said that Google profits off of their work by serving up paid-for adverts next to results which include extracts of articles.