Key events
ASLEF members are on strike today at Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway and West Midlands Trains.
Solidarity to all those seeking a fair deal at work.#ASLEFStrike pic.twitter.com/qLYxySVDlp
— ASLEF (@ASLEFunion) May 8, 2024
During a week of rail strikes, in nearly 2 years of this industrial action, I spoke to commuters, the ASLEF union, and those involved in pay deal negotiations for train drivers. More on @BBCLondonNews pic.twitter.com/4oZjOjOoCF
— Luxmy Gopal (@luxmy_g) May 7, 2024
Introduction: Train strikes halt most services in west of England, Midlands and routes to Scotland and Wales
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.
There’s more disruption for rail passengers in England today, after train drivers began another round of industrial action on Monday to push for better pay and conditions.
In a three-day strike, drivers in the Aslef union will strike for 24 hours at each of England’s national train operators over the course of three days from Tuesday until Thursday, and an overtime ban will apply nationwide from Monday until Saturday.
The first wave yesterday affected commuter routes into London. Today, there’s a 24-hour strike at Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway and West Midlands Trains – halting most services in the west of England, Midlands and routes to Scotland and Wales. Tomorrow, drivers will strike at LNER, Northern and TransPennine Express.
The union is pushing for an improved pay offer, with some of its members not having had a pay rise for five years. The last talks broke down a year ago.
The Rail Delivery Group, representing train operators, emailed Aslef late last week to suggest discussions about a framework for formal talks, which the union said it welcomed.
Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker, has forecast a near-20% drop in annual profit, after safety scandals forced it to cut back production. The Japanese carmaker plans to invest 1.7tn yen (£8.8bn) in electric vehicle and artificial intelligence technology to keep up with rivals.
Honda and Nissan, Japan’s second- and third-largest carmakers, recently joined forces to work together on electric vehicle technology.
Toyota said operating income will fall by 19.7% to 4.3tn yen in the year to March 2025, which is worse than expected. It also said it would buy back up to 1tn yen, around 3% of its shares.
The Agenda
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8.30am BST: Sweden Riksbank rate decision (forecast: cut from 4% to 3.75%)
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9am BST: Italy Retail sales for March
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12.00pm BST: US MBA Mortgage applications for week of 3 May
