The week in review
We look at this week’s major news stories and how they affect our readers.
The UK faces a hung parliament following last night’s general election.
The Conservatives won the most seats to become the biggest party in the House of Commons. However, they did not achieve the 326 votes necessary to form a majority government.
The Labour party gained the second highest number of seats and the Liberal Democrats remain the third largest party.
David Cameron said: ‘It is already clear that the Labour Government has lost its mandate to govern our country’.
He plans to make a ‘big, open and comprehensive offer’ to the Liberal Democrat party in an effort to form a government.
Concern about the mortgage markets
An 83 per cent drop in mortgage lending sparked fears about the future of the housing market this week.
Net mortgage lending fell to £318 million in March from £1.85 billion the previous month, according to Bank of England figures. March’s figure was the lowest since July last year.
Although the number of mortgage approvals rose to 48,901 in March, this falls below the average figure for the previous six months of 54,201.
Slight fall in pay freezes
Almost a third of salary settlements involve a pay freeze according to figures released this week.
Incomes Data Services (IDS) found 31 per cent of salary negotiations did not include an increase in the three months leading up to the end of March.
This figure is an improvement from the three months before the end of February in which 34 per cent of negotiations resulted in pay freezes.
Bailed-out RBS back in profit
The Royal Bank of Scotland has announced a £713 million operating profit in the first three months of 2010.
This result is up from a £1.35 billion loss during the same time last year.
The bank, which is more than 80 per cent owned by the taxpayer, attributes the turnaround to corporate restructuring and a 14 per cent drop in the number of bad debts.
However, the cost of taking part in the Asset Protection Scheme and the remaining bad debts will leave RBS with a pre-tax loss of £21 million.
Personal insolvencies reach record highs
More people than ever are being declared insolvent, according to official figures.
The Insolvency Service reported there were 35,682 personal insolvencies in England and Wales during the first three months of 2010. This is an increase of almost 18 per cent from this time in 2009.
Levels of personal insolvency have increased for nine consecutive quarters.
Ash cloud returns
We hoped we’d heard the last of this story but it seems the volcanic ash just won’t clear.
A fresh ash cloud closed airports in Scotland and Ireland this week causing delays for thousands of passengers.
Experts warn seismic activity and strong winds could mean the Eyjafjoell volcano may disrupt our skies for months.
With many of us preparing for our summer holidays, further ash clouds could spell disaster.
**This material is for information purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. We strongly encourage our readers not to rely solely on this content, but to seek independent advice when making financial decisions.**
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