Your commercial news round-up: BBC, migration measures, bankruptcy, batteries

Reading time: three minutes

The BBC has a new chair, new measures to tackle migration have been released and they’re going to hit women the hardest, and one in five British councils are at risk of bankruptcy. Plus, do you have candles and battery-powered torches at home? If not, the deputy prime minister says it’s important that you stock up to prepare for possible emergencies. Read on for this week’s commercial news.

• Television veteran Samir Shah has been named as the government’s choice for chair of the BBC. The broadcaster has had a temporary chair since April after Richard sharp resigned over his secret loan to Boris Johnson. An investigation conducted by the UK commissioner of public appointments concluded that Sharp had broken rules by failing to declare an £800,000 loan made to Boris Johnson. The investigation also unearthed that Sharp’s appointment as BBC chair had been personally authorised by Boris Johnson, as while the BBC is politically independent, its chairperson is appointed by the government. Shah, who will need to have his appointment authorised by King Charles, described the BBC as “without doubt, one of the greatest contributions we have made to global culture”. As chair, Shah will be tasked with protecting the independence of the BBC and ensuring it fulfils its mission to “inform, educate and entertain”.
   
• In political news, on Monday the recently appointed Home Secretary James Cleverly announced measures to tackle legal migration. One of the most dramatic measures is the plan to raise the minimum salary a British citizen or settled migrant must earn for their family to join them in the UK. The earning requirement has more than doubled, going from £18,600 to £38,700. Although unpublished Home Office figures estimate this hike will make very little difference to net migration levels, experts have warned that these changes will wreak havoc and disproportionately impact women because they earn less. In fact, three quarters of women in the UK earned below the new threshold. Colin Yeo, a barrister and founder of Free Movement, an immigration law website, said the change would “destroy many lives”, adding: “It’s particularly punishing to those outside London, minority communities and British citizens returning from abroad.”
   
• Nearly one in five English councils are at risk of bankruptcy, according to a survey conducted by the Local Government Association. Local government leaders have warned that the financial crisis is forcing them to increase council tax bills and impose cuts to services. The news comes after Nottingham City Council became the fourth authority in the past 12 months to issue a Section 114 notice to declare insolvency. Inflationary costs and what the Guardian describes as an “exploding demand” for child protection, adult social care and homelessness services, has left council bosses believing their councils will go under within the next 15 months.
   
• The deputy prime minister has urged the British public to stock up on candles and battery-powered devices in case of a grid meltdown. Oliver Dowden has said people should buy battery-powered radios, torches and candles in order to be prepared in the event of a national crisis wiping out the UK’s digital network or power supplies. Dowden stated that the public have become too reliant on internet-powered devices and will be creating a “resilience website” with tips and advice on problems such as power cuts, as well as phishing scams. Dowden has also released a list of 89 possible threats, which include disruptions to Britain’s energy supplies, drone attacks and threats to transatlantic telecommunication cables.