THE DAILY BRIEFING

OIL BLUEPRINT

The North Sea oil and gas industry must transform within the next two years to avoid ‘rapid and premature decline’, according to a report.

Industry and the Government should take lessons from countries such as Norway and Saudi Arabia, the PwC research found. It comes as the sector faces up to 120,000 job losses in the next two years following the plunge in oil prices.

SPENDING SLOWS

Household spending saw the weakest increase in more than two years in May as uncertainty over the EU and a slowing global economy knocked consumer confidence.

Spending increased by 0.8pc annually in May, slowing from a 2.6pc increase in April, according to Visa UK’s Consumer Spending Index.

RENT PAIN

Young Britons face seeing nearly half of their post-tax income swallowed up by rent.

Lettings network Countrywide found a single person aged between 22 and 29 would, on average, spend 48pc of their post-tax income on renting a one-bedroom home – up from 45pc in 2007.

HOUSING WOE

Planning applications for office to residential conversions have fallen by a fifth in the past year, it has been revealed.

Peer to peer lender Saving Stream, which conducted the research, blamed a lack of bank funding for restricting the number of projects.

HEALTH PROBLEMS

The Government is being urged to give tax breaks to firms to help tackle a ‘chronic’ sickness absence problem. The EEF manufacturers’ group said they would encourage employers to pay for private treatment and ease the burden on the NHS.

ENERGY SWITCH

Around one in six dual fuel customers are with an independent supplier, consultancy Cornwall Energy found, an increase from one in eight in 2015.