PRESS DIGEST - Financial Times - April 14

Financial Times

Monday, 14 April 2008

VOTERS LOSE CONFIDENCE IN BROWN'S ABILITIES

A Financial Times/Harris poll has found Prime Minister Gordon Brown is less trusted to steer his country through the current global financial meltdown than any other major European leader. The poll found 68 percent of the respondents were not "confident at all" in his government's ability to deal with the economic crisis. The comparative number of respondents expressing the same sentiments for the governments of Germany, the United States, France, Italy and Spain were 52 percent, 51 percent, 50 percent, 43 percent and 36 percent respectively. The poll confirms findings from other surveys that voters have lost confidence in Brown's economic competence.

GOVERNMENT SET TO SCRAP TWO-YEAR DEFENCE BUDGETS

The government is poised to scrap a system of two-year defence budgets for the Defence Ministry that it introduced four years ago to give the industry greater planning certainty and will revert to its former one-year budget cycle. The move, which risks alienating Britain's defence industry, comes as the government struggles to rein in defence spending. Despite the proposed changes to the budget planning, sources said the government would take a decision on big contracts in the coming weeks.

ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY HITS ADVERTISING BUDGETS

A survey of UK marketing sentiments published on Monday has found the current economic climate is affecting spending on corporate marketing, with advertising budgets, except for Internet advertising, being cut for the second consecutive quarter. The survey was conducted by NTC Economics, a research group, which polls a panel of 300 companies drawn from the UK's top 2,000 companies every quarter for the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. The NTC survey also found the steepest budget cuts were in direct marketing, sales promotion and corporate events and hospitality.

SCOTTISH PUBLIC SERVICES "COULD DO BETTER"