THE BRIEFING
THE POLITICS BUSINESS
TALKS OF ENDING ROUGH SLEEPING, VAT cuts on energy bills and capping bus fares have excited many. Others look at Andy Burnham’ s new position as UK leader with more hesitancy. The newly appointed Prime Minister has let the business world peer into his economic plans one day at a time since he first stood podium-less at Downing Street on 20 July. The leader’ s strategy to cut business rates for pubs, clubs and music venues in England by 20 % suggest a desire to reinvigorate the country’ s culture and nightlife scene. Furthermore, the Prime Minister has spoken on the possibility of unfreezing income tax personal allowance – currently capped at £ 12,570( US $ 16,805) – potentially offering breathing room to basic rate taxpayers, as well as the prospect of decentralising the country’ s power and empowering local councils and public control.
THE LAW OF FASHION
THE FASHION WORLD is no stranger to excess. For Europe, that’ s about to change. Under new rules set by the European Union, it is now illegal for large companies to destroy clothes or shoes due to excessive and unsold stock. Instead, they must prioritise products by selling them or preparing them for reuse. The measure was put in place under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation to prevent the waste of usable products and the materials used to make them.