Here are the business stories making the headlines across Scotland and the UK this morning.
Ed Miliband sends armed police to guard gas terminals
Ed Miliband has tasked the nuclear police force with strengthening its presence across Britain as the Government seeks to protect key energy projects following a rise in climate protests.
The Energy Secretary has called on the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC), an armed police force, to expand its remit beyond nuclear sites to protect vast gas terminals.
It comes amid rising geopolitical tensions and an increase in the number of climate protests across the UK, as groups such as Just Stop Oil and Greenpeace increasingly target fossil fuel plants.
Oil and gas sites are currently policed by groups from the Ministry of Defence, although the CNC, which employs around 1,600 people, will take over responsibilities in April. Their immediate priority will be guarding the UK’s coastal gas plants, with job adverts indicating that the CNC is seeking new officers at the St Fergus terminal in Aberdeenshire and at Easington in Hull.
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Oliver Dowden interviewed in election day betting probe
Sir Oliver Dowden has become the most senior figure to be interviewed by the Gambling Commission over betting on the date of the general election.
The former deputy prime minister is the latest ally of Rishi Sunak to be questioned by the watchdog, which regulates betting in the UK.
Mr Sunak has not yet been interviewed, Sky News reported, although “numerous people” including Conservative Party officials have been.
Hundreds of documents have also been seized as part of the investigation.
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Yousaf accused of breaking ministerial code over Gaza relatives
Humza Yousaf has been accused of breaking the ministerial code after using his office to lobby the Foreign Office to put his mother and father-in-law on a “priority list” for evacuation from Gaza last year.
Official documents have revealed that Scotland’s former first minister attempted to get his family moved “nearer the front of the queue” as his parents-in-law sought refuge in neighbouring Egypt before flying home to Scotland.
The documents, released through Freedom of Information requests, revealed that Yousaf’s private office tried to lobby Foreign Office officials and ministers about the plight of his wife Nadia’s parents after Israel’s retaliatory assault on the Palestinian enclave.
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Partners’ pay packets to be cut by 5% at Deloitte
Equity partners in the UK arm of Deloitte will suffer a 5 per cent pay cut as the accounting group makes “difficult choices” in a tough market.
Deloitte UK’s 27,000 accountants and consultants generated fees of £5.7 billion in the year ended in May, a 2 per cent rise on the previous 12 months.
However its distributable operating profit, the sum shared by its 749 equity partners in the UK and Switzerland, was flat at £756 million. Average profit per partner fell by 5 per cent; they will receive just over £1 million each.
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