(Title Image: © Copyright Robin Drayton and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence BY-SA-2.0)
More high street casualties
Several major high street chains have announced mass closures following administration.
The Arcadia group – which owns Topshop, Burton and other brands – entered administration earlier this week and was closely followed by the announcement of liquidation proceedings at the department store Debenhams.
Both announcements will lead to tens of thousands of job losses across the UK and come hot on the heels of the recent announcement that Peacocks has entered administration.
Petition threshold increased
Petitions submitted to the Senedd will now require 10,000 signatures before triggering a plenary debate. The previous limit was 5,000 signatures.
The new limit will apply to all petitions closing after 1st December 2020. The decision was based on increasing engagement with the public petitions system.
Petitions Committee Chair, Janet Finch-Saunders MS (Con, Aberconwy) said: “To date, 31 petitions have passed the 5,000 signature threshold during 2020, far exceeding the Senedd’s ability to accommodate debates during plenary meetings. The Committee has requested four debates during this autumn term alone.
“Therefore, we have reluctantly decided to change the threshold to help set clearer expectations for people using the petitions process about the ability for the Senedd to hold debates on petitions.”
Growing calls for schools to close a week early for Christmas
Several local authorities have reportedly entered talks with the Welsh Government over bringing forward the Christmas school holidays by a week to cut the risk of spreading Covid-19 in the run-up to Christmas itself.
The school holiday is currently set to start on 21st December, but councils have argued that it should be brought forward to 11th December.
At the time of writing, the Welsh Government rejects the move. They said: “We have had regular dialogue with local authorities and unions throughout the pandemic and these discussions continue. Our priority remains ensuring that all children and young people’s education continues with as little disruption as possible.”
Low-cost airliner to establish a base at Cardiff Airport
Hungarian low-cost airliner, Wizz Air, is to establish its fourth UK base at Cardiff Airport and will run nine routes from spring 2021 with the potential for more routes in the future.
The routes – which will have the capacity for 350,000 passengers – include popular holiday destinations in Spain, Portugal, Greece and Egypt, some of which were lost from Cardiff following the collapse of FlyBe earlier this year. It’s estimated 40 jobs will be created.
Cardiff Airport said: “The Wizz Air UK base will bring a huge amount of choice for our customers to travel to some of the most popular holiday destinations from Cardiff, at affordable prices. We know many people living in Wales are craving a well-deserved holiday after such a challenging year and these new flights going on sale today from Cardiff, will give so many more opportunities for holidays to be planned now that will give us all something to look forward to for next year.”
