Airlines on Thursday reported a surge in flight bookings from the UK after the government announced that fully vaccinated passengers and their children could return from amber-listed countries without quarantine after 19 July. EasyJet said that bookings to destinations rated as amber for coronavirus rose by 400%, and holiday bookings increased by 440 week-on-week in the hours since the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, confirmed the change in policy on Thursday morning. – Guardian
Sadiq Khan is being urged to “get a grip” of the ballooning cost to finish Crossrail after a £218m funding hole opened up in the finances of London’s new tube line. Crossrail, also known as the Elizabeth Line, will now cost taxpayers £19bn, according to a report by the National Audit Office (NAO). The public spending scrutineer said that Crossrail is now “low value for money” for taxpayers as costs spiral and post-pandemic demand for public transport dwindles. – Telegraph
Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s chemicals empire is signing up to a major carbon capture project in Scotland in a boost to the emerging technology considered key to meeting the UK’s climate goals. Ineos aims to use the planned Acorn carbon capture and storage system to help get rid of emissions from its Grangemouth petrochemicals plant and oil refinery. – Telegraph
The chairman of HSBC has been accused of prioritising profit over upholding international law by a coalition of senior politicians after he refused to discuss calls for the bank to unfreeze the assets of Hong Kong activists. Mark Tucker, 63, is understood to have told the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), a cross-party group including Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, that he would meet them only if they agreed not to discuss actions that would break a security law imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing last year. – The Times
Britain is uniquely positioned to become a hub for a multibillion-dollar marketplace in carbon offsets, the City of London’s policy head has claimed. Catherine McGuinness, chairwoman of the policy and resources committee of the City of London Corporation, told the Institute of International Finance yesterday that the corporation had spent more than a year working with organisations to understand how carbon markets could be scaled. – The Times
