AUDIO NEWS: Conflict in Middle East could drive up materials prices and training costs cripple small firms

War in the Middle East could increase materials prices, hikes in the minimum wage cripple small businesses and electrician offers reward for stolen tools

Higher energy costs caused by the conflict in the Middle East could impact the cost of key products, warned the Construction Products Association (CPA).

The Iranians closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil and gas route out of the Arabian Gulf as the conflict with the United States and Israel escalated over the weekend.

Global oil prices jumped by 10% at the start of the week.

CPA economics director Noble Francis warned that a sustained conflict in the Middle East could have a “significant impact on materials prices in the medium term”.

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Rising apprenticeship costs are crippling small and micro sized firms, warned the electrical trade body, Select.

Speaking at the start of the Scottish Apprenticeship Week, Alan Wilson, Select managing director said that increases to the minimum wage and national insurance payments were a huge cost for many small firms, especially when apprentices spend so much time at college.

Wilson claimed that the “short sightedness of politicians is rolling the skills shortage forward, not back!”.

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An electrician in Herefordshire is offering a £250 reward after thieves ransacked his home and stole his tools.

26-year-old, Jackson Macrae, told his local paper that his tools were his livelihood.

Thieves took his range of cordless power tools, and high-vis jacket, but overlooked his £500 Xbox, TV and electrical testing equipment.

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