Image source, PA

Working women in some ethnic groups in the UK have not only narrowed the gender pay gap but have overtaken men's earning power, analysis suggests.

The Fawcett Society, which campaigns for equality, said Caribbean and white Irish working women, on average, earn more than men from the same background.

Its report found, external  that, for most ethnic groups, men earned more than women.

It used hourly pay data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) covering full-time employees in the UK. Read more here

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In the House of  Commons Business Secretary Greg Clark acknowledged it had been a worrying time for the Vauxhall workforce over the past two weeks.

He said new owner PSA had said it would  honour agreements it had with the company and unions till 2021.

In terms of pensions, he said GM and PSA had given absolute commitments that no pensioners - current or prospective - would be worse off in any way as a result of the sale.

Image source, Getty Images

Four in ten people over 40 have no idea of the cost of even a basic lifestyle in retirement, according to research by Saga Investment Services.

Eighty per cent of people admitted they no idea how big the total pension pot they would need to fund a comfortable retirement should be. 

Experts recommend that people should aim in retirement to have two thirds of the income they enjoy while working in order to have the same lifestyle.

Sally Merritt of Saga Investment Services, said: “The research proves just how desperately affordable advice and guidance is needed and we urge the regulator to address this. It is a real concern that people in their 40s and beyond are so unaware of what they need in their pension pot to give them the lifestyle they want in retirement.  People are in danger of becoming pothole pensioners, who face a bumpy road ahead because they didn’t invest well enough when they had the opportunity."

Image source, AP

A petition calling for a ban on forcing women to wear high heels at work will be debated in the Commons later this afternoon.

More than  152,000 people signed the petition, external  set up by Nicola Thorp, from London, after she was sent home from her temp job when she refused to wear shoes with a "2in to 4in heel".

It led to an inquiry by MPs, who told the government to review the law after it heard from hundreds of women.

The government has said no employer should discriminate on gender grounds.

Work dress codes "must be reasonable", it said. Read more here

A quick return to the day's main story now - the sale of General Motors' European business to PSA of France.

At the open in New York General Motors' shares fell by 1.02% to $37.85. 

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US stocks fell at the open on Monday amid rising tensions in Asia, where North Korea has fired four ballistic missiles, and President Donald Trump's accusation that his predecessor Barack Obama had hi phone to be tapped. 

Some investors fear this could distract President Trump from his economic agenda of introducing tax cuts and cutting red tape, the prospect of which has driven shares higher.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq have risen for six weeks running, but the lack of detail on the President's proposals and political tensions surrounding his relationship with Russia have raised concerns. 

The Dow Jones fell by 61 points or 0.29% to 20,945.10. 

The S&P 500 was at 2,371.12, that's a fall of 12 points or 0.50%.

While the tech-heavy  Nasdaq was at 5,836.79, a fall of 34 points or 0.58%.

Image source, Reuters

TalkTalk customers are being targeted by an industrial-scale fraud network in India, according to whistleblowers who say they were among hundreds of staff hired to scam customers of the British telecoms giant.

The scale of the criminal operation has been detailed by the three sources, who say they were employed by two front-companies set up by a gang of professional fraudsters.

The sources describe working in "call centres" in two Indian cities.

They say as many as 60 "employees" work in shifts in each office, phoning TalkTalk customers and duping them into giving access to their bank accounts. Read more here

BBC World Service

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Shares in Deutsche Bank are down by nearly 7% after the German lender said it would boost capital by issuing new shares, reports BBC World Service.

The bank, Germany's biggest, plans to raise about $8.5bn(£6.9bn) through the sale - a move that had previously been declared a last resort. 

Deutsche Bank is going through a major restructuring after grappling with huge losses and multi-billion dollar fines and litigation costs for its role in the sub-prime mortgage crisis.  

It's time to branch out from the Peugeot takeover of Opel and Vauxhall.

On the markets Standard Life is the most-eye catching mover. Shares are up almost 6% after it agreed a merger with Aberdeen Asset Management. 

ITV is the next biggest winner with a more than 2% gain.

But overall the FTSE 100 is down by 0.3%, hit by falling mining shares.

BBC Radio 4

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Tony Burke is the assistant general secretary of the Unite union, he told the World at One.

"It was the Unite members at Ellesmere Port, Toddington and Luton who helped turn this company around and we expect the company to recognise the fantastic work we've done.

"We want them [the government] to start looking at re-shoring components back into the UK. That's something our union has been campaigning for, for quite some time." 

BBC Radio 4

John Longworth was the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce until he resigned over his support for the Leave campaign in March last year.

"Brexit is going to put the UK automobile industry in a better position... the currency is now 17% lower in value than it was on the 23 June, which means British manufactured vehicles are more competitive than they ever were for sale in the European and around the world," he told the World at One.

He also says that Brexit could mean tariffs on imported cars, which could mean that Britons buy more locally produced cars.

BBC Business News

Business Secretary Greg Clark says Brexit has "nothing to do" with the future viability of Vauxhall's UK plants. 

"This is about a reorganisation of the company, and the head of PSA has said today that Brexit isn't a central driver of [where it will choose to make efficiencies]."

He added: "We want to have the best possible trading relationship with Europe, but in any event, Carlos Tavares has said there would be opportunities post Brexit."

BBC News UK

The government's response to the PSA/ Vauxhall deal has been "quite bullish", says the BBC's Norman Smith. 

"They are stressing the economic case for continuing production in the UK... They are arguing that Vauxhall is an iconic brand in Britain, making up 18% of car sales, so why on earth would you want to pull out?"

However, the main difficulties are Brexit - which "creates an element of uncertainty" - and the politics involved, as both the French and German governments will fight to protect their own plants.

Business Live reader Terry Harris says that by owning "UK manufacturing plants and brands", PSA gets the best of both worlds.

"[This includes] ready access to the EU from their European facility, together with UK and other world market access from the trade deals the UK will negotiate quickly following Brexit," he says. 

"As is known, the EU Commission have been pretty dilatory and heavy handed in negotiating trade deals in the past. I am pretty sure this potential featured in the strategic thinking of [PSA boss] Carlos Tavares in making this acquisition."

Richard Westcott
Transport correspondent

Vauxhall tell me that:

75% of Astra parts come from abroad

60% of Vivaro parts come from abroad

 The MAJORITY from Europe (they can't give exact figure).

Len McCluskey, head of Unite, has been talking to the BBC about Vauxhall's future in the UK.

He says: "Whatever the French government and the German government are offering in terms of incentives, we should also be looking at that. 

"And of course, the government has talked about an industrial strategy, but now it has to demonstrate that it's more than just words. We have to make sure that there are proper government-led commitments."

Image source, Getty Images

Despite the flurry of M&A activity today, with the Vauxhall-Opel and Standard Life-Aberdeen Asset Management mergers, the main European share indices are all down.

The FTSE 100 lost 0.36%, the DAX shed 0.4% and the CAC 40 dropped by 0.44%.

Connor Campbell of SpreadEx partly blames banks, which fell on news that Deutsche Bank will bolster its finances through a share sale. 

The German lender's stock is down 6%.