UK’s small businesses confident it can grow profits as it turns to global exports after Brexit February 9, 2017 Small businesses in the UK are confident about their future business prospects in the face of Brexit as they move their focus to export growth, according to a survey of executives. Half of British small-business executives think they can increase revenues by at least four cent over the next year, according to the survey by [...]
Scandal-hit Francois Fillon could gift Marine Le Pen the French presidency February 9, 2017 His campaign is in serious crisis, but Francois Fillon – candidate of the centre-right after a convincing victory in the primaries – said on Monday that he will continue to fight to become the next President of France despite a scandal engulfing him and his family. Trying to save his campaign, he apologised to the French [...]
Home sales were sluggish in January February 9, 2017 Home sales stayed sluggish in January, according to industry experts, with central London suffering a decline in sales. According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), house sales lacked "momentum" in January, but an overall shortage of housing stock is still pushing up house prices and rents. The gloomy outlook comes after the government [...]
Anglo American Platinum chief exec Chris Griffith injured after encounter with buffalo February 9, 2017 Anglo American Platinum’s (Amplats) chief executive has been injured by a buffalo while on holiday, the company said yesterday. Chris Griffith, who was appointed chief executive of the 94bn rand (£5.6bn) company in September 2012, had appeared at Mining Indaba, an industry conference in Cape Town this week in a wheelchair. Amplats said in a statement, he “had an encounter [...]
Treasury Select Committee chair slams dodgy maths on costs of scrapping the yearly tax return February 9, 2017 The chair of the influential Treasury Select Committee today questioned the figures which have been produced so far for the cost to businesses of HM Revenue and Customs' (HMRC) Making Tax Digital project. The taxman's landmark initiative, which will see people update HMRC on their financial details throughout the year rather than filling out a [...]
Dry January wasn’t much of a draw this year as two-thirds opted not to bin the booze February 9, 2017 Despite the grumbling you may have heard, not everyone did Dry January last month. In fact, according to research into the late night economy from The Deltic Group, over two thirds of people didn't take part this year. That was though, still more than last year when 84 per cent didn't take part. The report of [...]
“Our aim certainly is not to punish the UK,” insists Brussels’ financial services commissioner February 8, 2017 Politicians tend to seek the limelight. They court media interest with controversial policy ideas, catchy soundbites and displays of tribal affiliation. But it's people like Valdis Dombrovskis, quiet bureaucrats who do their best to keep beneath the radar and get their job done, who exercise a hidden power. This is particularly true of the European [...]
Top EU envoy Valdis Dombrovskis jets into town for talks with chancellor and City chiefs February 8, 2017 One of the EU's top commissioners jets into London this morning for a whirlwind pre-Brexit tour of the capital, telling City A.M. that a future deal on financial services must "work for all". Valdis Dombrovskis, vice president in charge of financial services, said the European Commission would not set out to “punish” the UK during [...]
From whips to shadow ministers: All the Labour MPs who voted against the government’s Brexit Bill February 8, 2017 Five extra Labour MPs rebelled at the third reading of the government's Article 50 Bill, but they weren't enough to stop the House of Commons overwhelmingly voting in favour of giving Theresa May the power to trigger Article 50. Geraint Davies, Kate Green, Clive Lewis (who resigned from the frontbench today), Alison McGovern and Chi [...]
MPs give final approval to Theresa May’s Brexit Bill to kick off the process of leaving the European Union February 8, 2017 The House of Commons has voted to approve the unamended Article 50 Bill in a historic night in Westminster. MPs voted 494 to 122 in favour of the Bill being passed on for scrutiny in the House of Lords. Labour and Conservative MPs were under strict orders to back the Article 50 Bill, although both [...]