Fintech can thrive outside the EU – if we remain in the Single Market July 5, 2016 The result of Britain’s EU referendum shocked many in the business community. It has left the country with a caretaker government, an opposition in disarray, and no clear roadmap for a post-Brexit UK. In March, we surveyed our startup members on Brexit and found that 80 per cent supported Remain. This was consistent with many [...]
With Nigel Farage off the scene, will it be easier to reach a compromise with the EU on free movement? July 5, 2016 Rachel Cunliffe, deputy editor of CapX, says Yes. Nigel Farage posed in front of a Brexit poster featuring a road of migrants with the caption “Breaking Point”, in what has become an iconic image of the campaign. He has blamed immigrants for everything from the strain on the NHS to traffic on the M4. And after [...]
Brexit shines a light on pensions timebomb July 4, 2016 As the economic landscape shifts in the wake of the referendum, one of the most dramatic impacts has been on defined benefit, or final salary, pensions. In the days following the vote, liabilities in defined benefit schemes ballooned, causing deficits to widen. According to early estimates, the rise in liabilities could have increased the deficits [...]
On your bike, Britain: How to get the best post-Brexit deal July 4, 2016 After the exhilaration of the last week, the political realities of leaving the European Union have hit Britain with an almighty thud. Rather than focusing on using their wonderful new-found freedom to unveil a foreign and trade policy fit for the multi-polar world, the Conservatives have instead contented themselves with fighting like ferrets in a sack [...]
There’s no reason London can’t stay the number one global financial centre outside the EU July 4, 2016 The chancellor’s press conference last week reassured the markets in a volatile period. He said that the UK economy faces these fresh economic challenges from a “position of strength.” This is a point I have reiterated many times over the past few days, when visiting the economic hubs of Dallas and Chicago. The most frequently [...]
Britain’s entrepreneurs can look forward with definite optimism to a better world outside the EU July 4, 2016 Peter Thiel, founder of two billion dollar companies (Palantir and Paypal) and early-stage investor in Facebook, argues that two questions determine your approach to life’s challenges. First, are you an optimist or a pessimist? Second, are you definite (a clear plan for the future) or indefinite (hedging your bets)? In sharp contrast to the focus [...]
Could Britain’s vote to leave prompt other countries to exit the European Union in the years ahead? July 4, 2016 Klaus Dingwerth, assistant professor for political science at the University of St Gallen, Switzerland, says Yes. Facing the UK’s leave vote, other EU member states will not return to business as usual, and talk about a need for renewing the EU will be omnipresent. Fundamentally, the EU also needs a new legitimation narrative – a narrative [...]
Conservative leadership race must speak to the City July 1, 2016 As Michael Gove’s former head of communications, James Frayne, argued in City A.M. on Tuesday, nobody should be surprised that politicians lacked a ready-made vision of what Brexit will look like immediately after last week’s shock vote. UK politicians have abdicated responsibility over issues like trade policy to EU fonctionnaires for over 40 years, so [...]
From Brexit to Trump, the elites have lost control over politics – and anything could happen now June 30, 2016 Dread in the pit of your stomach. A sinking suspicion that your world is in decline and prosperity may end and never return. Fear over your financial future. Last week’s Brexit vote seems to have left the City feeling exposed and unprotected. Many report feeling powerless against the historic forces that have been unleashed by [...]
Forget post-referendum gloom: Britain’s economy will blossom outside the EU June 30, 2016 We have made history by becoming the first member state to give notice on our membership of the EU. But given that I will be explaining why I see the UK economy blossoming post-Brexit, it’s worth starting with a bit of my own history. I began student life in 1984 as an undergraduate at the [...]