Trade secretary Liz Truss under fire for personal think tank meetings August 20, 2020 Trade secretary Liz Truss is facing criticism after a series of meetings with a pro-hard Brexit think tank were removed from the public record and reclassified as personal discussions. Two meetings between Truss and the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) were originally logged in quarterly transparency data on the government’s website and described as discussions [...]
Time for City pragmatism to override political posturing in Brexit trade talks August 20, 2020 Just how much more time can Westminster and Brussels policymakers really afford to spend on shadow boxing? Can the UK government really ignore warnings from Brussels that the EU may not be in a position to grant the UK access to European financial markets? Conversely, can the EU risk being without access to London’s financial [...]
Exam chaos continues as BTec grades pulled on eve of results day August 19, 2020 Almost 600,000 students face more exam chaos after BTec grades were pulled by exam board Pearson on the eve of results day. Pearson said it would re-grade all its BTec results to bring them in line with A-levels and GCSEs, which now “have significantly higher outcomes”. The decision was made earlier this week to grade [...]
EU threatens Belarus with sanctions over alleged election fraud August 19, 2020 The EU has threatened to impose sanctions on Belarus, after its President Alexander Lukashenko was accused of election rigging. The European Council President Charles Michel said today that the bloc did not accept the election result, which saw Lukashenko get 80 per cent of the vote. His opponent Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was said to have won [...]
Charity sector to suffer 60,000 job losses due to coronavirus August 19, 2020 The charity sector has lost more than 25,000 jobs since the coronavirus pandemic began and a further 35,000 could go, according to new data. Analysis of a survey of 455 charities has revealed that there are an estimated five times as many redundancies as the official 5,400 that have been announced. The research from Pro Bono [...]
English councils face £2bn black hole from coroanvrius August 19, 2020 English councils are facing a £2bn black hole over the coming months if the government does not provide emergency funding, according to a leading think tank. The Institute for Fiscal Studies’ (IFS) new report said Covid-19 has depleted local government revenues and many “face a difficult choice between depleting their reserves to low and potentially [...]
Brexit free trade talks stalled over UK truckers’ access to EU August 19, 2020 The EU has reportedly denied the UK’s request for British truckers to maintain full access to mainland Europe as post-Brexit trade talks resume today. The UK wants its truckers to be able to make pick ups and drop offs inside and between EU member states after the Brexit transition period ends on 31 December, according [...]
Government working with Heathrow on coronavirus testing August 19, 2020 Health secretary Matt Hancock said the government is working with Heathrow Airport on its plan to roll out testing of passengers to help end the two week quarantine for international travellers. The airport is reportedly planning to test passengers to help allow them avoid the 14-day quarantine for travellers arriving in the UK from countries [...]
Matt Hancock: There’s one big reason it’s safe to return to the office August 19, 2020 UK workers have no reason to avoid returning to their offices this autumn, as there is little chance of catching coronavirus in the workplace, health secretary Matt Hancock said today. Instead Brits are largely transmitting coronavirus when households meet one another in their homes, Hancock told the BBC. When asked if Britain would follow France [...]
Democrats nominate Joe Biden for president, vowing to end Trump ‘chaos’ August 19, 2020 Democrats formally nominated Joe Biden for president last night, vowing his election would repair a pandemic-battered America and put an end to the chaos that has defined Republican President Donald Trump’s administration. The second night of the party’s four-night national convention, under the theme “Leadership Matters,” featured elder statesmen like former presidents Bill Clinton and [...]