Chart attack: EU and UK at war over misleading stats in Brexit trade talks February 20, 2020 A row has erupted between the UK and EU over both sides’ misleading use of charts to score political points in Brexit trade talks. Yesterday the European Commission published a series of new slides arguing why the UK should not be granted the same kind of trade deal as Canada. Read more: EU ‘fails to [...]
DEBATE: Should business be concerned about the planned immigration curbs on low-skilled workers? February 20, 2020 Should business be concerned about the planned immigration curbs on low-skilled workers? Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, says YES. The proposals announced yesterday are overly restrictive and will halt business growth in huge swathes of the economy. They also give very little time for business to adjust and adapt, as the government has said [...]
Dominic Cummings’ war on conventions is just getting going February 19, 2020 Much is being made of Dominic Cummings’ supposed overreach this week. His attack on the BBC proved so brutal that even Auntie-sceptic John Whittingdale blanched, while one of Number 10’s newly-hired “weirdos and misfits” had voiced his support for marital rape and sympathy for eugenics in online forums. Andrew Sabinsky’s Downing Street career lasted just [...]
EU immigration proposals bad for London, says mayoral candidate Rory Stewart February 19, 2020 The government’s newly released EU immigration proposals have been rubbished by Rory Stewart, with the mayoral candidate claiming he would fight them if elected. Home secretary Priti Patel launched the new immigration plan today, saying the government wanted “economically inactive” Britons to take the place of low-skilled foreigners. As a part of the new points-based [...]
How will the pound perform in 2020? February 19, 2020 | City Talk Brexit cast a long shadow over the pound in 2019, but what will 2020 have in store for sterling? Caution from the Bank of England and faltering economic results were all seen through the lens of Brexit. Now while the focus may move slightly from the challenges of uncertainty due to a political impasse, the [...]
DEBATE: Should we be concerned about rumours of potential Chinese involvement with HS2? February 19, 2020 Should we be concerned about rumours of potential Chinese involvement with building HS2? Sophia Gaston, director of the British Foreign Policy Group, says YES. The government’s decision to permit Huawei to be involved in building our 5G network has exposed the acute lack of an overarching strategy around Britain’s engagement with China. No doubt, this [...]
Free speech risks being sacrificed on the altar of offence culture February 19, 2020 Harry Miller never considered that he might be national news-worthy. A former police officer turned businessman, during late 2018 he posted a series of tweets which questioned the biological sex of transgender individuals. One of his musings stated “I was assigned mammal at birth, but my orientation is fish. Don’t mis-species me.” What should have [...]
Time for the Treasury to get with the programme — Britain can afford to spend February 19, 2020 In the days of the old Soviet Union, so-called Kremlinologists would pore over every utterance of the Politburo, every sentence in Pravda, to try to work out what was really going on. Sajid Javid’s defenestration from the Treasury has led to an upsurge in similar types of intellectual effort here. What was it really all [...]
Employers told to break reliance on ‘cheap EU labour’ February 18, 2020 Employer groups are already pushing back after being warned that the UK’s new work visa system will block them from relying on “cheap EU labour”. Home secretary Priti Patel will today add more detail to plans for expanding the points-based work visa system to include EU migrant workers — which will replace freedom of movement [...]
Brexit: EU hints at demand for Elgin Marbles in trade talks February 18, 2020 The EU is fighting back over Downing Street’s rejection of so-called level-playing field rules – and hinted that it may call for “cultural objects” to be removed from the UK. In a revised version of the negotiating mandate that Michel Barnier is expected to use when talks resume next week, the EU Council made clear [...]