UK pledges £620m for African infrastructure projects January 20, 2020 More than £600m of government funding will be given to help build vital infrastructure in Ghana, Zambia, Gabon and Uganda today. International trade secretary Liz Truss will today set out the spending plans at the UK-Africa Investment Summit in London, announcing that the UK Export Finance (UKEF) will fund the initiative. The £620m will go [...]
Boris Johnson suffers first defeat since election as Lords amend Brexit bill January 20, 2020 The Prime Minister has suffered his first parliamentary defeat since winning an 80-seat majority last month, as the Lords voted to amend his key Brexit bill. Peers backed the Oates amendment, ensuring EU nationals living in the UK have a physical document showing they have a right to live in the country, by 270 votes [...]
PM pledges to put ‘people before passports’ in new immigration regime January 20, 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pledged to put “people before passports” after Brexit, as part of the UK’s new immigration system. Speaking this morning as he opened the UK-Africa Investment Summit, Johnson promised that “change is coming” as a result of the UK leaving the EU. “If you want to come here to study in those [...]
UK ‘ready’ to set out EU and US trade deal red lines January 20, 2020 The UK is poised to make clear what it wants from trade deals with both the EU and US, the government has confirmed. With just 11 days until the UK leaves the EU, pressure is mounting on the Prime Minister to clarify his red lines if he is to meet his self-imposed deadline of December [...]
Wetherspoon to slash prices of drinks on Brexit Day January 20, 2020 Pub chain JD Wetherspoon is planning to celebrate Brexit by slashing the prices of a selection of drinks on 31 January as the UK leaves the EU. The offer will reduce prices of drinks from across Europe, including Estrella Galicia, Beck’s and Peroni, by around 60p. The promotion – which will run until 29 February [...]
The cost of an international office January 20, 2020 | City Talk From expanding sales to mitigating Brexit risk, many companies are securing presence overseas. Some companies have already set up an office in the EU to avoid trade barriers in the future, others are considering a move or a satellite office in the EU or further afield to take advantage of new opportunities in emerging geographic [...]
DEBATE: Is there any point to the World Economic Forum in Davos? January 20, 2020 Is there any point to the World Economic Forum in Davos? Ella Robertson, managing director of One Young World, says YES. Now in its fiftieth year, it might look like business as usual at the World Economic Forum. But with public scrutiny mounting every year, the pressure to keep the mountain air-induced rhetoric real is [...]
City cautiously approves of chancellor’s post-Brexit regulations plan January 19, 2020 The City of London Corporation has responded with cautious approval to chancellor Sajid Javid’s statement that post-Brexit financial services trade with the EU should be on the basis of “outcome-based” equivalence of rules. The chancellor has faced a backlash from car manufacturers and business bodies, however, after he told the Financial Times that the UK [...]
Treasury freezes Hezbollah’s UK assets January 19, 2020 The Treasury has designated the entire organisation of Hezbollah as a terrorist outfit, freezing all its UK assets. The Lebanese party’s military wing was previously designated as a terrorist organisation by the Treasury, however its wider operations were not. The call to place Hezbollah on the terror black list follows home secretary Priti Patel’s decision [...]
Boris Johnson planning to roll back EU immigration earlier than expected January 19, 2020 Boris Johnson is drawing up plans to limit low-skilled European Union immigration at the start of 2021 – a full two years earlier than previously promised. Under previous proposals, freedom of movement with the European Union would continue until 2023. The promise had been made by Theresa May, after an extended period was demanded by [...]