Sir Keir Starmer says Labour Brexit position was ‘right policy’ February 16, 2020 Labour leadership frontrunner Sir Keir Starmer has labelled the party’s Brexit position “the right policy”, despite losing many seats in Leave-voting areas. Labour suffered its worst election result in December since 1935, winning just 207 seats and conceding an 80-seat majority to the Conservatives. The party lost a swathe of seats in its northern heartlands, [...]
Rory Stewart wants to set up City of London embassies across EU February 16, 2020 City of London embassies will be set up across EU capital if Rory Stewart is elected mayor of London. The ex-international development secretary is running as an independent mayoral candidate in the May election, after having the Conservative whip removed last year over his opposition to a no-deal Brexit. Stewart believes as mayor of London [...]
Boris Johnson considers tearing up Sajid Javid’s fiscal rules February 16, 2020 Boris Johnson is considering scrapping the fiscal rules written by the Treasury just months ago in a bid to increase spending in next month’s budget. Ex-chancellor Sajid Javid wrote the rules into the Tories’ 2019 election manifesto in an attempt to exercise fiscal restraint amidst a swathe of spending pledges. The primary rules were promises [...]
Rail franchising model ‘set to be scrapped’ in coming weeks February 16, 2020 Boris Johnson is set to dramatically overhaul the nation’s rail network by scrapping the rail franchise model and capping profits by private providers. Former British Airways boss Keith Williams was drafted to conduct a review of Britain’s railways last year, with the report set to be released in the coming weeks. It’s now expected that [...]
March budget may be delayed, says transport secretary Grant Shapps February 16, 2020 The government is likely to delay next month’s budget in the wake of Sajid Javid’s resignation, according to the transport secretary. Richmond (Yorkshire) MP Rishi Sunak was promoted to chancellor in Thursday’s cabinet reshuffle, after Javid refused to sack all of his special advisers as demanded by Boris Johnson. Sunak will now handle the country’s [...]
Exclusive: Sadiq Khan challenges Labour leadership candidates to sign London pledge February 16, 2020 Sadiq Khan has issued a challenge for all Labour leadership candidates to sign up to six pledges for London, including a promise to rid the party of antisemitism. The mayor of London has asked the three remaining candidates – Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy – to pledge to “stamp out antisemitism” within the [...]
HS2: China tells UK it can build high-speed line in five years and at lower cost February 15, 2020 The UK is considering giving China’s state-owned railway builder a role in constructing the HS2 rail line. Government officials said “preliminary discussions” had taken place, but no “concrete commitments” had been made. The Chinese railway firm said it could build the line in five years and at a much lower cost, according to a letter [...]
Emily Thornberry eliminated from Labour leadership race February 15, 2020 Emily Thornberry is out of the Labour leadership race having failed to secure the required number of nominations. The shadow foreign secretary had until midnight on Friday to get the necessary 33 nominations from local constituency parties, but fell two short. The other route would have been to receive nominations from Labour Party affiliates, but [...]
When is the UK Budget 2020? February 14, 2020 The UK Budget 2020 is due next month but after the shock resignation of Sajid Javid this week the government may be forced to delay the date. The official date for the Budget 2020 is 11 March but the government so far has not confirmed it will go ahead after the reshuffle which saw Rishi [...]
GBP/EUR Update – Cabinet Reshuffle February 14, 2020 | City Talk Reports over the weekend of tensions rising between the UK and the EU over trade negotiations meant that the pound got off to a shaky start this week. Despite this, sterling did make some gains later in the day, reflecting investors’ optimism that a suitable deal will be reached, despite reports that the EU may [...]