Sweden’s disastrous experiment with rent controls should be a cautionary tale for London January 24, 2020 How to make excellent meatballs, win Eurovision with style, and start a domestic argument over flatpack furniture — Sweden has taught the world so much. But setting aside our love of ABBA and Ikea, there’s another lesson to take from the experiences of our Scandinavian cousins. Sadiq Khan will spend the first half of 2020 [...]
Good riddance to the £30,000 immigration salary threshold January 24, 2020 Brexit is coming, in exactly one week’s time. Now it is on to the details — and no area is more crucial to Britain’s future prosperity, nor more associated with the EU debate, than immigration. There are real dangers if we get the new rules wrong. It was therefore a relief to read reports this [...]
Business groups: Post-Brexit immigration system must suit firms January 24, 2020 Britain’s biggest business groups have offered the government their help in designing the post-Brexit immigration system amid fears that a more closed-off system could hurt UK firms. They warned that the new system must provide “access to the labour and skills needed to support the economy” in an open letter to home secretary Priti Patel. [...]
Chancellor pledges shift on capitalism but promises not to ‘abandon ship’ January 23, 2020 Chancellor Sajid Javid has said a new “balance” between capitalism and people is needed in the UK, but promised that the government is not “abandoning ship”. Speaking at the CBI lunch in Davos today, Javid told business leaders there was a “new chapter” opening under Boris Johnson’s majority government, which yesterday finally passed the key [...]
Brexit bill granted royal assent and signed into law January 23, 2020 The Brexit bill has been granted royal assent and has now been signed into law, paving the way for the UK’s exit from the European Union next week. Deputy speaker Nigel Evans today announced in the Commons that the bill, dubbed the EU Withdrawal Agreement Act, has been approved by the Queen after passing parliament. [...]
Hua you gonna call? Why Britain’s 5G infrastructure decision has real implications January 23, 2020 Britain looks set to decide on Chinese titan Huawei’s role in 5G infrastructure next week. Political Editor Catherine Neilan looks at why it matters so much If campaigning is poetry, governing is prose – so goes one of the iron rules of politics. Tough, controversial decisions must be made, and one of Boris Johnson’s first [...]
Chancellor launches search for next head of budget watchdog January 23, 2020 Chancellor Sajid Javid has launched the search for the next head of the UK’s budget watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), as the term of the current chair Robert Chote draws to an end. The OBR was formed in 2010 by newly-elected chancellor George Osborne to ensure the government stuck to its spending and [...]
Former Speaker John Bercow faces bullying complaint from top aide January 23, 2020 John Bercow’s chances of bagging a peerage could be in tatters following reports his most senior former official has filed a formal bullying complaint. Lord Lisvane, who was chief clerk of the House of Commons at the beginning of Bercow’s stint as Speaker, has handed a dossier of allegations to the parliamentary commissioner for standards, [...]
Johnson’s reshuffle is about more than just jobs – the party is looking for the PM’s philosophy January 23, 2020 As Labour continues the post-election round of self-flagellation in search of a new leader and direction, most returning Tory MPs have only one thing on their mind: the impending reshuffle. Tipped to happen in the first two weeks of February, the only questions are who is likely to get the heave-ho, and whether Dom Cummings’ [...]
The world has changed, but Davos has failed to keep up January 23, 2020 As the fiftieth World Economic Forum’s annual Davos meet-up continues, “grounded” British ministers are, according to Boris Johnson, focusing on priorities at home — or forging stronger relationships with African states at the UK-Africa Investment Summit. It’s a shrewd move, not only because of the way it looks in the press for the Prime Minister’s [...]