EY moves European parent company to Brussels as it prepares for Brexit February 14, 2019 Big Four accountancy firm EY is shifting its legal entity from London to Brussels as it braces for the UK’s exit from the European Union. The move will form a new legal umbrella entity, EY Europe SCRL, which will manage around 40 firms across the continent. EY said there would be no changes in leadership [...]
Sterling slumps ahead of May’s crunch no-deal Brexit vote as Bercow chooses amendments February 14, 2019 Sterling has taken a tumble as fears grow that Theresa May will be defeated in parliament this evening by the hard Brexiters among her party. The pound fell from 1.287 this morning to as low as 1.278 against the dollar this afternoon as investors grew scared that the Prime Minister may not win a vote [...]
City of London Corporation appoints Refinitiv executive Nick Collier as Brussels managing director February 14, 2019 The City of London Corporation has appointed a senior boss at financial data firm Refinitiv as managing director for its Brussels office. Nick Collier, the global head of government relations at Refinitiv, will take on the role from March, the same month that the UK is set to leave the EU. The City of London Corporation said [...]
Trade minister Liam Fox urges MPs to back Prime Minister in Brexit vote February 14, 2019 Trade secretary Liam Fox has urged his Tory colleagues to fall in line ahead of a showdown between Prime Minister Theresa May and her party’s hardline Brexiters in a vote this afternoon. The motion asks parliament to reiterate its support for a previous Brexit vote, when MPs passed an amendment allowing May to return to [...]
Options are running out for the man who destroyed Venezuela February 14, 2019 It takes some front for a man who has presided over a double-digit recession for three successive years to claim that his country is being destabilised by a “gang of extremists” rather than his own inept economic performance. But that is exactly what Venezuela’s embattled President Nicolas Maduro did this week, when he stated that the [...]
Elementary, my dear: Predicting Brexit in the style of Sherlock Holmes February 14, 2019 Sherlock Holmes said that when you’ve eliminated the impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. So how can we apply this principle to Brexit between now and the deadline of 29 March? Here are the six things that we know for sure. One, there is no majority in the House of Commons [...]
Brexit requires Westminster to demonstrate clarity, compromise and collaboration February 14, 2019 Fewer than 50 days separate us from 29 March, the date that Britain is formally due to leave the European Union. It has been 22 months since Article 50 was triggered, and Brexit strategising and negotiations with Brussels have taken the nation on a journey that few could have predicted. Politically, Britain is currently locked [...]
US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China is following a familiar path February 13, 2019 It has been nearly a year since Donald Trump infamously tweeted that “trade wars are good, and easy to win,” adding, for extra emphasis, “it’s easy!” How things change. America’s most enthusiastically protectionist modern-day President isn’t finding talks with China so simple after all. This week he rowed back on a supposedly-hard deadline that was [...]
Theresa May set for another showdown with Brexiter Tories in Commons vote February 13, 2019 Theresa May is set for another showdown with the pro-Brexit wing of her party on Thursday in a vote on the government’s negotiating strategy. The Prime Minister will ask MPs to vote in favour of a motion supporting the plan for reopening talks with Brussels, agreed to by parliament last month. While that involves backing the so-called [...]
‘We want a ladder to climb down’; MPs who voted down May’s deal are getting nervous February 13, 2019 Politicians arriving for work in Parliament these days are confronted with a less than perfect view of the Palace of Westminster. The iconic Elizabeth Tower, home of Big Ben, is sheathed in scaffolding as renovation work is carried out. Workers scurry up and down ladders, being careful not to get themselves trapped in positions from [...]