John Bercow blasted by Tory Brexiters as Theresa May suffers another defeat January 9, 2019 Theresa May suffered yet another defeat over Brexit on Wednesday after a furious row erupted between Tory MPs and Commons Speaker John Bercow. Bercow was accused of not being impartial after accepting an amendment which would force the government to publish its Brexit ‘plan B’ within three days of a defeat on its deal, not [...]
Tory MP Craig Mackinlay cleared of falsifying election expenses January 9, 2019 The Conservative MP for South Thanet who denied Nigel Farage election victory in 2015 has been cleared of falsifying election expenses. Craig Mackinlay faced two charges of making a false election expenses declaration under the Representation of the People Act, while election aide Marion Little was charged with three counts of aiding and abetting Mackinlay and his election manager, [...]
Rod Rosenstein, key figure in Trump probe, set to leave US justice department: reports January 9, 2019 US deputy attorney-general Rod Rosenstein, a key figure in the probe into Russia’s role in the 2016 US presidential election, is set to leave the Department of Justice in the coming weeks, according to multiple reports. Rosenstein is likely to leave after the appointment of William Barr, President Donald Trump’s pick to replace Jeff Sessions [...]
DUP slams government’s wooing attempts in advance of Brexit deal vote January 9, 2019 A spokesman for the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has slammed government proposals intended to get the support of the Northern Irish party for the Brexit deal as “fairly meaningless”. Minister for the Cabinet Office David Lidington, a key ally of Prime Minister Theresa May, had announced a series of pledges to try and sell the [...]
Poll: Three-quarters of MPs think Theresa May made a bad job of Brexit negotiations January 9, 2019 Nearly three-quarters of MPs feel that Theresa May has done a bad job of handling Brexit negotiations, according to a new poll. The annual poll of MPs – conducted by Ipsos Mori on behalf of The UK in a Changing Europe think tank and the Mile End Institute at the Queen Mary University of London [...]
Government analysis ‘sheds no more light’ on Brexit, says Treasury committee January 9, 2019 Treasury Select Committee chair Nicky Morgan has castigated the government over its Brexit outcome analyses, claiming it has shown the “most optimistic” model without addressing other factors including the short-term impact of leaving the EU. Morgan, who was among the rebel Tories that pushed the government into a historic defeat over no-deal powers yesterday, said [...]
Government dismisses hopes of a new Brexit deal as ‘fantasy’ January 9, 2019 The government dismissed MPs hopes an alternative Brexit deal as “magical” delusions this morning ahead of parliament’s crucial vote on the Prime Minister’s withdrawal agreement. Cabinet Office minister David Lidington told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that there is no hope of negotiating a fresh deal with the EU if MPs vote down Theresa May’s [...]
DEBATE: Should the government cut the number of university courses and places to ensure value for money? January 9, 2019 Should the government cut the number of university courses and places to ensure value for money? Gillian Keegan MP, parliamentary private secretary to the Treasury and co-author of the foreword to the Onward report, says YES. The government should cut the number of low-value university places and steer people towards better options. Analysis of government [...]
Europe has suffered from the stultifying impact of the euro – just ask the Greeks January 9, 2019 One of the entertainments of the holiday period was reading Adults In The Room, the book by Yanis Varoufakis. It describes his time as finance minister of Greece, and his negotiations with the IMF, the European Central Bank, and the European Commission. Varoufakis was only in the job between January and July 2015. He had [...]
Instability is the new norm, and banks must learn to weather it January 9, 2019 Global financial markets stumbled into 2019, having endured their worst December since 1931. Both the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 indices fell by nearly nine per cent over the Christmas month. For the financial sector, this has refocused attention on the worsening political and economic backdrop for 2019. Politically, instability is becoming the new [...]