Home Office tightens golden visa rules after earlier failed crackdown March 7, 2019 The Home Office announced reforms to so-called golden visas for wealthy investors today, following an embarrassing debacle last year when it announced their suspension before being forced to backtrack days later. Under reforms to the Tier 1 (Investor) scheme, applicants will be required to prove they have control of the £2m they are required to [...]
Trump was brave to leave North Korea empty-handed March 7, 2019 He came he saw, he left empty-handed. For the self-proclaimed consummate deal-maker that is President Donald Trump, it would not be an understatement to say that last week’s second summit with Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un on North Korea’s prospective denuclearisation did not go quite according to plan. Trump’s gamble had been that his personal rapport with [...]
Nicky Morgan urges Treasury to provide no-deal tariff plans ahead of May’s Brexit vote March 6, 2019 Former Cabinet minister Nicky Morgan has urged the Treasury to clarify its position on tariff policy in the event of a no-deal Brexit following reports that up to 90 per cent could be slashed. Morgan, who chairs the Treasury Select Committee, wrote to Philip Hammond today to demand he state whether the lowering of tariffs was current [...]
Brexit-backing Tories are running out of road March 6, 2019 Next week, MPs will be asked to vote (again) on the government's proposed Brexit deal. While Theresa May's team attempts to woo Labour MPs with offers of cash for poor areas and commitments on workers' rights, the attorney general and Brexit secretary have been in Brussels, frantically trying to win concessions on the thorny Irish [...]
There are plenty of reasons for investors to be optimistic about China March 6, 2019 Since the election of Donald Trump, one story has dominated global markets news: the trade war between China and the US. As negotiations reached a critical phase last month, markets fluctuated as setbacks led to breakthroughs, only for talks to stall again. But while investors are right to worry about currents of protectionism in the world’s [...]
Theresa May makes employee rights pledge to charm Labour MPs into backing Brexit deal March 6, 2019 Theresa May has pledged that the standards of workers’ rights from EU laws retained in UK law will not be reduced after Brexit. As part of the EU withdrawal agreement, parliament will be given the right to consider any future changes in EU law that strengthen workers’ rights or workplace health and safety standards. It [...]
Grassroots group Momentum fined £16,700 for ‘multiple breaches’ of electoral law March 6, 2019 Jeremy Corbyn-supporting group Momentum has been fined £16,700 by the Electoral Commission for "multiple breaches" of electoral law during the 2017 general election. The political finance regulator said it had levied the grassroots activist group with the highest fine for a non-party campaigner over an inaccurate 2017 general election spending return – for which it was [...]
Theresa May is delusional if she thinks she can win over Labour MPs March 6, 2019 Has the Prime Minister been reading “How to win friends and influence people”, by Dale Carnegie? It would make a change from “The bluffer’s guide to negotiating”. The thought came to mind when I read of Theresa May’s latest attempt to get Labour MPs to support her withdrawal agreement in the vote next week – [...]
DEBATE: Are cuts to police numbers the main factor behind the rise in London knife crime? March 6, 2019 Are cuts to police numbers the main factor behind the rise in London knife crime? Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, says YES. There is most definitely a correlation between rising crime and falling police numbers – to say otherwise is absurd. In 2010, there were 143,734 police officers in England and Wales. There [...]
Britain’s future is about more than its departure from the EU March 6, 2019 It will not come as news to readers of this newspaper that Brexit has exposed (if not exacerbated) certain rifts in British society: young versus old, metropolitan versus rural, graduates versus non-graduates. In fact, according to a poll by Opinium, 69 per cent of us feel that Britain has become more divided since the referendum. Today, [...]