Immigration proposals will cost employers more than £1bn in red tape February 11, 2019 The government’s new immigration proposals could cost employers more than £1bn by 2025 due to red tape, a report has found. Under the plans thousands of European workers will be required to secure a sponsored visa from their employers, creating a “bureaucratic headache” for businesses, according to analysis of the government’s Immigration White Paper by [...]
Chancellor needs to find extra billions to end austerity February 11, 2019 The chancellor Philip Hammond will have to find billions of pounds to prop up public spending to deliver on promises of ending austerity. According to a report from think tank the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), over the four years from 2019-20 to 2023-24, Hammond would need to find a further £2.2bn to avoid cuts [...]
Quit nostalgic navel-gazing and get excited for the future February 11, 2019 The thing about the 1970s – if you lived through them – is that they were for the most part dull and dour years, devoid of political and economic energy. And as for the fashion, don’t even go there. Yet there seems to be no shortage of fresh-faced tweets proclaiming those years to be something [...]
Despite Brexit uncertainty, City links across the Irish Sea continue to flourish February 11, 2019 Amid the ongoing debate about the Irish border and the Brexit backstop, it would be easy to lose sight of the City’s flourishing links across the Irish Sea. Both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland share a long history with the Square Mile. These ties have grown in recent years as the City Corporation [...]
UK and Switzerland strike post-Brexit continuity agreement February 10, 2019 Britain and Switzerland have signed a continuity agreement that will allow the two countries to trade with each other once the UK leaves the European Union. The agreement will allow the countries to continue to trade freely without the imposition of new tariffs and will also mean no duties will be imposed on the vast majority [...]
May softens up to Corbyn talks as she pleads with MPs on Irish backstop February 10, 2019 Theresa May has moved to break the Brexit deadlock by inviting Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for fresh talks on the UK's membership of a customs union with the European Union. In a letter to the Labour leader, published late last night, May said she was prepared to hold further talks on a permanent customs union [...]
The Democrats’ rising star is borrowing policies from Ned Flanders February 10, 2019 The rockstar of the Democratic party, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, published House Resolution 109 of the 116th Congress last week, an ambitious non-binding resolution dubbed the Green New Deal, and over the weekend economists and academics went over it line by line. The historian Niall Ferguson summed up much of the hostile reaction: “This is what you [...]
James Brokenshire defends Chris Grayling after government scraps no-deal ferry contract February 10, 2019 Housing minister James Brokenshire this morning defended transport secretary Chris Grayling from calls that he should be sacked over the collapse of a no-deal Brexit ferry contract with a firm that had no ships. Asked by the BBC whether he had confidence in Tory MP Grayling following the cancellation of the contract, Brokenshire replied: "Chris Grayling [...]
Theresa May promises MPs another Brexit vote by end of February if no deal is agreed with EU February 10, 2019 Theresa May is bargaining with MPs to give her more time to secure a Brexit deal with the EU by offering them another Brexit vote by 27 February. The Prime Minister has been in Brussels this week seeking concessions on the Northern Irish backstop, the reason many MPs rejected her vote by historic margins in January. However, [...]
Nigel Farage suggests he could become new Brexit Party leader February 9, 2019 Nigel Farage has said he will stand to be leader of the Brexit Party should the UK’s departure from the European Union be delayed. The Eurosceptic party was officially confirmed by the Electoral Commission on February 5 and Farage has said the party “has my absolutely full support”. The former UKIP leader said that if [...]