Theresa May asks EU to extend Article 50 until 30 June as EU presses for 2020 extension March 20, 2019 Theresa May has asked the EU to delay Brexit by three months to 30 June. The Prime Minister has confirmed that she has asked Brussels to extend Article 50 – the mechanism that allows the UK to leave the EU – for three months rather than to seek a longer extension. Read more: Sterling dips [...]
Labour MP launches last-minute challenge to May’s decision to pursue ‘short’ Brexit delay March 20, 2019 A Labour MP has tabled a last-ditch challenge to Theresa May's decision to seek only a short delay to Brexit. Alison McGovern formally requested an emergency parliamentary debate today on the Prime Minister's plans to extend Brexit. Read more: Prime Minister rules out long Brexit delay It is not clear if her emergency debate motion [...]
For once, John Bercow’s egomaniac meddling actually has a point March 20, 2019 John Bercow is a pompous, smug, self-important showman. The only thing he likes more than the sound of his own voice is being in the limelight – and he isn’t afraid to ruffle feathers in his never-ending search for it. He has turned the centuries-old office of the speaker of the House of Commons into [...]
Can Beto O’Rourke lead the Democrats to victory against Donald Trump? March 20, 2019 Beto O’Rourke lit up the 2020 US presidential election race last week by throwing his hat into the ring. The Democrat shot to fame last year when he ran for the US Senate and only narrowly lost out to his rival in the deeply Republican state of Texas. His failure in that election was counter-intuitively his [...]
DEBATE: Will the UK’s strong employment landscape be able to withstand the shock of a no-deal Brexit? March 20, 2019 Will the UK’s strong employment landscape be able to withstand the shock of a no-deal Brexit? Lee Biggins, founder and chief executive of CV-Library, says YES. While there’s no guarantee that the jobs boom will last if we came crashing out of the EU, the labour market has stood strong in the face of uncertainty [...]
Emojis are a better metric for national wellbeing than traditional data methods March 20, 2019 HMRC’s programme to make tax digital continues to roll out. Anyone with a small business will know about the imminent deadline of 1 April, when VAT returns become digital. Quick to seize an opportunity, several companies have developed software to ease the task. The digitisation of tax raises the wider issue of whether technology will [...]
Brexit: Theresa May will not seek long delay to Article 50 as she asks EU for short extension March 20, 2019 Theresa May will not seek a long Brexit extension when she writes to the EU to seek a delay to Article 50 today, according to reports. Read more: UK must commit to new political 'event' to get Brexit delay, warns Barnier The Prime Minister is set to ask for more time for parliament to back [...]
Liz Truss promises focus on ‘less sexy’ transport projects in spending review March 19, 2019 Treasury minister Liz Truss has taken a thinly-veiled swipe at her cabinet colleagues as she hit out at politicians telling people what to eat and how much to exercise. In a speech setting out her priorities for a review of spending in Whitehall, Truss said the government should not be telling “capable citizens” what to [...]
UK needs to commit to new political ‘event’ to get Brexit delay, warns Michel Barnier March 19, 2019 A long delay to Brexit must be linked to a new political event or process, the EU’s chief negotiator has warned. Speaking in Brussels, Michel Barnier set out the reassurances he believes the EU 27 will want from the UK before granting an extension to the negotiating period. Theresa May is set to write to [...]
Vote Leave fined £40,000 for sending thousands of unlawful text messages March 19, 2019 Vote Leave has been fined £40,000 for sending out thousands of unlawful text messages in the run up to the 2016 EU referendum. The official pro-Brexit group sent 196,154 unsolicited messages promoting its aims, with most texts containing a link to its website, an investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found. Read more: Angela [...]