As rival Martin Schulz overtakes Angela Merkel in the polls, is the Queen of Europe about to lose her crown? February 21, 2017 Daniel Hamilton, a senior director at FTI Consulting, says Yes. The last year has been a torrid one for Angela Merkel. September’s elections won’t offer her any respite. Merkel has traditionally been lucky with her hapless Social Democrat (SPD) opponents. This year’s foe, former European Parliament president Martin Schulz, is different. Cunning and commanding, Schulz’s [...]
Greece must pursue urgent reform to tackle “explosive” debt levels February 20, 2017 GREECE will continue negotiations on how to cut its staggering debts after Eurogroup officials agreed yesterday to a new summit in March. The country needs access to the latest tranche of its €86bn bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the EU in order to meet debt repayments. At the core of yesterday’s announcement [...]
Volkswagen has fixed 470,000 of the UK cars hit by the emissions scandal February 20, 2017 German carmaker Volkswagen has fixed 470,000 cars out of 1.2m affected by the diesel emissions scandal in Britain, the firm’s UK managing director told MPs yesterday. Giving evidence to the Transport Select Committee, Paul Willis was grilled by MPs, with some angry that the firm has not been fined in Britain and that motorists have not [...]
Donald Trump’s state visit is “entirely appropriate” says foreign office minister February 20, 2017 Foreign office minister Sir Alan Duncan has shot down demands to scrap the state visit of US President Donald Trump, telling MPs the honour is “entirely appropriate”. MPs today debated Trump's trip after 1.8m people signed a petition calling for the state visit to be scrapped, with questions raised about the timing of the invitation from [...]
Trade secretary Liam Fox visits Southeast Asia to promote British links with the region February 20, 2017 Trade secretary Liam Fox is to visit Singapore and Vietnam this week in his first trip to Southeast Asia since coming to office as he seeks to bolster Britain's overseas links With Brexit secretary David Davis also visiting central Europe this week, Fox will be the second senior member of the cabinet overseas promoting the [...]
Is your company in one of the 15 places hit hardest by business rate rises? February 20, 2017 The government has hit back at criticism of a scheduled rise in business rates with a letter to MPs detailing how constituencies will be affected. The figures show the forecast average change in bill for businesses in each of the UK's 650 constituencies – many of the worst-hit locations are in London. Of the 15 worst-hit sites, [...]
Article 50 Bill debates resume with a plea for the House of Lords to remember the Brexit verdict February 20, 2017 The House of Lords has kicked off two days of debate on the Article 50 Bill with a government peer asking lords to remember a “collective sense of responsibility”. The Bill was passed unamended by the House of Commons before parliament went into recess earlier this month. And introducing the Bill in the second chamber [...]
Politicians must tread carefully on M&A intervention February 20, 2017 It is common in business and politics today to talk about "signals". Brexit is either a signal of our desire to cut ourselves off from the world, or a sign that we’re set to become a kind of expansionist high-seas merchant. From immigration to Donald Trump, foreign policy to international aid, perceptions are increasingly being [...]
Oxford University denies plans for a post-Brexit campus in France February 20, 2017 The UK’s oldest university has refuted claims that it is looking to open a campus in France, contrary to reports. The former director at the French ministry for education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, told the Telegraph senior officials had met in Oxford last week to discuss ways in which the university could continue to receive EU funding [...]
Here’s how Twitter reacted to Donald Trump’s Sweden incident comments February 20, 2017 Donald Trump caused confusion over the weekend when he referred to an "incident in Sweden" while talking about previous terrorist attacks in Europe at a rally in Florida on Saturday. The US President told his audience to "look what's happening last night in Sweden" – prompting many to wonder what had occurred but seemingly gone [...]