Drama down under as Aussies appoint new Prime Minister August 24, 2018 Australia appointed Scott Morrison as its sixth Prime Minister in less than 10 years in the early hours of this morning after Malcolm Turnbull was ousted from the role last night. Morrison was previously Australia’s Treasurer, equivalent to the UK’s Chancellor, having been first elected to Australia’s House of Representatives in 2007. He was elected [...]
Brexit papers draw battle lines for no-deal scenario August 23, 2018 The government today warned businesses in financial services and beyond of the complicated processes and extra costs they may face in a no-deal Brexit, as it published the first in a barrage of technical notices to prepare for the scenario. The government today published technical notices covering the possible consequences of the UK leaving the [...]
Trump predicts stock market crash if he were to be impeached August 23, 2018 US President Donald Trump today suggested his impeachment would cause the stock market to crash. In an interview with Fox & Friends, Trump warned against any attempts to remove him from power. "If I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash. I think everybody would be very poor," he told Fox News this [...]
Government warns of no-deal Brexit hit to financial services including higher card payment costs August 23, 2018 Financial services customers could see “increased costs and slower processing times” for euro payments in the event of a no-deal Brexit, the government said today amid a barrage of warnings that business across the City and the broader economy could grind to a halt. The government today published technical notices covering the possible consequences of [...]
Dominic Raab says good deal ‘within our sights’ as no-deal Brexit documents released August 23, 2018 Brexit secretary Dominc Raab will today insist that "a good deal is within our sights" as he releases the first tranche of the government's no-deal planning documents. The publication of these technical notes comes as a new survey by City heavyweights KPMG suggests that no-deal Brexit would cause a dramatic contraction in consumer spending, with [...]
Corbyn plots to establish publicly owned rival to Facebook August 23, 2018 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has outlined plans to build a publicly owned social media platform to rival the likes of Facebook. In a speech at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Corbyn set out his idea to create the British Digital Corporation (BDC), a publicly owned entity that would also create entertainment content to rival streaming giants Netflix [...]
Credit Suisse freezes £4bn linked to Russia after US sanctions August 22, 2018 Banking giant Credit Suisse has frozen 5.1bn Swiss francs (£4.02bn) linked to Russia following US sanctions. The Zurich-headquartered bank reported in its second quarter results that it had identified impacted client relationships and transactions to ensure compliance. It added that the sanctions compliance group is closely monitoring the developments. Read more: Russia hits out at ‘unacceptable’ US [...]
Tory Party receive more in fees from the dead than from living members August 22, 2018 The Conservative Party received more money from the dead last year then it did from living members. Figures released yesterday by the Electoral Commission show the Tories received £835,000 from membership fees in 2017, compared to £1.7m from bequests. Read more: Exclusive: Tory members plot Brexit rebellion at party conference Members’ dues dropped 43 per [...]
Ditch the Chequers Agreement and Hammond can scrap his ‘Amazon tax’ August 22, 2018 Thanks to the Prime Minister’s commitment to raise NHS spending by an additional £20bn, the chancellor is now in a quandary. Philip Hammond signed up to the theory that raising taxes increases revenues, which goes against the volumes of evidence that it actually depresses economic activity, encourages switching of spending to other lower-taxed areas, and [...]
Microsoft says Russia was behind several major US political group hacks August 21, 2018 Microsoft has warned that Russian state actors are ramping up cyberattacks ahead of the US congressional elections in November. The software giant said it had caught and shut down a number of web domains masquerading as websites belonging to the US Senate, two think tanks and its own cloud storage service in the last week. [...]