The UK is now odds-on to remain in the EU until 2020 – and Tony Blair is the reason behind it, according to Ladbrokes November 25, 2016 The UK is now odds-on to still be a full member of the EU on 1 January 2020. According to Ladbrokes, Tony Blair's claim that Brexit can be stopped has moved the market, making it now just 10/11 Britain remain as full members, with 3/1 offered on another vote taking place before the same date. Meanwhile, the [...]
Phew: The department for international trade now has a chief economist November 25, 2016 The chief executive of the office of rail and road has gone off the rails – after the newly-established department of international trade poached him to as its new chief economist. The department, established after the Brexit vote, said today that Richard Price, who has run the office of rail and road for the past five [...]
With Italians set to vote no in a key political reform referendum, should we now expect “Italeave”? November 24, 2016 Tim Worstall, senior fellow at the Adam Smith Institute, and author of Chasing Rainbows: Economic Myths, Environmental Facts, says Yes. Failure by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to win the Italian constitutional referendum should indeed lead to Italy’s exit from the EU. Renzi has said that he will resign if he loses, which will almost certainly [...]
There is a financial services-shaped hole in the government’s economic strategy November 24, 2016 Oscar Wilde famously wrote that “there is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” For anyone who works in the City, that seems a particularly pertinent quote right now. For Wednesday’s Autumn Statement – one of the biggest events in the economic policy calendar – [...]
#SorryNotSorry : Read Night Tsar Amy Lame’s “gritted teeth” apology November 24, 2016 London's new night tsar Amy Lame has risked a fresh backlash by issuing a half-hearted apology to Tory councillors over her controversial comments on social media. Questions have been raised over Lame's appointment by her use of Twitter to brand Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson “scum”, celebrate the death of Margaret Thatcher and fantasise about “bitch-slapping” David [...]
Last surviving WWI submarine hunter looks doomed for scrap after failing to secure Autumn Statement funding November 24, 2016 The HMS President's fate is looking uncertain, after a bid for Libor funding was turned down in Philip Hammond's Autumn Statement. Now she faces the prospect of being scrapped in the coming weeks. A parliamentary motion was submitted in an effort to signpost its value as a heritage site as one of the UK's last three [...]
Ukip fell behind the BNP in the latest donations figures November 24, 2016 Ukip has experienced a staggering reduction in political donations since the European referendum, with new figures showing it has received less financial support than the British National Party. Nigel Farage's party received just £42,943 according to the most recent quarterly numbers from the Electoral Commission. It means the party received less than half the donations [...]
Tony Blair says Brexit could be stopped November 24, 2016 Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has said that Brexit may still be halted if concerns around its impact continue to increase. Yesterday, the Office for Budget Responsibility warned the decision to quit the EU would have a substantial impact on the UK's finances. And speaking to the New Statesman, Blair has said that the summer's [...]
Nigel Farage is moving to the US, according to reports November 24, 2016 Nigel Farage is said to be planning to follow in the footsteps of millions of immigrants throughout history, with a move to the United States. The interim Ukip leader has told friends that he and his wife are planning to emigrate, the Times has reported. The news comes the morning after Farage attended a party held [...]
Steady as she goes from Spreadsheet Phil November 24, 2016 It can't have been easy for George Osborne to watch his successor abolish one of the former chancellor’s favourite political devices. Philip Hammond ended his sober assessment of the public finances yesterday by declaring that the Autumn Statement will be no more. “No other economy makes hundreds of tax changes twice a year, and neither should [...]