Editor’s Notes: The PM needs the citizens of nowhere to make London their home February 3, 2017 Theresa May has come a long way since her speech to the Tory party conference in October last year. Having been denied a meaningful leadership contest before entering 10 Downing Street, the new PM’s first few months in office left the more liberal wing of the Tory party pining for the metropolitanism of Cameron and [...]
Whisper it, but Britain may be about to get a housing policy fit for the crisis we actually face February 3, 2017 A quiet, but very optimistic, cheer for the communities secretary Sajid Javid. Many politicians use the UK’s cost of living crisis as a talking point, but Javid’s blueprint for a new housing policy – set to be fully published next week – looks like it was designed to actually start tackling it in a meaningful [...]
A senior Tory backbencher is threatening to defy Theresa May in next week’s Article 50 vote February 2, 2017 A senior Conservative MP has threatened to defy Prime Minister Theresa May over her Article 50 Bill and fears of handing the Prime minister “a blank cheque”. Neil Carmichael, who chairs the education select committee, said he was “looking carefully” at amendments tabled for the legislation, which grants the government the power to launch Brexit [...]
The attorney general has revealed how much he was paid for the Article 50 case February 2, 2017 Bankers may be fearing a doughnut this earnings season, but the attorney general revealed today he has recently taken a zero bonus of his own. Jeremy Wright told MPs in the House of Commons today that he and the advocate general for Scotland "received no additional fee for our work on the case". Wright also said [...]
Defaulting to WTO terms post-Brexit would be a disaster for British trade February 2, 2017 Now that MPs have given permission to trigger Article 50 and Theresa May has outlined her 12-point plan for Brexit in both a speech and a White Paper, we finally have some clarity about the government’s intentions. But we still start with a clean piece of paper: we are leaving the Single Market and the Customs [...]
How are the UK’s business groups reacting to the Brexit white paper? February 2, 2017 Some of the UK's biggest business groups have come out in favour of a Brexit white paper published by the government today, but questions still remain on the rights of EU nationals. The Department for Exiting the European Union published the paper earlier this afternoon, following pressure from MPs to provide more information on Brexit [...]
Why an “imminent” Robin Hood tax is the latest nail in the EU’s coffin February 2, 2017 It is easy to be sceptical when any European Commissioner comes out and says something is imminent – particularly when you consider the ponderous and remote nature of the various institutions that make up the EU. But with Britain no longer having a say, last week’s comments from Commissioner Pierre Moscovici about a financial transaction [...]
Six things we learned from the Brexit white paper February 2, 2017 Theresa May has finally answered the calls of MPs and published a Brexit white paper, today releasing a 77-page document detailing her plan to quit the EU. May previously laid out much of the detail in her landmark address at Lancaster House last month, but what can we glean from all the extra information released today? 1. [...]
Theresa May publishes her Brexit plan in government white paper February 2, 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May has issued her much-demanded Brexit white paper, less than 24 hours after MPs voted in favour of granting her the power to begin EU divorce proceedings. The government paper was released by the Department for Exiting the European Union earlier today, following repeated calls for the government to expand on May's [...]
John McDonnell says Labour’s frontbench Brexit rebels may not face the sack February 2, 2017 Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell has said the party's Brexit rebels may be able to serve on the frontbench, despite disobeying direct orders. 13 Labour shadow ministers, including three party whips, voted against the progress of the Article 50 Bill in the House of Commons last night, ignoring instructions from party leader Jeremy Corbyn to [...]