Leaked audio: Theresa May feared banks would leave the UK after Brexit October 26, 2016 Theresa May warned bankers before the referendum that she feared businesses would leave the UK if it voted to leave the European Union. A recording of a speech the then-home secretary gave to Goldman Sachs in May has been published by the Guardian, revealing she had numerous concerns about the impact that leaving the EU would [...]
Labour’s City man gets real over green belt October 26, 2016 Building in Britain is not always easy, as the debacle over airport expansion shows. The government satisfied business groups yesterday by revealing its intention to allow a third runway at Heathrow – but even though Theresa May has acted reasonably quickly, the verdict follows years of dawdling, and arrives nearly half a century after Harold Wilson [...]
Why everyone called Brexit wrong: Analysts have become too close to the elites they’re meant to analyse October 26, 2016 I have long held heretical views about political risk analysis, which cluster around what I call the “plumber’s test”. However bejeweled or slick at marketing a political risk firm may be, what matters in the end is that they are analytically correct. Just as I don’t invite back my local plumber if he fails to [...]
The Lord mayor will tonight tell the City to draft plans for a “bold, bright, buccaneering” post-Brexit future October 26, 2016 Lord mayor Jeffrey Mountevans will tomorrow call on City chiefs to develop a “buccaneering” 20 year vision for its future after Brexit. Speaking at the annual City Banquet at the Mansion House, he will warn that the City of London cannot afford to adopt a “wait and see” approach. “We must conceive a vision of the UK’s [...]
Philip Hammond is facing a huge £84bn shortfall in public finances over five years, according to policy experts October 26, 2016 Philip Hammond is facing a yawning £84bn shortfall in public finances over the next five years, according to policy experts. The chancellor is set to make his first Autumn Statement in just under a month, but sums from the Resolution Foundation suggest Treasury coffers are going to be under intense pressure thanks to economic turbulence. The think [...]
It’s official – Zac Goldsmith has stepped down as an MP over Heathrow October 25, 2016 Zac Goldsmith Richmond Park MP and former Conservative London mayor candidate has formally stepped down as an MP over a government decision on runways. The Department for Transport finally came out in favour of a new runway at Heathrow earlier today, and Goldsmith's constituency party had already confirmed that the MP "intended" to resign. He has [...]
Boris Johnson has made a whisky appointment in his search for a new adviser October 25, 2016 Foreign secretary Boris Johnson has found a new foreign affairs adviser in the ranks of the Scotch Whisky Association. SWA chief executive David Frost is leaving the trade body to join the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 4 November. Frost will join the ranks of FCO spads after just over two and a half years representing [...]
Here are the best responses from MPs to the government’s decision to expand Heathrow October 25, 2016 Foreign secretary Boris Johnson was among the first to come out fighting after the government announced plans for a new runway at Heathrow. Johnson's opposition is well known, but how did many of his peers respond? Cabinet members It's not just Boris who's angry about Heathrow, his fellow cabinet member and south west London MP [...]
Grayling says expanded Heathrow demands better regional connectivity October 25, 2016 Transport secretary Chris Grayling has promised a new runway at Heathrow will generate better air transport links inside the UK. Announcing the government's support for a new runway at the site in the House of Commons, Grayling said the expanded airport will provide six more domestic routes across the UK by 2030, including to Scotland, [...]
Hammond says he will prioritise financial services in the upcoming Brexit talks October 25, 2016 Philip Hammond has again moved to reassure the City that the government will prioritise financial services in the upcoming Brexit discussions with the European Union. The chancellor told MPs in the Commons this morning that he understood the City's need to have continued access to the single market and to hire skilled people to work in [...]