Don’t blame businesses for hiring foreign staff. Improve British skills October 6, 2016 Home secretary Amber Rudd provoked outrage this week for suggesting that companies should list the number of foreign workers they employ. For many in the business community, it hit a raw nerve at a sensitive time. EU nationals that call the UK home and have set up fast-growth businesses, or joined talented global teams, are already [...]
Article 50 challenge rumbles back into the court next week October 6, 2016 A legal challenge questioning what actions government needs to take before it triggers Article 50 is due to go to court next week. The claimants are arguing that government does not have the power to trigger Article 50, and begin the UK's process of leaving the EU, by prerogative and that it can only be [...]
Chancellor Philip Hammond vows to fight for the City in Brexit negotiations October 6, 2016 Philip Hammond has said the government will prioritise a good deal for the City in its upcoming negotiations over leaving the EU. In a visit to New York to reassure top Wall Street bankers, the chancellor said protecting access to Europe for financial services firms based in London was a pressing concern not only for [...]
Ukip leadership hopeful Steven Woolfe in hospital after ‘altercation’ with other Ukip MEPs October 6, 2016 Ukip MEP and leadership hopeful Steven Woolfe is on the mend in a hospital in Strasbourg after he collapsed outside the European Parliament earlier this afternoon. Woolfe was reportedly involved in an 'altercation' with other Ukip MEPs before he collapsed, according to Nigel Farage. "I deeply regret that following an altercation that took place at a meeting of Ukip MEPs this morning that Steven Woolfe subsequently [...]
Angela Merkel has hit back at Theresa May’s plans for access to the Single Market October 6, 2016 Angela Merkel has hit back at Theresa May over her plans for maintaining access to the Single Market once the UK leaves the EU. The German chancellor told a business audience in Berlin she would not countenance giving the UK preferential access while allowing it to restrict the free movement of people. Theresa May told the [...]
German defence minister warns UK against messing with EU security October 6, 2016 German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen has warned the UK against getting involved in EU security matters. "The plea to the British is only not to block important European developments, when they say they want Brexit," von der Leyen told the Financial Times. "It is not good to prevent Europe from organising itself better." [...]
Pound endures another rough rollercoaster ride amid mixed signals October 6, 2016 Sterling was sent on another rollercoaster ride yesterday as traders scrambled to digest fresh economic data alongside the latest messages emerging from Theresa May’s ruling Conservative party. The pound plummeted below $1.27 for the first time since 1985 as foreign exchange investors brushed off a relatively positive survey of economic activity in the UK’s dominant services [...]
Philip Hammond heads for Wall Street to reassure banking giants October 6, 2016 Chancellor Philip Hammond is to meet with bosses from a raft of Wall Street banks in a bid to stress the UK's desire to protect the financial services sector in the aftermath of Brexit. Hammond arrived in the US last night, where he will attend the IMF's annual meeting of finance ministers later this week. [...]
Well, now we know what Mayism looks like October 5, 2016 Come back George Osborne, all is forgiven. Yes, he may have ramped up the fear factor ahead of the referendum and yes, he may have missed his own targets and tinkered too often with the tax code but after Theresa May's speech yesterday there will be plenty in business who look back with affection on [...]
Theresa May hit by a business backlash over her Conservative party conference speech October 5, 2016 Prime minister Theresa May was lambasted by business groups and policy wonks yesterday for a speech that laid bare an interventionist economic policy and a heavy-handed approach to business reform. May used her closing speech at the Conservative party conference in Birmingham to pledge action against “dysfunctional” markets and to slam the so-called liberal metropolitan elite. [...]