China’s state visit to the UK: Xi Jingping defends Chinese steel production October 21, 2015 Chinese President Xi Jingping has defended his country’s industrial policies, saying that an overcapacity of steel is a global problem. Speaking at a joint press conference with Prime Minister David Cameron at Downing Street today, Xi said: “The world is facing the overcapacity of iron and steel, not just the UK.” Blaming the “impact of [...]
Younger Britons more likely to want to remain in the EU – NatCen Social Research October 21, 2015 Younger Britons are more likely to want to stay in the European Union, while older people are more likely to want to leave, a new study has found. A report published by NatCen Social Research found that 69 per cent of those aged under 35 wanting to stay inside the EU, with just 25 per cent [...]
CBI director-general: benefits of EU membership outweigh the disadvantages October 21, 2015 A leading business group has made a major push in favour of Britain’s European Union membership. In a new report published today, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), set out its case for the UK remaining in a “reformed” EU. The CBI argued that the EU provides British firms with multiple advantages, including more customers [...]
The best reactions to Sajid Javid Vs. John Bercow October 20, 2015 Business secretary Sajid Javid was earlier schooled by Speaker of the House John Bercow. The remarks by Bercow came after a speech in which Javid was responding to a question from a Labour MP on the steel industry, following the announcement by Tata Steel that they were going to be cutting 1,200 jobs at its plants in [...]
Speaker of the House John Bercow tells business secretary Sajid Javid his statement was “discourteous and incompetent” October 20, 2015 He may have at one time been a Conservative, but John Bercow's role as Speaker of the House clearly means he's not going to be giving any of his former party's ministers an easy time, after he gave business secretary Sajid Javid a telling off in the Commons today. After a speech in which Javid was responding to a question from [...]
Electoral Commission data: Here’s how much money donors have given to political parties and politicians in 2015 October 20, 2015 The amount of money donated to both political parties and politicians since the General Election has – as you might expect – dropped substantially. But now new data from the Electoral Commission shows that with the London mayoral elections and Labour leadership contest, the amount received by political parties and regulated donees between 8 May [...]
Data protection watchdogs: The race is on for EU and US to find a new Safe Harbour agreement after European Court of Justice landmark ruling October 20, 2015 EU data protection watchdogs have set a January deadline for the EU and US to strike a new accord allowing Europeans’ data to be sent across the Atlantic, or risk enforcement action. In a landmark ruling the European Court of Justice decried the Safe Harbour agreement as invalid on 6 October. The court sided with [...]
IPPR think tank: one in three UK working mothers are breadwinners October 20, 2015 One in three working mothers in Britain are the breadwinners in their families, according to a new report out today from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). IPPR, a think tank, found that the proportion of maternal breadwinners rose from 23 per cent nearly two decades ago to 33 per cent in 2013. The [...]
Federation of Small Businesses sends wish list to London mayoral hopefuls October 20, 2015 Small businesses in the capital are calling on the next mayor of London to work to bring down property costs. In a report released today, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) London laid out a “London Manifesto” for Boris Johnson’s successor. After polling nearly 7,000 small businesses in London on their biggest concerns for City [...]
Shelter warns government’s plans to freeze housing benefit could be devastating for London families October 20, 2015 Government plans to freeze housing benefit could have a devastating on over 100,000 families who privately rent in London, according to new research from housing charity Shelter. The freeze, which comes into force next April, will keep housing benefit, which helps lower income families to pay rent – and only covers rents in the cheapest third [...]