Greek crisis: Grexit would signal Europe’s impotence, claims French PM Manuel Valls July 9, 2015 Allowing Greece to leave the Eurozone would be “an admission of impotence,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said. It was critical the country stay in the currency bloc, he said in a keynote speech today, saying a deal between Greece and its creditors – the IMF, the EC and the ECB – was [...]
Brexit: German businesses based in the UK don’t want Britain to go July 9, 2015 German businesses based in the UK have called on David Cameron to avoid a British exit from the European Union (EU). In a letter to the Prime Minister, chancellor and business secretary, Bernd Atensttaedt, chairman of German Industry UK, which represents 100 chief executives of industrial companies in the UK with a German majority shareholding [...]
Nigel Farage: “There is a new Berlin Wall and it is called the euro” July 8, 2015 Ukip leader Nigel Farage has launched another scathing attack on the European Union and its leaders as he stood up to speak at the European Parliament during a session on the Greek crisis talks. The European project has started to die. The plan has failed. The whole of the Mediterranean finds itself in the wrong [...]
Barack Obama makes personal intervention in Greek crisis talks July 8, 2015 With Greece given five days to reach an agreement ahead of an emergency summit attended by all 28 EU member states, President Barack Obama has made his first personal intervention in the crisis in months. Obama spoke to both Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tspiras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel before the leaders gathered in Brussels. [...]
July Budget 2015: Can you tell the difference between George Osborne and Gordon Brown? July 8, 2015 It's Budget day again today- and if it all seems a bit repetitive to you, spare a thought for George Osborne, who will be enduring his twelfth. Although, admittedly, it'll be the first time he hasn't had another party to please. But are they really all the same at heart? We've trawled through George [...]
July Budget 2015: What time is it, how to watch it and what to expect July 7, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne is busily preparing to deliver his "emergency Budget" tomorrow, with its name alluding to the fact it's so close to the General Election. But it's also attracting attention is because it's the first exclusively Conservative Budget in almost 20 years – in 1996 then-chancellor Kenneth Clarke delivered a package framed as the "Rolls-Royce recovery [...]
Tory bosses: Just three candidates on the Conservative mayoral ballot July 6, 2015 Voters will be able to choose among no more than three candidates when the Conservative party holds an open primary later this year to select its candidate for mayor of London. Applications to be the Tory candidate for London mayor closed yesterday, but the party has not released an official list of hopefuls. Bookmakers put [...]
July Budget 2015: Boris Johnson says cut top tax rate and introduce living wage July 6, 2015 Boris Johnson has said he thinks the government should cut the top rate of income tax from 45 pence and simultaneously make some of Britain's biggest companies pay the living wage. The London mayor argues only boosting the income of society's richest individuals is unfair, and should be matched with pay increases for low-paid employees [...]
7/7 London bombings 10th anniversary: Sadiq Khan – “Our spirit of togetherness saw to it that the terrorists failed” July 6, 2015 I can remember all too vividly where I was on the 7th July 2005, when word started filtering through that there had been several explosions on London’s public transport network. I was with my staff in our House of Common's office and all of us were in high spirits as we were still digesting [...]
Greek referendum: Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis hails “no” vote against austerity July 5, 2015 Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has hailed a seeming "no" vote against more austerity measures implying it ramps up pressure on the country's creditors to negotiate. "As of tomorrow, with this brave "no" the Greek people handed us … we will extend a helping hand towards our lenders. We will call on each one of them [...]