Scrapping bankers’ bonus cap is a return to global norms, says City minister January 10, 2023 City minister Andrew Griffith said today that scrapping the bankers’ bonus cap would realign Britain with global financial norms, as he faced questions from MPs in parliament about the government’s so-called Edinburgh Reforms. Discussing bankers’ bonuses, Griffith said “we have departed from global norms… the global competitive set do not have this (bonus cap).” London, [...]
Double take: Grant Shapps tweets historic photo which edits out Boris Johnson January 10, 2023 There are few comparisons between Grant Shapps and dictators of yore – mercifully – but it appears he may be the beneficiary of a tried-and-tested trick of historical figures. Shapps posted a photo to twitter on Sunday which appeared to show him alongside two officials from Britain’s space programme welcoming the launch of Virgin Orbit’s [...]
Putin yanks Russia out of European anti-corruption scheme January 10, 2023 Russia has opted out of a European convention on fighting corruption, a move that comes in the wake of its withdrawal from the Council of Europe following start of Moscow’s military action in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin asked the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, to terminate adherence to the Council of Europe’s convention on [...]
Brexit: UK and N Ireland data-sharing progress a ‘positive step’ in protocol wrangling January 10, 2023 Progress between the EU and the UK on post-Brexit data-sharing has been hailed as a “positive step” in ongoing talks to find a solution to the Northern Ireland Protocol row. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris met European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic in London on Monday, as London and Brussels try [...]
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen suspended from the Commons over ‘cavalier’ attitude to lobbying rules January 10, 2023 MPs have agreed to suspend Tory MP Andrew Bridgen after he was found to have displayed a “very cavalier” attitude to the rules in a series of lobbying breaches. The North West Leicestershire Tory MP will be suspended from the Commons for five sitting days from Tuesday. Bridgen, a backbencher should have told ministers and officials [...]
Sunak and Starmer offer little new year cheer on ailing UK growth path January 10, 2023 This brand new weekly column, published every Tuesday, will drill down into the stories behind the numbers to reveal what makes the UK – and global – economy tick. But, today, inspired by what resembled soon-to-broken new year’s resolutions by political leaders last week, it will make the case for why a stable government economic [...]
Business energy support scheme to be slashed today as Jeremy Hunt warns help can’t last forever January 9, 2023 A new scheme to support businesses with their energy bills will be announced later on Monday, but is expected to be significantly cut after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt warned existing spending is “unsustainably expensive”. The package will be announced to MPs, with the current cap on the unit cost of electricity and gas for firms set [...]
‘Nobody died’: Embarrassment for Putin as Russia claims missile strikes on Ukrainian base killed 600 January 9, 2023 Ukrainian officials say nobody died in missile attacks Russia claims killed 600 troops. Vladimir Putin’s Russian defence ministry said missiles hit two temporary bases housing 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers in Kramatorsk in the easter Donetsk region. The strikes were retaliation for Ukraine’s attack in Makiivka, which left at least 89 Russian troops died, ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said. [...]
Watch: Bolsonaro supporters invade Brazil’s Congress and Supreme Court in Brasilia January 8, 2023 Supporters of Brazil’s former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday invaded the Supreme Court, the Congress building and surrounded the presidential palace in Brasilia, according to television images. In an echo of the Jan. 6, 2021 invasion of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump, Several thousand protesters broke into the [...]
UK public procurement reforms could create £4bn ‘accountability gap’, campaigners warn January 8, 2023 Plans to overhaul the UK’s public procurement processes risk creating an “accountability gap” around the use of public funds, anti-corruption campaigners have warned. The plans, which aim to make it easier for small businesses to win contracts from the UK government, seek to simplify the country’s procurement processes and make them easier to navigate. The [...]