Liz Truss aims for UK to join CPTPP trading bloc in the next 12 months April 25, 2021 International trade secretary Liz Truss has said she is aiming for the UK to join a major trading bloc with countries like Mexico and Australia within the next 12 months. Truss finished up three days of face-to-face negotiations with Australian trade minister Dan Tehan in London earlier this week, with both sides saying a deal [...]
Boris Johnson leadership campaign aide was lobbyist for Sanjeev Gupta April 25, 2021 One of Boris Johnson’s aides for his leadership campaign was a lobbyist for Liberty Steel owner Sanjeev Gupta – one of the key figures in the Greensill Capital collapse. Gupta has been asking for a government bailout to save Liberty Steel, after its main financial backer – Greensill Capital – went bust last month. Malin [...]
Labour calls for independent commission on standards after Cummings slams PM’s integrity April 24, 2021 The Labour Party has called for an independent commission on ethics and standards in government after Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s former top adviser, criticised Boris Johnson’s integrity. On Friday Dominic Cummings, who left Johnson’s staff suddenly late last year having previously been his most influential adviser over Brexit and the 2019 election campaign, denied [...]
Public debt: Who has lent a staggering £2.1 trillion to Rishi Sunak? April 23, 2021 Government debt has hit its highest point as a portion of gross domestic product since the early 1960s when the country was still paying off what it had borrowed to fund the fight against Nazi Germany, new figures showed this morning. Last year spending skyrocketed to pay for dozens of programmes to prop up the [...]
Exclusive: London mayor candidate faces calls to pull out for hosting antisemitic video April 23, 2021 Independent mayor of London candidate Brian Rose is facing calls to pull out of the race over a video on his website that contains a slew of antisemitic conspiracy theories by conspiracy theorist David Icke. The video in question, from 2019, features Icke telling Rose in detail about how 9/11 was a plot hatched by [...]
How God guided Brexit: Anglicans mostly Brexiteers while Catholics are remainers April 23, 2021 Faith played an important in the UK’s choice to leave Europe, with Anglicans more likely to back Brexit. One in five Brits had religious beliefs that made them more likely to vote Leave and a quarter of voters’ faiths meant they were more likely Remain voters, according to a new study shared with City A.M. [...]
‘Bitter’ Dominic Cummings accused of leaking Boris Johnson’s text messages to James Dyson and Mohammed bin Salman April 23, 2021 Boris Johnson’s former aide Dominic Cummings has been blamed for the leaking of the Prime Minister’s text messages. An internal inquiry has been launched into how messages between the Prime Minister and billionaire Sir James Dyson were leaked to journalists. But reports said Downing Street sources are pointing the finger at Cummings, who quit as [...]
Government leaking Covid economic policy erodes public trust, think tank warns April 23, 2021 Treasury’s leaking of Covid-19 recovery policies to some media outlets weeks in advance, while keeping tight lipped on important details, risks eroding public trust, a leading economic think tank has warned. A new report by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr) said the current method has led to serious fiscal failures and [...]
Peers brand decision to lift cap on number of nuclear warheads ‘thin and unconvincing’ April 22, 2021 Members of the House of Lords have criticised the government’s decision to lift the cap on the number of nuclear warheads held by the UK. Peers argued the decision was disproportionate, expensive, unfounded, unconvincing and at odds with the United States, which has just pledged to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in foreign policy. [...]
EU financial services czar warns City that Brussels won’t bend on rule-taking demands April 22, 2021 The EU is in “no rush” to grant the City of London renewed access to its financial markets post-Brexit, according to a senior Brussels official. Mairead McGuinness, the European Commissioner for financial services, said today that Brussels will “not be recreating access to the single market for the UK as they have chosen to move [...]