Alok Sharma offers to resign as business minister to lead climate summit January 2, 2021 UK business minister Alok Sharma has offered to resign from his ministerial position in order to take on a full-time role preparing for the country’s chairmanship of United Nations COP26 climate change summit, according to The Times today. Sharma, who is also president of this year’s climate summit, reportedly told Prime Minister Boris Johnson that [...]
Brexit: Ireland beefs up police patrols at Northern Ireland border January 1, 2021 Ireland will intensify its police presence at the Northern Ireland border from today in a bid to stop organised crime taking advantage of post-Brexit changes. Ireland’s national police force, Garda, had already increased officers posted at the border by 20 per cent since 2016 and are set to add more as the Brexit transition period [...]
Boris Johnson: UK ‘rediscovered a spirit of togetherness’ in ‘grim’ 2020 December 31, 2020 Boris Johnson has used his New Year’s Eve message to say the UK has “rediscovered a spirit of togetherness” in 2020, but that there “will be plenty of people who will be only too happy to say goodbye to the grimness of 2020”. The Prime Minister also said the UK approval of two Covid vaccines [...]
UK has record 56,000 Covid cases on last day of 2020 December 31, 2020 The UK has recorded 964 deaths from Covid on the last day of 2020 as cases continue to surge to record levels across the country. The government reported another 55,892 new Covid cases today – a new single day record for the country. The total number of UK deaths from coronavirus has now hit 73,512, [...]
Covid: UK can immunise everyone by spring with 24/7 vaccinations, says top GP December 31, 2020 The UK can vaccinate its entire population against Covid-19 by spring if the government starts a 24-hour programme using venues like football stadiums, according to the former Royal College of General Practitioners chair. Dame Clare Gerada said today that the UK “can’t just rely on GP surgeries” to administer the vaccines and that the country [...]
Eurotunnel operator ‘confident’ there will not be border chaos tomorrow December 31, 2020 The Eurotunnel’s operator has said there will not be chaos at the border after the UK leaves the EU’s single market and customs union tonight. Channel Tunnel operator Getlink has said it is “confident” there will not be a repeat of scenes last week when 800-long lorry queues were seen at the Kent border. John [...]
The year in charts: From the FTSE to Zoom’s share price December 31, 2020 2020 has been quite the ride. So, to cap it off, we worked with our friends at Flourish to look at *quite* how wild it was… Global stock markets have had an odd year – from optimism to collapse to guarded positivity for the future. Here’s how the FTSE 100 fared. Currency markets were all [...]
Former Tesco chief Dave Lewis amongst New Year’s Honours December 31, 2020 Former Tesco boss Dave Lewis has been knighted in the New Year’s Honours List, alongside a number of business figures given gongs. Ocado boss Melanie Smith receives a CBE in recognition of her firm’s upscaling during the lockdown pandemic, and Co-op retail chief Joanne Whitfield receives the same honour. Read more: Retail wonks expect a [...]
Where we are in terms of political risk in 2021 December 31, 2020 Happy New Year to City A.M. readers! Writing a regular newspaper column is a lot like dancing: it takes two to tango. Suffice it to say, while I’ve kept the flame alive these past enervating lockdown months via ceaseless articles detailing the bottomless gloom of 2020, I’m delighted that 2021 may generally bring more positive [...]
UK parliament passes post-Brexit trade deal in one day December 30, 2020 Both houses of the UK parliament have passed Boris Johnson’s Brexit trade deal, just 13 hours after it was introduced in the House of Commons. The deal was voted through by the House of Lords just after 11.30 pm, after MPs passed the legislation by 521 votes to 73 earlier this afternoon. The deal will [...]