Services industry falters as activity plummets amid Iran conflict fallout Business The UK’s services sector’s economic activity and performance declined sharply last month as fallout from the Iran conflict continues to impact businesses, according to new figures. According to data on the latest business trends from accountancy and advisory firm BDO, a drop in sales and fragile client confidence led to a drop in the services [...]
City policy chairman: 10 years on from Brexit, the UK still needs the EU Opinion The impact of Brexit on the City has been more nuanced than many predicted, but the fundamental reality endures: we still need each other.
EU rejected UK push for single market on goods Politics The EU rejected a UK proposal to set up a single market for the trade of goods because the UK refused to allow freedom of movement. Michael Ellam, Britain’s chief negotiator, proposed that the UK align with UK regulations to allow free trade with the bloc, but the idea was rebuffed by Brussels. The rebuttal [...]
Streeting’s EU Plan would cost our hard-won relationship with Trump May 19, 2026 West Streeting's pitch to rejoin the EU may play well with Labour Party members, but it will prove a liability for whoever has to govern.
Manchesterism? This is what an Andy Burnham government would look like May 18, 2026 As the Manchester mayor starts out on his high-risk path towards becoming Prime Minister, Maurício Alencar sketches out what an Andy Burnham government would look like – and how the markets would react. Andy Burnham will have to jump over many hurdles in his almighty quest to get to Downing Street. If he makes it, [...]
Realignment with the EU is a £15bn betrayal May 13, 2026 Dynamic alignment is an extreme anomaly in global trade and will inflict a net opportunity cost on the UK of £15bn, equivalent to a 0.5 per cent loss of GDP, says Shanker Singham Under the guise of reducing border friction, the government is quietly steering the United Kingdom towards a profound constitutional and economic blunder: [...]
JP Morgan shifts Paris jobs back to London in Brexit shake-up April 28, 2026 JP Morgan is relocating a number of roles at its Paris hub to London in a rethink of policies introduced in the wake of Brexit. The Wall Street titan is shifting a handful of trading roles to London after over-estimating the number of EU-based staff it would need to meet post-Brexit rules. Along with EU [...]
Lord Hannan made IEA chief April 24, 2026 The Institute of Economic Affairs has announced Lord Daniel Hannan as its new director general. Hannan, a former Tory MEP who was one of the top Vote Leave figures in 2016, will take up the post on 1 June 2026. He has long been an avid critic of the EU and was one of the [...]
BRC chief: Red tape ‘weighs heavily’ on retailers April 23, 2026 Helen Dickinson, the boss of leading trade body the British Retail Consortium, believes red tape “weighs heavily” on retailers. She speaks to Felix Armstrong about food inflation, workers’ rights and her meeting with the Chancellor. Helen Dickinson was six weeks into her job as chief executive of the BRC when the horsemeat scandal landed on [...]
UK rejoins Erasmus: British students to study across Europe from 2027 April 16, 2026 Six years after Brexit, British students will soon be able to study and work across Europe again, as the UK formally re-joins the Erasmus programme. The legal text, signed in Brussels on Wednesday, is intended to bring the UK back into the programme in 2027 after the UK pulled out of in December 2020 as [...]