Britain and EU reach temporary agreement on derivatives clearing September 28, 2020 Britain and the EU have reached a temporary accord on the information-sharing arrangements needed for eurozone banks to continue to use London’s clearing houses until June 2022. Britain’s unfettered access to the bloc’s markets ends on 31 December. Brussels had already agreed to grant UK clearing houses temporary access for 18 months, but an updated [...]
How mid-market businesses can keep on top of their evolving VAT obligations September 24, 2020 | City Talk In this article, I ask my VAT colleague, Mitchell Piper, for his views on how businesses can keep up to date with VAT changes. Value Added Tax (VAT), like all taxes, evolves over time to adapt to changes in society, technology and business practices. Good examples of this are the recent VAT rate reductions in [...]
Only a third of UK businesses have completed Brexit risk assessments September 24, 2020 Just over a third of UK companies have completed a Brexit risk assessment this year, as businesses scramble to prepare for the end of the transition period in 98 days. Only 38 per cent of eligible firms have completed Brexit risk assessments this year, compared to 57 per cent of businesses in 2019, according to [...]
Brexit: Government warns of 7,000-long lorry queues in Kent September 23, 2020 Ministers have warned of 7,000-long lorry queues in Kent after the Brexit transition period ends. In a letter to the freight industry cabinet minister Michael Gove warned exporters would face long queues and a two-day delay to trade. Imports will also be disrupted in January, while delays could be worsened if a winter spike in [...]
Break international law ‘at our peril’, says City of London policy chief September 16, 2020 The City of London’s policy chair has warned the government that it must assure investors that the UK will not break international law over the current Brexit negotiations. Catherine McGuinness said that the alarm around the Internal Market Bill could prove problematic for future investment. Speaking to the PA news agency, she said that Northern [...]
No-deal Brexit would hurt UK more than EU, says German finance minister September 12, 2020 A no-deal Brexit would do more damage to the UK economy than the European Union’s, according to the German finance minister. Speaking on Saturday following a meeting of 27 EU finance ministers in Berlin, Olaf Scholz said there would be “significant consequences” for Britain. “My assessment is that an unregulated situation would have very significant [...]
Brexit: Prime Minister urges Tory MPs to back him over bill September 12, 2020 Boris Johnson pleaded for Conservative MPs to support his plans to override part of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement in a Zoom call late on Friday. The Prime Minister told around 250 Tory MPs on the video call that the party must not return to “miserable squabbling” over Europe. He is hoping to pass an Internal [...]
Brexit: Government minister admits new bill will violate international law September 8, 2020 A top government minister today admitted that plans to amend the Brexit bill will break international law, but insisted it would only do so in a “very specific and limited way”. Concerns have been raised that proposed legislation for Britain’s internal market could undermine parts of the withdrawal agreement, which was negotiated last year. Asked [...]
UK-Canada trade deal back in focus as talks restart September 7, 2020 Hopes of securing a post-Brexit free trade deal with Canada were given a boost today after trade secretary Liz Truss announced the UK had kickstarted discussions. “Trade talks with Canada have commenced,” Truss wrote in a tweet. “The aim is to provide continuity for businesses by the end of the transition period. “Both the UK [...]
UK 2021 Immigration System: details revealed September 4, 2020 | City Talk The Brexit immigration issue was already a complex one, implementing the biggest changes in the UK in almost five decades with new immigration rules to navigate, and impacting business travellers. In addition, now that 90% of the world’s population is living in countries with travel restrictions in place, the ability to travel is no longer [...]