Downing Street confident of striking UK-EU trade deal next month August 17, 2020 The UK is still on course to deliver an EU trade deal next month, according to Downing Street. Negotiations are set to enter their seventh round on Tuesday when UK negotiators travel to Brussels. The Prime Minister’s spokesman has said they would “continue to plug the gaps”. A number of issues remain unresolved, including those [...]
UK says US whisky tariff ‘in nobody’s interest’ in trade deal talks August 13, 2020 The UK has said it will step up demands for the US to drop tariffs on goods such as single malt Scotch whisky after the industry warned a decision by Washington to retain the levy was putting its future at risk. The US government yesterday vowed to maintain 15 per cent tariffs on Airbus aircraft [...]
Lords urge government to protect UK creative industries in post-Brexit trade deal August 5, 2020 A House of Lords committee has written to the culture secretary demanding clarification on how a post-Brexit trade deal will affect the UK’s “overlooked” creative industries, as Britain edges towards the Brexit transition period deadline. In a letter to Oliver Dowden, the House of Lords EU Services sub-committee urged the government to provide a comprehensive [...]
EU prepared to soften state aid demand to reach Brexit deal August 3, 2020 The European Union is reportedly willing to soften its demand that Britain follow EU state aid rules after it leaves the bloc, in order to break the Brexit impasse. Diplomatic sources told Reuters that Brussels may seek a compromise involving a dispute-settling mechanism on state aid in order to resolve the Brexit deadlock. They said [...]
The City View: ‘Charlemagne’ on the EU July 21, 2020 Subscribe to The City View Podcast: Apple / Google / Spotify / RSS Today Andy Silvester talks to Duncan Robinson, Charlemagne columnist for The Economist. Based in Brussels, Duncan gives us an insight into the changing relationships within the EU now that the UK has left, the role of member states in a post-pandemic world, and the future of continental euroscepticism. Andy [...]
Re-focusing on Brexit as we look to the future July 15, 2020 | City Talk The UK Government has confirmed that it will not request an extension to the Brexit transition period which ends on 31st December 2020 and negotiations towards a Free Trade Agreement with the European Union (EU) are ongoing. Although the first half of this year has brought other priorities it’s now time to return our attention [...]
UK retailers warn shoppers face price hikes if no EU trade deal agreed July 10, 2020 Britain’s retail industry has warned that consumers could face higher prices next year if the UK is unable to reach a tariff-free EU trade deal. The British Retail Consortium said the industry could not absorb the additional costs of tariffs, meaning the hike in prices would be passed on to consumers whose finances have already [...]
‘Serious concerns’ raised over government’s export credit agency July 6, 2020 The government’s export credit agency could be “cutting corners” as it races to finance the post-coronavirus and post-Brexit trade drive, raising “serious concerns” about the UK’s future trading relations, according to a new report. A report released today by anti-corruption campaign group Spotlight on Corruption found that UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s export credit [...]
Banks push Britain and EU to sort out financial market access July 6, 2020 Britain and the European Union must make progress on post-Brexit financial market access as the coronavirus pandemic will make it even harder to cope with potential disruptions if no deal is reached, a banking lobby group said today. Continued uncertainty over the pair’s future relationship combined with the economic downturn caused by Covid-19 could “aggravate [...]
Johnson says he’s more optimistic than Barnier on post-Brexit trade deal July 3, 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he is more optimistic than European officials about the prospect of Britain securing a post-Brexit trade agreement, but said the UK could still leave the bloc without a deal if needed. Johnson said he was a bit more optimistic than chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier, who said this week that [...]