Natwest increases small business loan programme amid Brexit uncertainty April 23, 2019 Natwest will double its growth funding programme for small and medium-sized British businesses, citing the need to help them navigate Brexit disruption. Read more: Government provides £200m for small firms as Brexit threatens EU funding The UK bank’s growth funding loan pot, which was started in May 2018, will be immediately doubled to £6bn in [...]
Bottoms up: English and Welsh sparkling wine sales jumped six per cent last year with 4m bottles sold April 23, 2019 UK sales of English and Welsh sparkling wine rose six per cent last year with 4m bottles sold. UK consumers bought more British sparkling wine than they did sparkling wines from Australia, the US and Germany combined in 2018. Italy was the top exporter of sparkling wine to the UK last year with 117m bottles [...]
Brexit has finished May, but MPs still need to find a way to honour the referendum result April 22, 2019 Theresa May would be forgiven if she decided not to return from her Easter break. While she walked the Welsh mountains, the mess she left in Westminster festered in the heat and one of her first engagements back in Downing Street will be to meet Sir Graham Brady, chair of the Tory party's committee of [...]
Theresa May under fresh pressure to resign amid mounting Tory grassroots rebellion April 22, 2019 Theresa May will return to Westminster facing fresh pressure over her position as top Tories warn she must resign or face further attempts to oust her. The influential 1922 committee of Tory MPs is reportedly meeting tomorrow to discuss tearing up the party rulebook in a move that could force the Prime Minister out, despite her [...]
HS2 ‘ignored concerns’ about winning bidder for £1.3bn Old Oak Common contract April 21, 2019 HS2 ignored warnings about a contractor’s ability to build a key station before awarding it the £1.3bn tender, according to a High Court claim. HS2 acknowledged a joint venture between Balfour Beatty and Vinci was “severely under-resourced [and] a real risk to the safe and timely completion and handover” of the crucial Old Oak Common station [...]
Britain cannot keep delaying Brexit, says EU commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker April 20, 2019 The European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, has called on the UK to "stop wasting time" and insisted Brexit cannot continue to be delayed indefinitely. Britain's departure from the bloc has already been delayed twice, with it first pushed back to April 12, before a decision to extend the delay until October 31 was agreed. Read more: Poll: [...]
Remain would win a second Brexit referendum, poll finds, as Leave voters more likely to have doubts April 18, 2019 A second referendum would see the population resoundingly vote for the UK to remain in the EU, a new poll has found. The latest Comres poll revealed that Remain would now win by 58 per cent to 42 per cent of the vote. Read more: Tusk says he still dreams of UK U-turn on Brexit [...]
Euro falls as data suggests Eurozone economy will grow just one per cent in 2019 April 18, 2019 The euro suffered today as economic data dealt a fresh blow to hopes for the Eurozone economy. Read more: Eurozone construction sector bounces back in February after weak January Germany and France’s manufacturing industries are contracting, a closely-followed index revealed, with both staying lower than the 50 measure representing growth. Overall, both the Eurozone’s leading [...]
No Brexit is now more likely than no-deal Brexit, economists predict April 18, 2019 Britain remaining in the EU is now more likely than a disorderly Brexit, according to a Reuters survey of economists. The poll found that Britain leaving with a free trade deal of some description was still the most likely outcome but Brexit being cancelled jumped above a no-deal scenario into third place in the latest [...]
Mike Ashley among Debenhams shareholders wiped out April 18, 2019 | City Talk By Graeme Evans from interactive investor. One of the most intriguing City soap operas is over for investors as lenders seize control of Debenhams. The fight for survival at Debenhams (LSE:DEB) stores goes on, but for investors the suspension of shares signalled the final act in a grim 13 years of stock market trading. The [...]