DEBATE: With just 16 days to go until Brexit, is there any point to the Spring Statement? March 13, 2019 With just 16 days to go until Brexit, is there any point to the Spring Statement? Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG, says YES. While Brexit is likely to dominate minds again this week, and continue to bring a fog of uncertainty over the outlook for the UK economy, the Spring Statement is still important. [...]
The left should listen up: Tax reform is a progressive cause March 13, 2019 In 2012, the columnist Mary Dejevsky wrote a piece for the Independent arguing that the centre-left should advocate a flat tax. It was in response to the publication of the Single Income Tax, the final report of the 2020 Tax Commission, convened by the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) and the Institute of Directors, and chaired by former [...]
Brexiteers have imperilled their own project March 12, 2019 The fact that 40 Tory MPs who previously voted against the deal swung behind the PM is significant – and will be seized upon by Downing Street strategists as evidence that there is life in her deal yet. Some big beasts are among the pro-Brexit Tories who voted last night in favour of the deal, [...]
Theresa May suffers second Brexit deal defeat as MPs take control of the next steps March 12, 2019 Theresa May has lost control of Brexit after suffering a second humiliating defeat on her withdrawal deal. The PM’s plan was voted down by a majority of 149 MPs after she failed to win changes to the treaty that would allow UK to unilaterally exit the controversial Irish border backstop arrangement. MPs will now vote on [...]
UK bank shares: A pre-Brexit view March 12, 2019 | City Talk Some UK bank shares have made massive profits for shareholders, but how should you play the sector now? It’s been a few weeks since the last of the big UK-listed banks published results for 2018, and share price performance since has been varied. Brexit, of course, has played its part and, with some lenders up [...]
The Conservative party needs to rediscover its economic way March 12, 2019 For most people, the Conservative’s 2015 “long-term economic plan” is now a distant memory. But as someone who was deeply immersed in that election campaign, I still sometimes wake up at night reciting its contents. Though much mocked for its repetition, the plan was more than just a catchphrase. From deficit reduction and tax cuts [...]
Deal or no deal, let’s make the UK the most attractive place for business March 12, 2019 What happens if there’s no Brexit deal? Over the past year, we’ve had various answers to this question – most ranging from the alarming to the apocalyptic. But while we’ve heard an awful lot about the problems, we haven’t heard much about solutions. That’s why our think tank, the Centre for Policy Studies, has just [...]
May prepares to face MPs after last-minute talks with EU March 12, 2019 Prime Minister Theresa May claimed victory in a last-minute round of negotiations with the EU last night, as she set out new legal guarantees over the controversial Irish backstop protocol. Speaking in Strasbourg after a late-night meeting with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, May claimed a new, legally-binding agreement would sit alongside her withdrawal deal [...]
Forget Brexit, corporate debt is a bigger issue March 11, 2019 As a few of you might have been told many times already, today is the latest Brexit D-Day for the UK, and for Theresa May in particular. Now, despite the fact that I am – at the moment that you are reading this – down on a chilly College Green in Westminster reporting on the latest [...]
Sterling falls as Downing Street admits Brexit talks are ‘deadlocked’ ahead of meaningful vote March 11, 2019 Downing Street has admitted that Brexit talks with the EU have reached a stalemate before Theresa May puts her deal to MPs in another meaningful vote tomorrow, sending sterling to a three-week low. The Prime Minister spent her Sunday night in talks with EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker after a last-ditch visit to Brussels by the [...]