Digital Withdrawal: How Britain’s fast-growing tech sector can flourish in the face of Brexit December 2, 2018 The last five years have seen an extraordinary phenomenon. The powerhouse that is the UK tech sector has boomed to a value of more than £180bn, outpacing the sluggish UK economy as a whole. Want to buy clothes online? Asos and FarFetch are leading the world. Play games on your smartphone? You’ve probably enjoyed one made [...]
Gove says government can win Brexit vote in parliament December 2, 2018 Environment secretary Michael Gove, a key ally of the Prime Minister, said he believes Theresa May’s EU withdrawal agreement will get through parliament despite signs of a growing revolt. By some estimates, over a hundred Conservative MPs are preparing to vote against May’s withdrawal agreement in parliament next week, paving the way for a crisis over how [...]
May faces contempt of parliament threat from Labour as Brexit legal advice leaks December 2, 2018 Theresa May is facing one of the greatest clashes of her premiership as MPs from across parliament contemplate accusing her of contempt of parliament over her refusal to publish legal advice she has received on Brexit. MPs may move against the Prime Minister tomorrow, with figures from the DUP, Labour, Liberal Democrats and SNP planning [...]
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urges Theresa May to avoid no-deal Brexit December 1, 2018 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has today asked Prime Minister Theresa May to do what she can to avoid a no-deal Brexit. Speaking at a bi-lateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina, Abe praised May for striking a deal with the EU. “I would like to once again ask for your [...]
Sam Gyimah resigns in protest at Theresa May’s “naive” Brexit deal December 1, 2018 Science and universities minister, Sam Gyimah, became the sixth minister to resign in protest at Theresa May's Brexit deal when he quit the government on Friday evening. It came after May announced that the UK was pulling out of the EU's Galileo satellite-navigation project, which Gyimah believes exposes the deal as "naive". The decision to pull out of the project came [...]
Donald Tusk’s message to MPs: UK cannot renegotiate Brexit deal November 30, 2018 European Council president Donald Tusk ruled out renegotiating Theresa May’s Brexit deal today, saying if parliament rejects the agreement then Britain must either crash out of the EU with no deal or abandon Brexit altogether. “A few days before the vote in the House of Commons, it is becoming more and more clear that this [...]
DEBATE: After one lender launched a six-times-salary deal, are we headed towards a mortgage timebomb? November 30, 2018 After one lender launched a six-times-salary deal, are we headed towards a mortgage timebomb? Andrew Hagger, personal finance expert at MoneyComms, says YES. A shortage in UK housing supply means that property prices continue to increase, albeit at a slower rate in recent months. This means that lenders must stretch their lending criteria in order to [...]
UK banks can pat themselves on the back, but the system is still feeling the stress November 30, 2018 Breathe a sigh of relief: once again, all financial institutions have passed the Bank of England’s annual stress tests. But look beneath the surface, and suddenly the various allowances made this week start to undermine the good news. First, if the impact of the new accounting standard IFRS 9 that came into force in January was [...]
A new hope: Backing firms of the future November 30, 2018 If you missed the big news of the last couple of weeks, you must have been hiding under a rock. And no, I’m not talking about the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal – but rather Small Business Saturday, which is returning for a sixth year on 1 December. This is the most important day in the calendar [...]
International trade secretary Liam Fox backs Theresa May’s Brexit deal November 30, 2018 International trade secretary Liam Fox this morning backed Theresa May’s Brexit deal as the prime minister ruled out a plan B. Leading Brexiteer Fox said he believed members of the cabinet would back the deal, despite a deeply divided parliament. Fox told the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme: “It is very difficult to get a deal [...]