Brexit: Lords ready to block Johnson’s plan to override withdrawal deal September 11, 2020 The House of Lords may block Boris Johnson’s efforts to pass controversial legislation seeking to override the Brexit withdrawal agreement, peers have warned. Former Conservative Party leader, Lord Howard of Lympne, said he would be “very surprised” if the UK Internal Market Bill was passed through the House of Lords. The pro-Brexiteer has become the [...]
Leading rail pension scheme warns of £15bn shortfall under new rules September 11, 2020 The Railways Pension Scheme (RPS) has warned that a proposed regulatory shake-up of funding rules would create a £15bn hole in its finances. The £30bn scheme serves 350,000 members across the UK’s rail sector, including rail managers and train drivers. It has set out its concerns to the Pensions Regulator following plans, which were unveiled [...]
Boris Johnson faces Tory revolt over new lockdown restrictions September 11, 2020 A number of Tory backbenchers have declared their opposition to the reintroduction of lockdown measures. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that social gatherings would again have to be limited to six people from Monday following a spike in positive coronavirus cases. But the reintroduction of this restriction has reportedly divided current ministers [...]
France calls on EU to adopt digital tax in 2021 if OECD talks fail September 11, 2020 France has called on the European Union to implement a digital tax by the first quarter of 2021 if an agreement cannot be reached within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) framework. Speaking at a Eurogroup meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Berlin this morning, French finance minister Bruno Le Maire reiterated the [...]
Heathrow passenger numbers plummet more than 80 per cent in August September 11, 2020 Heathrow Airport has reported an 81.5 per cent fall in passengers for August compared with last year and has called on the government again to change quarantine rules. The London-based airport was the busiest in Europe prior to the Covid-19 pandemic but has suffered significantly this year. It said its passengers from North America had [...]
Exam chaos continues as BTec grades pulled on eve of results day August 19, 2020 Almost 600,000 students face more exam chaos after BTec grades were pulled by exam board Pearson on the eve of results day. Pearson said it would re-grade all its BTec results to bring them in line with A-levels and GCSEs, which now “have significantly higher outcomes”. The decision was made earlier this week to grade [...]
UK faces 75mph gusts as tropical cyclone arrives from the Atlantic August 19, 2020 Wind speeds could reach 75mph across some parts of the the UK this week as Storm Ellen arrives from the Atlantic. The UK is bracing for its fifth named storm of the season just a week after a country-wide heatwave that saw temperatures soar. The storm, which was named by Ireland’s Met Office, is set [...]
Spain sees surge in Covid-19 cases with daily post-lockdown record August 19, 2020 Spain recorded more than 3,700 new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday as the country suffered its worst day since the end of June when lockdown restrictions were eased. Just under half of the 3,715 cases were recorded in Madrid, which logged 1,535, while the Basque Country and Aragon regions had around 470 new infections each. [...]
US stocks open higher as Wall Street eyes more records August 19, 2020 Wall Street opened higher on Wednesday and looks to be heading for another day of new all-time records. The S&P 500 closed at an all-time high yesterday after recovering all of the losses suffered during the coronavirus crash and was up once again on Wednesday morning by a further 0.28 per cent to 3,399 points. [...]
Heathrow Airport boss tells No10 to ‘get a grip’ on quarantine policy as testing facility unveiled August 19, 2020 The chief executive of Heathrow Airport has called on Downing Street to “get a grip” of the UK’s coronavirus quarantine policy. John Holland-Kaye said the 14-day isolation period applying to many travellers should be shortened as it was “holding back the recovery of the UK economy”. Heathrow has already unveiled plans for a new testing [...]
