Meta’s threat to close down Facebook and Instagram in Europe backfires as EU leaders embrace shutdown: ‘Life would be very good without’ February 9, 2022 European leaders have responded to Meta's indirect warning to shut down its Facebook and Instagram operations across Europe if the social media giant is no longer able to process Europeans' data on US servers.
Partygate dying down: Boris Johnson heading to PMQs after tinkering top team as PM tries to regain grip on power February 9, 2022 Prime Minister Boris Johnson will face MPs after tinkering with his top team as he looks to stave off a confidence vote and lay the foundations for the next election battle. After months of being dogged by partygate allegations and a fresh controversy over his Jimmy Savile remarks, the Prime Minister opted to embark on [...]
Ambitious target: Sajid Javid plans to recruit 15,000 new health workers by the end of next month February 9, 2022 Health Secretary Sajid Javid has said he aims to recruit 15,000 new health workers by the end of March as the Government warned the NHS waiting list in England will not start to fall for another two years and could even double in size. Sajid Javid, writing in the Daily Telegraph today, said the NHS [...]
Treasury’s £4.3bn fraud write-off likely to be eclipsed by £20bn Covid loan defaults as CBILs and BBLs are not repaid February 8, 2022 The £4.3bn of Covid loans that may have to be written-off by The Treasury due to fraud and highlighted by the recent resignation of Lord Agnew, could be eclipsed by businesses failing to repay their CBILs and BBLs Covid support loans, an industry expert warns. £73.8bn has been loaned under the above schemes to around [...]
City access to the Chancellor: 80 per cent of Rishi Sunak’s meetings are with banks and financial services firms February 8, 2022 As the government is looking to ease rules and regulations for the City of London, it has been revealed that Chancellor Rishi Sunak met with dozens of financial firms, banks, consultancy firms, hedge funds and lobby groups in recent months. According to new analysis, published by the Independent, around 80 per cent of all businesses [...]
Global Britain: £500bn Brexit boost and 5m jobs via supercharge of UK exports and new trade ties February 8, 2022 Supercharging UK exports may result in a £500bn Brexit boost and could create up to 5m new jobs, according to a group of business leaders. The Global Britain Commission, which was set up by former trade minister Liam Fox, has set out detail for a blueprint for Global Britain in a post-Brexit world. If Britain [...]
Attempts to move civil servants out of London result in twice as many being recruited in the capital February 8, 2022 A new report claims this morning that efforts to move civil servants out of London are “going backwards”. In fact, since 2018, one in three civil servants has been recruited in the city, meaning the number of civil servants has grown twice as fast in London, at 22 per cent, than it has in regions [...]
Boris Johnson faces calls to apologise over Jimmy Savile smear from own party after Starmer abuse February 8, 2022 Tory MPs are urging Prime Minister Boris Johnson to apologise for the Jimmy Savile smear he levelled at Sir Keir Starmer after police had to rescue the Labour leader from a mob. Sir Keir was bundled into a police car for protection near Parliament on Monday as he faced baseless allegations of “protecting paedophiles” and [...]
London suburb of Harrow emerges as unexpected hotspot for tax avoidance February 7, 2022 The London suburb of Harrow has been revealed as the unexpected centre of tax avoidance in the UK with 346 taxpayers coming forward to admit tax avoidance last year, placing it first out of 120 areas of the UK. In fact, The number of people admitting to tax avoidance in Harrow has jumped 280 per [...]
Exclusive: Railsbank CEO on finance’s ‘iTunes moment’, ripping up the rule book and the might of Amazon February 7, 2022 British fintech Railsbank is eyeing up ‘unicorn’ status as it looks to raise $100m funding which would value the firm at over $1bn. It follows a $70m funding injection last year from backers including Anthos Capital and Outrun Ventures, which bosses had suggested had left the firm with a valuation of close to $1bn. Time [...]
