George Osborne hits out at Sunak’s ‘unenterprising’ corporation tax hike March 9, 2021 Former chancellor George Osborne has slammed Rishi Sunak for his £45bn plans to raise corporation tax, saying they will send a message to other countries that “Britain isn’t a very enterprising place”. Osborne said today that he would have preferred to raise VAT to raise government revenues instead of Sunak’s plan to hike corporation tax [...]
Business groups call for David Frost to ease post-Brexit tensions with the EU March 9, 2021 UK business groups have called for Lord David Frost to ease tensions with the EU, after the de-facto Brexit minister launched a stinging attack on Brussels over the weekend. Frost has been urged to drop his “madman negotiating strategy” after he unilaterally acted to extend a transition period on customs checks in Northern Ireland without [...]
Minister rules out UK Beis Department rebrand to cut out industrial strategy March 8, 2021 A government minister has said that industrial strategy will remain under the remit of Kwasi Kwarteng’s Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis), despite speculation the portfolio will be dropped by the Whitehall department. It was widely reported last week that Kwarteng, the business secretary, had axed the government’s Industrial Strategy Council and that [...]
Britons will not splurge Covid-19 savings on post-lockdown spending spree, says OBR March 8, 2021 Britons will not embark on a post-lockdown spending spree with funds saved during the Covid crisis, according to a senior member of the UK’s budgetary watchdog. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) committee member Sir Charlie Bean told MPs today that of the £180bn in excess savings Britons have accumulated during Covid-19, only “a relatively [...]
Brexit: UK may delay border checks on food coming from EU March 8, 2021 The UK is considering plans to postpone the start of border checks on food coming from the EU past April in a bid to better prepare businesses for post-Brexit changes. New cabinet minister, and Boris Johnson’s former Brexit negotiator, Lord David Frost has asked Whitehall officials to draw up plans to change the timetable to [...]
BoE boss says Covid recession will have fewer long-term effects than previous UK downturns March 8, 2021 The Covid crisis will not have as many long-term economic effects in the UK as previous recessions, according to Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey. Bailey today said his diagnosis of the UK’s economic recovery prospects was “positive, but with large doses of cautionary realism”. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) last week said it [...]
Four-in-ten Germans and French see AstraZeneca vaccine as unsafe March 7, 2021 Four-in-ten Germans and French now see the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine unsafe, after politicians in both countries made unfounded claims about the effectiveness of the UK-manufactured jab. New figures from YouGov show one-in-four Germans and French would refuse to take the AstraZeneca vaccine if offered – a growing sentiment that has lead to stocks of the [...]
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe to face new trial after being freed from house arrest March 7, 2021 British-Iranian woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been released from house arrest by Iranian authorities, however she will face a new court case on Sunday. The British national had her ankle tag removed today, after being released from prison into house arrest last March. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a charity worker, was sentenced to a five-year prison sentence in 2016 [...]
Rishi Sunak to rally US to agree to G7 tax on tech giants March 7, 2021 Rishi Sunak will call on his US counterpart Janet Yellen to help coordinate an international tax on tech giants like Amazon at the upcoming G7 summit. Sunak has already said that one of his priorities at the G7 summit, which will be held in Cornwall this year, will be to get the ball rolling on [...]
David Frost tells EU to ‘shake off remaining ill will’ toward UK post-Brexit March 7, 2021 Brussels should stop complaining about the UK’s decision to leave the EU and instead try to make Brexit work, according to new cabinet minister Lord David Frost. The UK’s new de-facto Brexit minister said he hoped the EU “will shake off any remaining ill will towards us for leaving” and “instead build a friendly relationship, [...]
