Keir Starmer proposes UK ‘recovery bond’ and loans for 100,000 new businesses February 18, 2021 Sir Keir Starmer has proposed giving start-up loans to 100,000 new UK businesses and creating a new “British recovery bond” in a bid for Labour to forge a “new partnership with business”. Starmer’s set piece speech outlined his party’s new economic policy direction under his leadership, saying that “for too long Labour has failed to [...]
Sadiq Khan’s Covid business group calls for London-specific support February 18, 2021 The government should already be drawing up a campaign to reassure people it will be safe to get back on London’s High Streets post-Covid and appoint a minister for “reopening the economy”, according to Sadiq Khan and a group of London business leaders. Khan’s London Covid Business Forum – which includes heads of lobby groups [...]
Labour’s top priority is ‘financial responsibility’, says Starmer February 17, 2021 Sir Keir Starmer will tomorrow say Labour’s priority will “always be financial responsibility” in a speech expected to reveal the party’s future economic direction under his leadership. Starmer will also say there can be “no return to business as usual” post-Covid, while outlining policies that he says will provide “long-term security to the economy, support for [...]
Right-wing US radio host Rush Limbaugh dies aged 70 February 17, 2021 Controversial right-wing US radio personality Rush Limbaugh has died aged 70. Limbaugh’s wife Kathryn Adams announced his death this afternoon, after being diagnosed with lung cancer last year. The shock jock became one of the most prominent voices of America’s conservative movement in the 1990s, with many pundits crediting him with paving the way for [...]
Brexit is ‘remarkable opportunity’ to change City regulations, say MPs February 17, 2021 Brexit will provide the UK with a “remarkable opportunity” to change its financial services regulation in a bid to make the City more competitive globally, according to a cross-party group of MPs. A report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on financial services said the UK must not shy away from diverging from EU rules [...]
UK to announce secretive £800m science research agency called Aria February 17, 2021 The government is set to announce a new £800m research facility that will invest in high-risk military projects. It will be called the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria) and is based on the US’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), which has overseen the creation of experimental military technologies. Darpa and its predecessor agency [...]
Sadiq Khan to keep London rent control policy in election manifesto February 16, 2021 Sadiq Khan is set to keep his trademark rent control policy as a key part of his mayoral election manifesto, despite London’s plummeting rental prices. The mayor of London will double down on his call for central government to hand him powers to implement a cap on rents in London if he wins the May [...]
Labour should become the party of AI and tech under Keir Starmer February 16, 2021 Sir Keir Starmer has had a rough start to 2020. The Labour leader has taken a battering in the past few weeks for a perception that Starmerism has no impetus or direction, leaving some pundits to question whether he has cut through beyond the SW1 bubble. While much of this criticism should be dismissed when [...]
EU Brexit chief Maros Sefcovic says Northern Ireland issues to be fixed by 24 February February 16, 2021 European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic has told Irish lawmakers today that he wants Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit issues solved next week. Sefcovic, who is in charge of UK-EU relations for Brussels, said he wanted the border problems solved by the end of his meeting with Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove on 24 February. He also [...]
IFS urges Rishi Sunak not to raise taxes in March Budget February 16, 2021 Rishi Sunak’s March Budget should announce “well targeted” extensions to current emergency Covid support measures and avoid any tax rises, according to one of the UK’s largest economics think tanks. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) will today urge the chancellor in an online event to “secure the UK’s economic recovery” and “set out plans [...]
