Downing Street to hold light display to mark Brexit Day as Unions Jacks fly January 17, 2020 Downing Street has announced that it will hold a light display on 31 January to mark Britain leaving the European Union. As Prime Minister Boris Johnson addresses the nation that evening, the black bricks of his official residence will light up with the display, featuring a clock counting down to 11pm. Buildings around Whitehall will [...]
Forget Big Ben, the real rows are ahead January 17, 2020 One of the more ludicrous stories of the week concerns the efforts of a small band of pro-Brexit MPs to get the bells of Big Ben ringing out our departure from the EU at 11pm on 31 January. Parliamentary authorities have done their best to shut down the scheme, saying it would be too expensive [...]
Do central banks have enough firepower to fight the next recession? January 17, 2020 By the end of 2019, the UK and US had achieved a decade recession free. That’s an impressive feat, but fears of a recession remain. In fact, those fears peaked last year due to worrying signals from financial markets. When the next recession does raise its head, it will be up to our central banks [...]
UK retail sales decline knocks sterling lower January 17, 2020 UK retail sales fell in the “golden quarter” of Christmas trading, the latest statistics showed today in a further sign of the challenges facing the British high street. In the three months to December 2019, the amount spent and the quantity bought in the retail industry fell 0.9 per cent and one per cent respectively, [...]
Bank of England and City watchdog urge firms to accelerate Libor transition January 16, 2020 The City regulator and Bank of England have joined forces to urge banks and insurers to accelerate plans to transition away from the discredited Libor interest rate benchmark. Firms have until October to stop writing loans tied to the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor), which is embedded within some $350 trillion (£268 trillion) of financial [...]
BoE governor Mark Carney to advise PM on climate change January 16, 2020 Outgoing Bank of England governor Mark Carney is to be a key adviser to the government in the run-up to the UN climate change conference, COP26. Boris Johnson confirmed Carney in the role during a meeting at Number 10 today. The Canadian economist will help the UK government to “mobilise ambitious action from across the [...]
Cautious lenders left companies with lowest level of credit since 2008 January 16, 2020 The amount of credit made available to corporates last quarter fell to a level not seen since the Global Financial Crisis. The Bank of England’s (BoE) credit conditions survey released today showed that available credit for corporates fell for its sixth successive quarter in the fourth quarter of 2019. It dropped to minus 9.2 in [...]
Boris Johnson to attend summit on Libya conflict January 16, 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson will attend a summit on the conflict in Libya this weekend, his spokesperson said today. The PM will travel to Berlin on Sunday, with representatives across Europe, the Middle East and the US invited, though US President Donald Trump is not expected to make the trip. “The conflict in Libya has [...]
Tackle badly-paid work to boost productivity, says new research January 16, 2020 The UK government should focus on raising the pay of the poorest in Britain and encouraging greater worker representation to tackle the country’s long-running productivity crisis, according to a new study published by the Royal Society of Arts (RSA). Increasing productivity – the amount produced per hour worked – is vital to the long-term growth [...]
Why a Bank of England interest rate cut looks increasingly likely January 15, 2020 Just a week ago, investors rated the chances that the Bank of England would cut interest rates at about five per cent. Today, they think there is a 60 per cent chance that the main rate will be lowered from 0.75 per cent, according to CME Group’s tool which analyses futures prices. So what has [...]