UK imports to EU halve in first two months of year April 16, 2021 UK imports to the EU nearly halved in the first two months since Britain left the single market, new figures this morning showed. Imports dropped 47.0 per cent over January and February, while exports of the bloc’s products back across the Channel slipped 20.2 per cent, figures from Eurostat show. As a result of the [...]
GlaxoSmithKline share price leaps at news of activist hedge fund interest April 16, 2021 Shares in GlaxoSmithKline continued to rise on Friday after it emerged that activist hedge fund Elliot Management had built a large stake in the company. New York-based firm Elliot Management, run by billionaire Paul Singer, is believed to have made the multibillion-pound investment earlier this week. GSK was one of the FTSE 100’s biggest risers [...]
EU will pursue legal action over Brexit rules in Northern Ireland for ‘as long as necessary’ April 16, 2021 The EU this morning warned that it would continue to pursue legal action against the UK “for as long as necessary” over post-Brexit trade issues in Northern Ireland. In talks last night, European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic urged his British counterpart David Frost to pursue jointly agreed solutions to the issues. In a statement [...]
135 City firms switch to Dublin for post-Brexit business April 16, 2021 Dublin has been crowned the most desirable place for City jobs, as 135 firms have relocated business to the Irish capital due to Brexit, new research has revealed. Think tank New Financial has found firms to favour Dublin over its city-competitors Paris, Luxembourg, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. As firms moved to the Irish capital as a result [...]
Hancock and sister received shares in firm that won lucrative NHS contract April 16, 2021 A company which Health Secretary Matt Hancock and his sister have shares in has won contracts from the NHS, it has emerged. NHS Wales gave the firm, which specialises in storage, shredding and scanning of documents, £300,000 of business this year. The ministerial codes states that ministers must declare interests of close family if they [...]
China records best ever GDP growth in post-Covid bounce-back April 16, 2021 China’s economy grew by the fastest rate in its history as the country left last year’s lockdowns far behind. The world’s second biggest economy saw GDP grew 18.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2021, compared to the same period the year before. It is the fastest rate of growth since China began tracking [...]
Banks flee the City post-Brexit taking more than £900bn in assets with them April 16, 2021 If you thought the Brexit saga was over, think again. New research reveals UK firms are looking to the continent for business and relocations are set to continue. Figures compiled by think tank New Financial make for sobering reading and reveal the extent of just how much Brexit will face the change of the City. [...]
European Parliament set to move closer to approving UK-EU Brexit trade deal April 15, 2021 MEPs are set to move closer to approving the UK-EU post-Brexit trade deal this week, before a final vote takes place later this month. The deal has been formally passed in the UK parliament, however it was only provisionally approved on the EU side by the bloc’s 27 ambassadors to ensure it came into effect [...]
No vaccine? Yes, employers can bar you from the office April 15, 2021 As the Covid vaccine rollout is in full swing across Britain, with more 32m Brits having received a first dose, an increasing number of employers hinted in recent weeks that they would require their staff to be vaccinated in order to return to the office. Pimlico Plumbers was the first company in London to publicly [...]
Government faces backlash over compulsory Covid vaccines for care home staff April 14, 2021 Ministers have been accused of using care home staff as “guinea pigs” for forced vaccinations after the government today opened a consultation on whether to make compulsory Covid jabs part of their work contracts. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it would take evidence over a five-week period on whether staff should [...]