Business as usual: Mid-tier firms predict rapid recovery after vaccine rollout November 30, 2020 The vast majority (94%) of mid-sized businesses in the UK believe they will fully recover from Covid-19 within a year if a vaccine is made available. More than two-thirds of mid-tier businesses – those with revenue of between £10m and £300m – think they will be fully recovered in just six months, according to new [...]
UK strikes deal with France to beef up border protection November 29, 2020 The number of officers patrolling French beaches near Calais will double in a bid to stop increasing numbers of migrant boats crossing the channel in attempts to reach the UK border. The UK and French governments struck a deal yesterday to enforce the increased measures, with the Home Office saying it “will bolster the patrolling [...]
Brexit: Chance of no-deal exit ‘underpriced’, says Number 10 November 29, 2020 There is still a reasonably good chance the UK will leave the post-Brexit transition period on a no-deal basis, according to Downing Street. The UK will leave the EU’s single market and customs union with or without a trade deal on 31 December. A no-deal exit would mean that trade barriers between the EU and [...]
Brexit: Intensive UK-EU trade talks entering ‘last week’, says Dominic Raab November 29, 2020 Post-Brexit trade negotiations between the UK and EU are set to enter the “last week or so” of “substantive” talks, according to foreign secretary Dominic Raab. The UK is set to leave the EU’s single market and customs union on 31 December, leaving little time to close a Brexit trade deal and get it ratified [...]
A sea apart: UK dismisses EU Brexit fishing offer as ‘derisory’ November 28, 2020 A post-Brexit trade deal appeared to be a way off this weekend after the UK reportedly labelled the EU’s offer on fishing rights “derisory”. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier is back in London today for the latest round of talks. Face-to-face negotiations had to be postponed just over a week ago when a member of [...]
FTSE 100 heads for second-best month on record but still lags peers November 28, 2020 Britain’s FTSE 100 stock index is on track for its second-best month in history as optimism about vaccines boosts unloved sectors such as financials and industrials that dominate the UK corporate landscape. Yet the index is still well behind its global peers this year. Despite US markets and global stocks hitting record highs, the UK [...]
US stocks hit all-time high but FTSE 100 lags November 27, 2020 US stock markets hit fresh all-time highs despite the thin post-thanksgiving trading, while the FTSE 100 lagged behind amid worries about Brexit and the economy. Wall Street’s S&P 500 rose 0.3 per cent in the early part of the session. The Dow Jones climbed 0.2 per cent while the Nasdaq jumped 0.9 per cent. All [...]
Farmers to see EU-style subsidies cut in half by 2024 – reports November 27, 2020 English farmers are set to see their EU-style subsidies cut in half over the next four years under the government’s post-Brexit transition plans. When the UK was a member of the EU, farmers were paid so-called “basic payments” under the EU’s common agricultural policy. After leaving the bloc in January, ministers continued to make payments [...]
Hooked: UK and EU stuck in Brexit deadlock over fisheries November 27, 2020 “Significant divergences” remain between the UK and EU in Brexit trade deal talks, Michel Barnier said today, as the EU chief negotiator holds crunch talks over access to Britain’s fisheries. In-person negotiations between Barnier and UK envoy David Frost are set to resume in London this afternoon after a member of the EU team contracted [...]
End of an era: Unilever trading in Amsterdam for the last time today November 27, 2020 Unilever’s Dutch shares will trade in Amsterdam for the last time today, before a unification of the group’s dual-headed structure that aims to put the consumer goods maker on a better footing to cope with an uncertain future. The merger over the weekend of Unilever’s Dutch and British corporate arms into one legal entity based [...]