Irish PM: ‘Landing zone’ for a Brexit trade deal in sight August 13, 2020 The UK’s chief Brexit negotiator has today said an EU trade deal can be struck next month as the Irish Prime Minister also sees a potential “landing zone”. Boris Johnson’s chief negotiator – and close ally – David Frost said on Twitter today that “our assessment is that agreement can be reached in September”, with [...]
N26 in stand-off with staff as confidence in founders hits ‘all-time low’ August 13, 2020 Meetings between N26 staff to create a so-called works council are scheduled for today and tomorrow, despite the digital bank’s best efforts to stop employees organising with a legal injunction. The founders of N26 obtained an injunction against workers trying to establish a council earlier this week, after staff wrote in an open letter that [...]
UK says US whisky tariff ‘in nobody’s interest’ in trade deal talks August 13, 2020 The UK has said it will step up demands for the US to drop tariffs on goods such as single malt Scotch whisky after the industry warned a decision by Washington to retain the levy was putting its future at risk. The US government yesterday vowed to maintain 15 per cent tariffs on Airbus aircraft [...]
City calls for deeper tax relief as UK sinks into recession August 12, 2020 Business groups have called on the government to take “bold action” after the UK economy plunged into recession last quarter as GDP contracted by 20.4 per cent between April and June, the biggest single quarter decline on record. With vast swathes of the economy closed due to the coronavirus lockdowns, activity flatlined in April, before [...]
The City is the best regulated financial centre in the world — it must shun those calling for a bonfire of regulation August 11, 2020 As we approach the end of the Brexit transition period, the siren voices advocating for a bonfire of the current regulatory system grow louder. Their argument is that regulation is costly, stifles innovation, and holds back our banks and financial institutions. They look at other jurisdictions, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and in [...]
UK economy: Britain braced for GDP and jobs hit August 10, 2020 The full extent of the Covid-19 crisis on the UK economy is set to be laid bare this week with the release of two key reports. While economists have been at odds over the speed of the country’s recovery from the pandemic, this week’s figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are likely to [...]
Can a new Scots Tory leader regain the party’s mojo? August 7, 2020 The Scottish Tories have got themselves a new leader. This might not move share prices or the relative values of sterling, and gossipers in the markets will now be asking “who is Douglas Ross?” But the same could have been said of Ruth Davidson back in 2011 when she became leader, shortly before her phenomenal [...]
Starling Bank predicts 2020 profitability despite deepened losses August 6, 2020 Starling Bank has said it expects to break even by the end of this year and be profitable in 2021, despite more than doubling its losses in 2019. Chief executive Anne Boden told reporters the digital bank had benefited from participating in government schemes to provide business loans during the pandemic, gaining new loans on [...]
Economists question Bank of England’s ‘optimistic’ forecast August 6, 2020 The Bank of England today kept interest rates on hold and said the UK economy would not shrink as much as initially thought this year, but it said the recovery would take longer. But some economists have questioned the assumptions, arguing that high unemployment will damage the economy. The Bank said the UK economy was [...]
Tiktok to build $500m European data centre in Ireland August 6, 2020 Tiktok has plans to spend $500m (£375m) on building a data centre in Ireland, it said today, which will look after the short-form video app’s European user data. The stored data will include personal information such as phone numbers and location data, messages and videos. Such information is currently stored in the US, but Tiktok [...]