UK must beef up coronavirus economic response, says think tank April 16, 2020 The UK government must take “further radical policy steps” to tackle the economic fallout from coronavirus, a think tank has said, amid huge uncertainty over the length of the outbreak. The Resolution Foundation praised the government’s response so far, which includes £330bn of lending and a scheme to pay furloughed workers’ wages. Yet it said [...]
IMF: UK must extend Brexit trade deal deadline during coronavirus April 16, 2020 The UK must move to extend its Brexit trade deal deadline while the global economy faces coronavirus uncertainty, according to the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). UK chief negotiator David Frost and his EU counterpart Michel Barnier confirmed yesterday that trade talks will re-commence next week, without any extension to the 31 December [...]
Brexit trade talks set to resume next week with no deadline extension April 15, 2020 The UK’s chief Brexit negotiator David Frost and his Brussels counterpart will meet for their next round of official trade talks next week. Frost and chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier will hold week-long negotiating rounds via video conference on the weeks commencing 20 April, 11 May and 1 June. The pair met today to outline [...]
London hotel market ‘set for strong post-coronavirus recovery’ April 15, 2020 London’s hotel market could make a complete recovery by the end of next year if coronavirus restrictions are lifted by the end of June, according to the latest research. Knight Frank research found that there could be a surge in UK investment volumes in the final months of 2020, and showed that the hotel market [...]
Coronavirus: The protectionists’ siren song must go unheeded April 10, 2020 The Coronavirus pandemic is changing the way we live, the way we work, and the way we see the world. Relationships are being made and affected. Geopolitics is in a state that we’ve rarely seen before. Political views are being disregarded and changed. It’s important, however, that fundamental aspects of our economic model, such as [...]
EU hits back at former top scientist during coronavirus row April 8, 2020 The European Union’s top scientific body has hit back at its former chief after he quit last night, saying that he was in fact asked to leave his position. Mauro Ferrari said he resigned from his position as president of the European Research Council (ERC) last night because he had “lost faith in the system” [...]
Brexit trade talks to continue virtually as UK sticks to 2020 deadline April 8, 2020 The UK’s chief Brexit negotiator David Frost will speak with his Brussels counterpart Michel Barnier next week to outline a timetable for trade negotiations. Frost and Barnier will speak on Wednesday with the aim of setting out dates to carry on negotiations remotely through April and May. There has been much speculation that the UK’s [...]
Robert Walters blames ‘savage’ coronavirus for UK profit hit April 8, 2020 Recruiter Robert Walters has bemoaned the “savage” economic impact of coronavirus as UK fee income slumped 29 per cent over the first quarter of 2020. The recruitment agency is seen as an economic bellwether and took a hit from Brexit uncertainty and the lead-up to December’s General Election in 2019. “It’s largely a hangover from [...]
Coronavirus: Global trade offers a route to recovery April 7, 2020 For years now, we have had to put up with endless rhetoric about how political and economic interconnectivity between countries has demonstrably failed to deliver prosperity for all. # Depending on whether you were on the liberal free-trade, or the more protectionist side of the Brexit (remember that) argument, globalisation as we have known it [...]
UK productivity shows weak growth before coronavirus hit April 7, 2020 UK productivity grew by 0.3 per cent year on year in the final quarter of 2019, official statistics have shown, marking relatively weak growth before coronavirus hit the economy. The figure was unchanged from the previous quarter but was an improvement from the previous four quarters of zero growth or contraction, the Office for National [...]