UK pledges to be free trade champion as it takes independent seat at WTO February 4, 2020 The UK has pledged to be a champion for free trade in its first independent speech given at the World Trade Organization (WTO), having moved away from the EU bloc after Brexit Day last Friday. The move – first revealed by City AM two weeks ago – saw ambassador Julian Braithwaite take the seat next to [...]
Leave voters not keen on divergence, despite PM’s rhetoric February 4, 2020 People who voted Leave in 2016 do not believe the UK should insist on its own regulatory regime after Brexit, but want certain standards maintained after transition, a new survey has found. Yesterday Prime Minister Boris Johnson made much of the UK government’s plan to reject the EU’s insistence of a level-playing field, saying: “There [...]
Fashion Week highlights: The global outlook of the fashion and textile industry February 4, 2020 Counting the cost of international payments in uncertain times The arrival of London Fashion Week sees buyers looking to define the trends for the coming season but the nature of the buying cycle means that these are particularly challenging times for importers and exporters of textiles and fashion. Uncertainty in global trade created by Brexit [...]
UK PMI: Construction sector shows signs of life after election February 4, 2020 Output in the UK’s construction sector in January fell at its slowest pace since May of last year, survey data has shown, in a sign of green shoots for Britain’s builders amid lower political uncertainty. The IHS Markit/Cips gauge of construction output rose to 48.4 in January from 44.4 in December. The reading was still [...]
Just two women applied to be governor of the Bank of England February 4, 2020 Just two of the 23 people who applied to succeed Mark Carney as governor of the Bank of England were women, despite the Treasury enlisting a specialist headhunting firm in a bid to diversify the list of candidates. The government named Financial Conduct Authority boss Andrew Bailey, a former central banker, as the BoE’s next [...]
Micro Focus chairman steps down as profit plummets February 4, 2020 Micro Focus lost its chairman today as it posted a huge drop in profit in a “challenging” latest financial year, triggering traders to offload the struggling firm’s stock. The figures Operating profit sank 41.2 per cent year on year to $221.7m (£170.9m) for the 12 months to the end of October. Revenue also tumbled 29.6 [...]
The big freeze: Investors feel the chill in M&G’s frozen property fund February 4, 2020 December and January have been cold dark months, especially for investors whose money has been frozen in M&G’s £2.5bn property fund since the beginning of winter. The asset management company felt compelled to suspend trading on its Property Portfolio fund on 4 December, due to the high volume of withdrawals by investors in the preceding [...]
The PM’s posturing and fighting stance could upset trade talks before they’ve even begun February 4, 2020 The tears of joy and sadness seen on Brexit Day had barely dried before the UK and EU were at each other’s throats again ahead of trade talks set to last until the end of the year. Yesterday, both the UK and EU set out their negotiating positions, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson blithely stating [...]
Nato members must invest in integrated defence — now February 4, 2020 The world has not stood idly by while the Brexit drama has played out these past few years. Now that it is blessedly ending, London must catch up on what it has been missing in the strategic world. Imagine the following scenario. Citizens of a small eastern European nation within Nato awake to find that [...]
Welcome to stage two of the Brexit battle: the ‘level playing field’ February 4, 2020 The battle of visions has begun. Boris Johnson views non-alignment with the major common EU rules as sacrosanct — unsurprising, since the UK has now withdrawn from the bloc. The European Commission, meanwhile, seeks an alignment of standards across a vast body of EU policy in return for a good trade deal. The essence of [...]