Sterling rallies against dollar to pass $1.23 as Boris grapples with Brexit September 5, 2019 Sterling has broken through the $1.23 barrier today as traders’ shorts are being squeezed amid a GBP rally. Read more: Prime Minister’s election plan scuppered as Labour holds out until Halloween Confidence in the currency has reversed over the last two days as it recovers from hitting a 34-year low earlier this week. The pound [...]
Ministers prepare new finance council to support post-Brexit lending to SMEs September 5, 2019 Ministers are reportedly set to launch a finance council to support lending to small and medium sized business (SMEs) post-Brexit, following complaints the government has not done enough to help prepare the firms for the UK leaving the EU. Read more: Bill to block no-deal Brexit a ‘chink of light’ for business, says CBI The [...]
Redrow reports record results but warns over end of Help to Buy September 5, 2019 Redrow reported the sixth consecutive year of record figures this morning after the housebuilder secured a 13 per cent boost to legal competitions. The FTSE-250 property developer reported record profit and revenue figures, but warned that changes to the government’s Help to Buy scheme and Brexit uncertainty would affect trading going forward. Read more: Redrow [...]
Jo Johnson quits Boris Johnson’s Tory party to spend less time with his family September 5, 2019 Boris Johnson’s brother has quit as minister and MP, saying he is “torn between family loyalty and the national interest”. Jo Johnson resigned as universities and science minister this morning, citing “unresolvable tension” for the decision. He will stand down as MP of Orpington at the next election. Read more: Boris Johnson’s first PMQs: The [...]
Ex-Labour MP Luciana Berger joins Liberal Democrats September 5, 2019 Former Change UK MP Luciana Berger has joined the Liberal Democrats. The former Labour MP who moved to the newly-former party this year said she would now serve under Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson as the party is “the strongest party to stop Brexit, fight for equality and a fairer country”. Read more: Boris Johnson’s [...]
Sajid Javid’s spending spree puts Tories’ record at risk September 5, 2019 Less than a year has passed since Theresa May danced on stage at the Tory party conference and told party activists that the era of austerity was officially over. The announcement was not received well by the Treasury at the time, where Philip Hammond was still trying to eliminate the government’s annual deficit. Read more: [...]
CBI: Bill to block no-deal Brexit a ‘chink of light’ for business September 5, 2019 The head of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has said that progress made yesterday towards passing a bill to prevent a no-deal Brexit represents a “chink of light” for businesses in the UK. However Carolyn Fairbairn warned that “the clock is still ticking”, telling the BBC “the cloud has not gone away” for firms [...]
Downing Street calls today ‘first day of election’ despite failure to pull trigger September 5, 2019 Downing Street has called today the “first day of the election campaign” despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson failed to trigger a snap election in parliament last night. Johnson’s office told Sky News that the PM will begin his campaign to win an election today after opposition MPs resisted his call for a 15 October vote. [...]
DEBATE: Would a no-deal Brexit really be bad for business? September 5, 2019 Would a no-deal Brexit really be detrimental for British business? YES, says Dinesh Dhamija, an entrepreneur and a Liberal Democrat MEP for London Crashing out of the EU with no deal will plunge us into 10 years of trade negotiations. That means even more uncertainty – and uncertainty is a cancer for business. Already, foreign [...]
PM’s election plan scuppered as Labour holds out until Halloween September 4, 2019 The Prime Minister has claimed Labour is running scared after losing yet another vote, this time on whether to hold an election. Facing the house after it was revealed he had failed to secure the required two-thirds majority for an election, Boris Johnson told MPs he could “only speculate as to the reasons” opposition leader [...]