Johnson will demand EU talks over free trade says campaign chair July 2, 2019 Boris Johnson is willing to make an offer to the European Union over post-Brexit free trade, but if his offer is rejected, Britain will leave the EU without a deal, the head of his Tory leadership campaign has said. Iain Duncan Smith, Johnson’s campaign chair, told Sky News his candidate would tell the EU Britain [...]
UK construction sector suffers worst output in 10 years July 2, 2019 Activity in the UK construction sector “dropped like a stone” last month as suffered its steepest fall in output since the height of the financial crisis, according to a closely followed industry index. Construction activity plummeted to its lowest level since April 2009 in June, on the back of the sharpest drop in UK housebuilding [...]
If there are problems the government can’t solve, unleash the power of entrepreneurs July 2, 2019 Britain must soon learn to wrestle with more responsibility over its domestic policy than it has had since the 1970s. For decades, the country’s financial direction has been increasingly influenced at a European level, but with Brexit looming, our next Prime Minister and his likely-new chancellor must be prepared to grab both existing and newly-available [...]
UK house prices: Growth falls to four-month low in June July 2, 2019 UK house prices remained “subdued” in June, new figures showed today as the cost of buying continued to fall in London and the south east. The price of a UK home grew 0.5 per cent year-on-year over the month, lower than May’s 0.6 per cent growth. The rate was the worst since February’s 0.4 per [...]
Funding Circle shares dive as it halves revenue growth target July 2, 2019 Funding Circle’s shares collapsed today as it slashed revenue growth predictions in half this year, warning that demand for loans is waning amid an “increasing uncertain economic outlook”. The small business loans firm today warned that 2019 revenue growth will hit 20 per cent, rather than the 40 per cent it originally predicted. The peer-to-peer [...]
DEBATE: Does it really matter who becomes the next leader of the Liberal Democrats? July 2, 2019 Does it really matter who becomes the next leader of the Liberal Democrats? Alex Deane, a Conservative commentator, says YES. It is all too easy in British political life to write a party off – and it’s usually wrong. I know Tories who thought in the Blair heyday that they’d never be in power again. [...]
A citizens’ assembly is the wrong way to tackle climate change July 2, 2019 Last week, our interim energy minister signed into law the UK’s commitment to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. That was the easy part – achieving it will be more challenging. To help parliament in its search for solutions, no fewer than six select committees recently joined forces to announce their plan for a citizens’ assembly [...]
We need a Prime Minister who can channel the potential of Digital Britain July 2, 2019 Are we in danger of having a leadership contest about the future of our party, while completely missing the point about the future of our country? The two finalists in the Conservative leadership race are being quizzed endlessly about Brexit, tax and spend, public services, and their private lives. All these have some importance, of [...]
MPs set ultimatum for new laws to tackle online election interference July 2, 2019 MPs have called on the government to introduce new laws targeting electoral interference amid fears online political campaigns could be damaging democracy. The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee has urged the government to roll out new legislation within six months to bring electoral law in line with modern digital campaigning techniques. Read more: Social [...]
No Jeremy – bailouts did not cost £1 trillion July 1, 2019 Imagine this: a young person finds themselves in financial trouble, perhaps as a consequence of their own actions, and can’t keep up payments on their £250,000 mortgage. A generous parent steps in and acts as guarantor on the mortgage, and also lends their chastened offspring £50,000 to get by. Over the following years, the young [...]