Exclusive: Ministers discuss plans to revamp Covid homeless scheme in London April 26, 2021 A new cross-Whitehall group has been set up to help coordinate policy on London-focussed issues, with a revamp of last year’s Covid homeless scheme among its early priorities. The ministers involved are looking at whether last year’s Everyone In scheme could be used as a platform to provide health and other services to homeless people [...]
Peter Harrison: The City must back Sunak’s vision for the stock market April 26, 2021 The relationship between the stock market and the economy is fundamental to any nation’s wealth. Without the effective channelling of capital to the best businesses, all suffer. For decades, London has been a world-leading financial hub, but now its future is less certain. First, consider an example of its success. Exactly 20 years ago, a [...]
Sunday Sitdown: ‘Skittish’ banks need to up their game, says CEO of Ezbob April 25, 2021 Following a nightmare year that was hugely disrupted by the pandemic and three subsequent lockdowns, the City is slowly switching into recovery mode as the economy starts to re-open and many sectors are coming back to life. To discuss the way back up, City A.M. sits down with Tomer Guriel, chief executive of Marble Arch-based [...]
Public debt: Who has lent a staggering £2.1 trillion to Rishi Sunak? April 23, 2021 Government debt has hit its highest point as a portion of gross domestic product since the early 1960s when the country was still paying off what it had borrowed to fund the fight against Nazi Germany, new figures showed this morning. Last year spending skyrocketed to pay for dozens of programmes to prop up the [...]
‘Bitter’ Dominic Cummings accused of leaking Boris Johnson’s text messages to James Dyson and Mohammed bin Salman April 23, 2021 Boris Johnson’s former aide Dominic Cummings has been blamed for the leaking of the Prime Minister’s text messages. An internal inquiry has been launched into how messages between the Prime Minister and billionaire Sir James Dyson were leaked to journalists. But reports said Downing Street sources are pointing the finger at Cummings, who quit as [...]
Government leaking Covid economic policy erodes public trust, think tank warns April 23, 2021 Treasury’s leaking of Covid-19 recovery policies to some media outlets weeks in advance, while keeping tight lipped on important details, risks eroding public trust, a leading economic think tank has warned. A new report by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr) said the current method has led to serious fiscal failures and [...]
Greensill: David Cameron made multiple attempts to lobby Bank of England April 22, 2021 David Cameron made multiple attempts to lobby Bank of England (BoE) officials over allowing collapsed financier Greensill access to the bank’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility (CCFF) scheme. Documents obtained by Freedom of Information request show that Cameron contacted officials five times in total over the “incredibly frustrating” issue. It is the latest saga in a [...]
Greensill’s parent company enters liquidation April 22, 2021 Greensill Capital’s Australian business, which collapsed last month with debts of A$4.9bn, has entered liquidation. Administrator Grant Thornton said creditors had voted by 23 to zero, with a handful of abstentions, to liquidate the parent company of the disgraced supply chain firm. “As of today, the company is now in liquidation,” Grant Thornton said. “The [...]
Bank of England plots closure of Leeds distribution centre April 22, 2021 The Bank of England is closing its cash distribution hub in Leeds but plans to open another centre in the North. The central bank said that the dwindling use of cash, alongside the new polymer notes, would slash demand for distribution. The bank said its Leeds centre is set to close when the lease expires [...]
Hand it over: David Cameron ordered to show lobbying text messages April 21, 2021 Former prime minister David Cameron has been given two weeks to pass on the details of his text messages in which he attempted to lobby the chancellor on behalf of failed finance firm Greensill. In a letter to Cameron, the chairman of the Treasury select committee urged the former prime minister to release details of [...]