EU calls emergency Brexit summit to vote on UK withdrawal agreement as Northern Ireland minister quits November 15, 2018 European Council president Donald Tusk set a date for an emergency Brexit summit today to discuss the UK and EU’s draft withdrawal agreement. The meeting, scheduled for 9.30am on Sunday, 25 November, is expected to formalise the UK’s Brexit deal hammered out by Prime Minister Theresa May and EU negotiator Michel Barnier. “Let me say [...]
City reacts as UK and EU agree withdrawal agreement text November 14, 2018 The UK and European Union have tonight published the Brexit withdrawal agreement and an outline of the political declaration on the future relationship between the UK and the European Union. Here is how the City reacted Catherine McGuiness, policy chairman at Canada Corporation “The announcement that a draft Brexit agreement has been [...]
Brexit deal agreed by cabinet after ‘impassioned’ five-hour meeting November 14, 2018 Theresa May squeaked her Brexit deal through a divided Cabinet on Wednesday in an historic moment for the UK. After a five-hour meeting the Prime Minister emerged from Downing Street at just after 7pm to declare her ministers had backed her controversial proposals on how to withdraw the UK from the EU. The marathon meeting [...]
Government caves on fixed-odds betting terminal reform in face of parliamentary backlash November 14, 2018 The government has U-turned on delayed changes to fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), bringing forward a widely called-for cap on stakes to April, after the sports minister resigned over the issue. Shares in gambling companies rallied sharply on the news with GVC up 8.1 per cent, Paddy Power Betfair up 7.5 per cent, William Hill up 2.1 [...]
Brexit: Theresa May warned she will lose support of her party over draft deal November 14, 2018 Theresa May was today warned she will lose the support of Conservative MPs if a draft Brexit agreement could see the UK being kept in a customs union with the EU. Veteran Brexit supporter Peter Bone issued the stark warning to the Prime Minister less than two hours before a meeting of the cabinet to [...]
Sterling retreats as markets await Theresa May’s crucial Brexit cabinet meeting November 14, 2018 Sterling sunk back below $1.30 early this morning despite the Prime Minister having reached a draft agreement with the EU over Brexit. The pound rose on the announcement late yesterday but fell back to $1.296 this morning as politicians reacted negatively to the deal. The DUP has cast doubt over Theresa May’s proposed agreement, calling it [...]
DEBATE: With calls to ban milkshakes, is an obsession with ‘public health’ harmful to our personal wellbeing? November 14, 2018 With calls to ban milkshakes, is an obsession with ‘public health’ harmful to our personal wellbeing? Daniel Pryor, head of programmes at the Adam Smith Institute, says YES. Should we ban sugar, spice, and all things nice? The lobby group Action On Sugar thinks so. Its advocates aren’t content to simply jail purveyors of so-called “freakshakes” [...]
Cameroon shows that Britain must learn to stand up to its friends on the world stage November 14, 2018 Aesop’s Fables teach us that a man is known by the company he keeps. The foreign secretary has been on a charm offensive in recent weeks, waxing lyrical about Britain’s future place in the world, our long-standing alliance with France, our unparalleled network of friendships, and our commitment to democracy. Jeremy Hunt has spoken of Britain [...]
The pressure is on to fix the broken audit market November 14, 2018 Accountancy may be “an art, not a science”, but there needs to be less “Jackson Pollock”. That’s according to the Labour MP Rachel Reeves, chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, who has made it her mission to fix the broken audit market. The Big Four firms (PwC, Deloitte, EY, and KPMG) are [...]
Let’s embrace No Deal and get planning for life after Brexit November 13, 2018 There is an anecdote doing the rounds at the moment where an acquaintance of a civil servant jests “I suppose you’re doing your best to stop Brexit!”, to which the official, not knowing that his friend voted Leave and was pulling his leg, replies “You bet I am, and every one of us too”. True [...]