Credit Suisse freezes £4bn linked to Russia after US sanctions August 22, 2018 Banking giant Credit Suisse has frozen 5.1bn Swiss francs (£4.02bn) linked to Russia following US sanctions. The Zurich-headquartered bank reported in its second quarter results that it had identified impacted client relationships and transactions to ensure compliance. It added that the sanctions compliance group is closely monitoring the developments. Read more: Russia hits out at ‘unacceptable’ US [...]
Tory Party receive more in fees from the dead than from living members August 22, 2018 The Conservative Party received more money from the dead last year then it did from living members. Figures released yesterday by the Electoral Commission show the Tories received £835,000 from membership fees in 2017, compared to £1.7m from bequests. Read more: Exclusive: Tory members plot Brexit rebellion at party conference Members’ dues dropped 43 per [...]
Ditch the Chequers Agreement and Hammond can scrap his ‘Amazon tax’ August 22, 2018 Thanks to the Prime Minister’s commitment to raise NHS spending by an additional £20bn, the chancellor is now in a quandary. Philip Hammond signed up to the theory that raising taxes increases revenues, which goes against the volumes of evidence that it actually depresses economic activity, encourages switching of spending to other lower-taxed areas, and [...]
Microsoft says Russia was behind several major US political group hacks August 21, 2018 Microsoft has warned that Russian state actors are ramping up cyberattacks ahead of the US congressional elections in November. The software giant said it had caught and shut down a number of web domains masquerading as websites belonging to the US Senate, two think tanks and its own cloud storage service in the last week. [...]
Sajid Javid to apologise to 18 of the Windrush generation August 21, 2018 The Home Secretary will formally apologise to 18 members of the UK's Windrush generation who may have been wrongfully removed or detained. Sajid Javid will personally apologise and point them towards a compensation scheme, it was announced earlier today. Amnesty International said the government's apology to just 18 people was “worrying” and it was just [...]
Brexit secretary Dominic Raab ‘confident’ UK will reach deal with EU by October August 21, 2018 Brexit secretary Dominic Raab has said he is “confident” the UK will reach an exit deal with the European Union by October. Speaking at a joint press conference with the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels, Raab said the two sides had the “ambition, pragmatism and energy” to reach a deal – but admitted [...]
Hunt: EU must ‘get house in order’ to counter Russian threat to way of life August 21, 2018 Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt is today set to call on the EU to “go further” when it comes to imposing sanctions against Russia, claiming that President Putin’s regime has “made the world a more dangerous place”. The secretary of state will note that allies must “get our own house in order” to meet new challenges posed [...]
The Brexit campaign is about to be fought all over again August 19, 2018 If you thought you would return from your summer holiday to find the country coming together behind a coherent Brexit plan, think again. With the departure date just over 200 days away, one could have been forgiven for thinking that the old arguments about Leave versus Remain would have given way by now to something [...]
Labour Party suspends former MP as anti-semitism row shows no sign of quieting down August 18, 2018 The Labour Party’s ongoing anti-semitism row has hit the headlines again today following the suspension of a former MP over a social media outburst. Jim Sheridan, who lost his parliamentary seat in 2015, was alleged to have said he had lost his respect and empathy for the Jewish community and their suffering “due to what they and [...]
City concerned at lack of EU no deal plans August 17, 2018 The City is growing frustrated with the EU’s apparent failure to grapple with the regulatory challenges posed by a no deal Brexit. Work in the UK has begun on a “temporary permissions regime”, allowing EU firms to continue passporting into the country in the event of a hard Brexit. But senior figures in the Square [...]