Labour’s Magnificent Seven just made a no-deal Brexit more likely February 19, 2019 I am old enough to recall the “Gang of Four” in the eighties, when Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Shirley Williams and Bill Rogers left Labour to set up the Social Democratic Party. We know that all ended acrimoniously, with a reverse takeover by David Steel’s Liberal Party that created the Liberal Democrats. This week, we [...]
HSBC boss John Flint needs to deliver short term rigour to the bank as well as a long term vision February 19, 2019 Imagine making nearly $20bn in profit during your first year in a job, only to be met with profound disappointment. Such is the lot of John Flint, the latest chief executive tasked with bringing the best out of Europe's biggest bank. HSBC's pre-tax profit for 2018 dragged the FTSE into the red on Tuesday, disappointing traders [...]
WTO blames trade war tariffs for weakest global trade in nine years February 19, 2019 Global trade is about to hit its lowest level in nearly nine years, warned the World Trade Organization (WTO) today, as international tensions and political uncertainty weigh on countries . The WTO's latest forecast warned that trade would fall below its baseline index value of 100 to 96.3 in the first quarter of 2019, the lowest reading since [...]
Jeremy Corbyn: MPs who split didn’t take opportunities to influence Labour policies February 19, 2019 Jeremy Corbyn says he “regrets” the decision of seven MPs to quit Labour but insisted they had ample opportunity to influence the direction of the party. In his first public appearance since Luciana Berger, Chris Leslie, Ann Coffey, Angela Smith, Gavin Shukar, Mike Gapes and Chuka Umunna broke away from the party yesterday, the Labour [...]
Feeling the Bern: Bernie Sanders announces 2020 US presidential bid February 19, 2019 US senator Bernie Sanders has announced that he will make a second attempt at winning the Democratic Party presidential nomination next year. Sanders, who is an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, became a political favourite when he lost his bid for the party's nomination in 2016 to former first lady Hillary Clinton. Making the announcement over [...]
MPs urge government to slap penny tax on new clothes in bid to cut fashion industry waste February 19, 2019 An influential group of MPs has called for a 1p tax on new clothes in a bid to tackle consumer waste within the fashion industry. The penny tax, which would be levied on every new item of clothing sold by Britain’s retailers, has been proposed this morning by the cross-party Environmental Audit Committee to raise [...]
Jeremy Corbyn warned of more Labour defections as MPs ‘think hard’ about future February 19, 2019 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been warned that more of his MPs will jump ship unless he listens to their concerns over Brexit and anti-semitism. Ian Austin, Ian Murray and Tom Watson were among the MPs sounding the alarm bells today following the decision of seven Labour MPs to quite the party to form a [...]
DEBATE: Have the Labour splitters helped the Conservative party? February 19, 2019 Have the Labour splitters helped the Conservative party? Lauren McEvatt, managing director at Morpeth Consulting, says YES. After the next election, the UK government will either be run by the Labour party or the Tory party. That’s the reality of the electoral system. The seven Labour splitters have denounced the modern Labour party as bullies, [...]
A real Labour split won’t guarantee a surge in sterling February 19, 2019 Investors who are predicting a sterling rally if there if a full-blown split in the UK’s opposition party are likely to be sorely mistaken. The Labour party has leaned increasingly to the left since Jeremy Corbyn took the reins in 2015. Many currency experts have warned about his policies, saying that they fear a Labour [...]
The Labour splitters won’t redraw the political map, but they do raise awkward questions February 18, 2019 After years of infighting, threats, and a couple of failed coups, seven Labour MPs have taken the difficult and courageous decision to quit the party, sitting in the Commons as a new “Independent Group”. Their disillusionment with Labour has many sources, from a failure to confront antisemitism to the party’s muddled stance on Brexit, from [...]