Spring Statement: Philip Hammond demands Brexit consensus as he warns of no deal dangers March 13, 2019 Philip Hammond used his Spring Statement today to urge MPs to compromise on Brexit as he launched a savage assessment on the economic risk of ‘no deal’. Speaking a day after parliament again voted down Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement, the chancellor said leaving the EU without a deal would increase unemployment and food prices, and [...]
DEBATE: With just 16 days to go until Brexit, is there any point to the Spring Statement? March 13, 2019 With just 16 days to go until Brexit, is there any point to the Spring Statement? Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG, says YES. While Brexit is likely to dominate minds again this week, and continue to bring a fog of uncertainty over the outlook for the UK economy, the Spring Statement is still important. [...]
Consumers hurt by lack of tech giant regulation, independent review finds March 13, 2019 Tech giants do not face enough competition and new laws are required to increase consumer choice in the digital sector, an independent review has found. The report, which was commissioned by chancellor Philip Hammond, states tech firms have become increasingly dominant in the market, limiting the control consumers have over their personal data. Read more: [...]
Billions of pounds available by backing Theresa May’s deal, says Philip Hammond March 9, 2019 Chancellor of the exchequer Philip Hammond has said getting behind Theresa May's Brexit deal would free up billions of pounds in extra public spending or tax cuts. Hammond also dismissed the importance being placed on the Irish backstop, which could force the UK into an EU customs union in order to avoid a hard Irish border, claiming they are "not [...]
UK told to come up with ‘acceptable’ backstop solutions as Brexit deadline looms March 7, 2019 The government is under pressure from the EU to urgently find solutions to break the Brexit impasse by tomorrow. EU leaders have asked the UK to submit "acceptable" proposals by Friday to break the deadlock over the Irish backstop, which remains the main obstacle to the two sides coming to mutual agreement. Read more: Bank [...]
Nicky Morgan urges Treasury to provide no-deal tariff plans ahead of May’s Brexit vote March 6, 2019 Former Cabinet minister Nicky Morgan has urged the Treasury to clarify its position on tariff policy in the event of a no-deal Brexit following reports that up to 90 per cent could be slashed. Morgan, who chairs the Treasury Select Committee, wrote to Philip Hammond today to demand he state whether the lowering of tariffs was current [...]
China invites chancellor Philip Hammond to visit despite war of words over British patrols in Pacific February 22, 2019 The Chinese foreign ministry has said it would welcome a visit from the UK government's chancellor of the exchequer, Philip Hammond, just a day after he said that relations with China had been affected by talk of Britain deploying a warship in the Pacific. Read more: Defence firm BAE plugs £20m into artificial intelligence on UK [...]
Finally, the Tories have tackled the UK’s deficit February 22, 2019 Credit where it’s due, Philip Hammond has finally conquered the deficit – albeit several years after his predecessor George Osborne originally promised to have done so. While the government is still spending more money than it generates, the UK’s rate of borrowing is considerably below pre-crisis levels. In its analysis of yesterday’s borrowing figures the [...]
EU-wide digital services tax could make system worse, warns pan-European think-tanks February 19, 2019 An EU-wide digital services levy would distort the bloc’s tax system and introduce extra bureaucracy, a pan-European group of think-tanks has warned. A report by the European Policy Information Center [CORR] – made up of organisations from nine European countries including the UK’s Institute of Economic Affairs – raised concerns that in the drive to [...]
China: How George Osborne’s ‘golden era’ lost its shine February 17, 2019 When former chancellor George Osborne visited China in 2015, he pronounced it the start of a “golden era” of Sino-British relations. Britain threw itself into tens-of-billions of pounds worth of trade deals, Osborne turned a blind eye to a litany of Chinese human rights abuses and President Xi Jinping even joined David Cameron for a pint [...]