Brexit is about to negotiate another hurdle with new border controls on goods coming in from Europe which is likely to cause delays and additional costs, with more following in April. Trade deals with the rest of the world which were allegedly the raison d’etre for the split with the EU are not going well. … Read more
The Brexit bonfire of EU laws has been drastically scaled back to the fury of the fervent Euro-hating lobby. Only 550 laws will be sent into the sunset by December, allowing about 3,000 to remain indefinitely. The Whitehall civil service ‘blob’ has been blamed for their inertia. The British Chambers of Commerce, the business lobby … Read more
Nigel Lawson, the controversial tax-cutting chancellor under Margaret Thatcher, has died aged 91. To Tories he was and is a ‘titan’ and a ‘transformational’ figure, who cut taxes and rolled back the state, leading the privatisation drive that put swathes of the public sector under the control of private companies. His policies turned the … Read more
Public opinion is shifting against Brexit though both political parties regard any discussion as too toxic to broach. A recent poll indicated 60 per cent of Britons now think Brexit was the wrong decision and would vote to rejoin the EU at a second referendum. Brexit was sold as a way of controlling immigration and improving … Read more
Reality bites as support for Brexit has fallen to a record low of 32% as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt cautiously puts a toe in the waters of conciliation suggesting in time the trade barriers which have been erected post-2016 could be substantially removed while the UK still remains outside the single market. The Office for Budget … Read more
Out of the frying pan onto the spit-roast, the Prime Minister is back wrestling with the Northern Ireland Protocol with every indication that it will end up a hot mess on the floor. The EU is hardening against an ‘unserious’ Johnson, whom no one in Europe believes according to an Irish minister. He’s being elbowed … Read more
A stolid Taurus Chancellor with a meticulous Saturn in Virgo is not a great match for a harum-scarum Prime Minister with the attention-span of a gnat and less interest in economics except when it comes to handing out largesse from the money-tree. Yesterday’s budget seems to have pleased no one with sensational headlines about … Read more
Michel Barnier, the dull technocrat who was the EU negotiator for Brexit has pitched his name into the ring as a right-wing hopeful for the French Presidential election next year. He has also just published ‘My Secret Brexit Diary: A Glorious Illusion’ in which he makes clear his view of Brexit as irrational and self-damaging … Read more
Another lurch in the incessant tug-of-war between the EU and the UK has Brussels threatening to stop ratification of the trade and future-relationship deal struck on the cliff edge late last year, which would also delay any discussions on vital financial services agreements and might end up in court for breach of contract. Because of … Read more
The revolving door of Boris Johnson’s government is spinning with increasing velocity as political advisers are fired or resign in a huff with leaks, tales of back stabbing, murmurs that Carrie Symonds is running the show – ferrets fighting in a sack. Michael Gove is sidelined and the unelected David Frost steps up, unbelievably, into … Read more