Daily Archives: April 4, 2022

A production of Phantom of the Opera has been brought in from China to tour the EU rather than a production from the UK due to costs and red tape after Brexit, the boss of a theatre company has said.

Jessica Koravos, president of the Really Useful Group, which promotes the shows of Andrew Lloyd Webber around the world, told MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee about the complexities of staging British productions in the EU in the wake of Brexit.

Ms Koravos said it was more straightforward and less expensive to bring in a production from China.

She told MPs: Under the current circumstances, I would not dream of sending a UK production into Europe.

"I have in fact just made a decision to take a production that has been out together in China of Phantom of the Opera and bring that into the EU because it's more straightforward and less expensive."

Asked why it is more straightforward to bring a production from thousands of miles away in China, she added: "Because you can put it together as a unit touring company where its a single application for the company that goes into the Schengen Area and you get one permission for the whole production instead of having to deal with a series of individuals."

Read more:

Brexit: 'Real dividend' Leaving the bloc unshackles UK outlook on crop production - Express

Anita Leviant, President of the Israel-Britain Chamber of Commerce

(Calcalist)

Brexit is a very controversial thing, and of course presented a lot of difficulties for people and businesses who used to work with Europe via the UK and vice versa, said Anita Leviant, President of the Israel-Britain Chamber of Commerce. But generally speaking, I believe Brexit represented a great opportunity for UK-Israel relations and I think that the great demonstration of that is the new free trade agreement that is, as we speak, being established between the two countries.

In 2016, the United Kingdom voted to depart from the European Union and formally left in January 2020. Since then, it has allowed countries to individually collaborate with one another without navigating the bureaucratic or diplomatic tape of a larger bloc. [The agreement] will reflect things that were not there before, like instead of just goods also services, which is very supportive for tech companies, innovation, and better terms for the parties.

You can watch the entire exchange in the video above.

Go here to see the original:

Brexit represented a great opportunity for UK-Israel relations | CTech - CTech

Brexit: We must do right by Northern Ireland says Davis

The Conservative Party peer explained how Northern Ireland's executive has formed the basis of the peace settlement for the past 24 years. With the Assembly election due to be held on May 5, Lord Hannan said Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has one month to act.

Lord Hannan, writing in The Telegraph, said: "Britain has every right to adjust the Protocol in a way that respects the interests of both communities in Northern Ireland, by ensuring that the North/South border and the East/West border are fully open. Indeed, not just the right the duty.

"If the Protocol is in force after the 5 May election, there is no prospect of restoring the devolved government that has been the basis of the peace settlement these past 24 years. That gives Liz Truss, whose responsibility all this has now become, a month to act."

The former MEP added that to act would require primary legislation to put in place watertight procedures to address the EUs public concerns about goods standards.

He warned that such legislation may be opposed especially by "irreconcilable Remainers" in the House of Lords who are less interested in having a cordial relationship with the EU than trying to show Brexit was a failure.

Lord Hannan said: "If so, the government will have no option but to face them down even if that requires the creation of hundreds of new peers, as Asquith proposed during the 1910 crisis."

He cautioned the EU might hit back with trade restrictions - despite the war in Ukraine, energy crisis and a fragile world economy - but all Britain could do is "carry on being a responsible neighbour".

The protocol grants Northern Ireland special status to remain in the EU Single Market for agri-foods and manufactured goods.

At the same time, the province stays within the UKs customs realms, meaning it still stands to benefit from any post-Brexit trade talks the UK agrees with other countries.

READ MORE ABOUT BRITAIN BRACING FOR A -6C ARCTIC BLAST

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis has said 200 businesses in Great Britain are not trading with Northern Ireland due to the post-Brexit trade arrangements.

Talks between the UK and EU over the protocol have yet to result in a deal.

Mr Lewis told MPs that over the past six to nine months he has not seen the pragmatism or flexibility from the EU which would allow a deal.

Lord Hannan said the protocol has "smashed like a wrecking ball" through Ulster's intricate politics.

DON'T MISS:Activists claim victory with petrol shortage in south-east[REPORT]33m-winning family face almost 50 objections for Hollywood mansion[REVEALED]Royal LIVE: Andrew's 'tone deaf' statement 'not seen by Queen'[LATEST]

He added: "The assembly election campaign is now in full swing there but, as things stand, there is no chance of power-sharing being restored.

"Not one Unionist MP or MLA regards the current deal as acceptable, and you can see why."

Lord Hannan listed Northern Ireland's detachment from Great Britain for regulatory and tax purposes as among the problems.

He claimed: "The delicate web of compromises on which the 1998 Belfast Agreement rests compromises that Unionists accepted with difficulty, involving, as they did, the release of IRA prisoners and the abolition of the RUC has been shredded."

The peer continued: "Dropping the most obviously destructive parts of the protocol would in no sense be unfriendly.

"Rather, it would be a proportionate measure aimed at preserving the Belfast Agreement.

"Britain is entitled in law to make such an adjustment. And, since it is putting in place unique and binding measures to prevent the leakage of goods across the Irish frontier, the EU will find it difficult to point to any harm it has suffered in consequence."

Unionists have voiced strong opposition to the protocol, regarding extra checks on goods at Northern Ireland's port as a border in the Irish Sea.

DUP MP Ian Paisley challenged Mr Lewis, saying the talk is very strong but he thought most people were wondering when action would be taken.

Mr Lewis said the UK Government has not yet triggered Article 16, which would suspend some elements of the post-Brexit arrangements, because ministers want to find an agreement for better stability and certainty for businesses.

Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin told an audience in Londonderry on Friday that Brexit continues to "bedevil" politics in Northern Ireland.

Foreign Affairs minister Simon Coveney had to abandon a speech to the Hume Foundation in Belfast following a security alert recently when a van driver was threatened by two gunmen and a hoax bomb placed in the vehicle.

Police linked loyalist paramilitaries to the incident.

Mr Martin said: "The Irish government will never dismiss genuinely held concerns around the Protocol and we are working very actively with our EU partners to listen and engage on them, but any opposition must always be peaceful. That is simply fundamental.

"There are democratic and lawful means for all concerns to be raised and resolutions worked through. That is where our focus must remain."

Stormont collapsed in 2017 when the DUP and Sinn Fin split in a bitter row over the former's handling of a green energy scandal.

A draft deal to restore the country's government, published in January 2020, was accepted by both parties, paving the way for power sharing to be restored.

However, division remains with DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson suggesting on Sunday that Sinn Fein was fixating on bringing about a united Ireland when it should be focused on issues affecting families in Northern Ireland.

Sinn Fein's Pearse Doherty said the region's biggest unionist party wanted to make the election about the Protocol and was not interested in real delivery for people.

The claims were made ahead of two significant pre-election events for the parties.

Read the rest here:

Brexit fury: Brexiteer warns Liz Truss has a month to act over Northern Ireland Protocol - Express

Government plans to waive border checks on goods from the EU including food and livestock will put the country at risk of importing devastating infectious diseases such as African swine fever and compound serious damage to UK trade caused by Brexit.

The double warning has been issued by the British Veterinary Association (BVA) as ministers consider yet another postponement of post-Brexit inspections because of fears that checks will slow supply chains, add to bureaucracy and increase prices in shops at a time when UK consumers are already facing a cost of living crisis.

The already much-delayed rules, including a requirement for veterinary certificates and potential spot checks after arrival, were due to be phased in from 1 July.

Tough new rules on imports were initially hailed by Brexiters as examples of how leaving the EU would allow the UK to take back control of its borders.

But now, amid growing evidence that Brexit is harming trade, senior figures in government, led by the minister for Brexit opportunities, Jacob Rees-Mogg, have changed tack and decided that less control rather than more is needed over imports in order to speed the flow of goods and reduce costs.

But the relaxation of animal safety standards is worrying both UK vets and many in the farming community.

James Russell, the senior vice president of the BVA, told the Observer he would be raising the alarm when he gives evidence this month to MPs on the international trade select committee.

Russell said that dropping checks would not only endanger animal health and have serious consequences for the UKs biosecurity but also compromise the UKs reputation for high standards on animal and food safety, which in turn could damage the trust that overseas businesses have in UK produce.

He said: If these controls are dropped there is a potential risk of an incursion of African swine fever which is spreading rapidly and has already had a catastrophic impact on animal health and agricultural industry in parts of Europe, Asia and Africa.

Official veterinarians working at the border act as the countrys first line of defence of biosecurity, and we feel it would be deeply misguided to push back the need for these vital checks even further and in so doing weaken this layer of protection for both animal and public health.

According to the World Organisation for Animal Health, African swine fever is responsible for massive losses in pig populations and drastic economic consequences and has become a major crisis for the pork industry in recent years. Currently affecting several regions around the world, and with no effective vaccine, the disease is not only impeding animal health and welfare but has also detrimental impacts on biodiversity and the livelihoods of farmers.

Russell added that if food substances were imported into the UK with no records of their origins and were then included in a hybrid product such a pizza that product would become more difficult to export into markets such as the EU where full details of product origins are needed.

A further delay is, however, sure to be welcomed by many UK businesses which are already struggling with food supply chain issues made worse by Russias invasion of Ukraine.

James Withers, chief executive of Scotland Food and Drink, told the Financial Times last week that a decision to delay checks again would, however, infuriate UK exporters who had had to deal with mountains and paperwork and extra costs since the UK left the single market on 1 January last year.

Theres no doubt this will stick in the throat of a lot of exporters who are now 15 months into navigating a tsunami of paperwork that our EU competitors are not facing.

Ministers are conscious that the UKs trade performance failed to recover from the pandemic nearly as fast as other leading economies according to recent data, with many blaming Brexit. The Office for Budget Responsibility has stuck to its prediction that leaving the EU will result in total UK imports and exports being 15% lower than if it had stayed inside the bloc. Last week the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, told the Treasury select committee that the UKs poor trade performance compared with other G7 countries might well be due to Brexit.

See original here:

Swine fever risk if UK waives checks on imports from EU, say vets - The Guardian

The head of the foreign policy think tank Chatham House has said that improved relations with the EU will help to strengthen European security as well as indirectly support economic trade between the UK and the EU.

According to the Guardian, Dr Robin Niblett has advised the UK to work more formally with Brussels on foreign policy and defence, including issues such as cyber, intelligence and disinformation.

Europe and other NATO countries have pulled together to impose harsh sanctions on Russia following Putins invasion of Ukraine, however, the impact of Brexit risks the UK being excluded from deeper defence, industrial and technological cooperation within the EU.

Dr Niblett said: The risk remains that allowing these areas of dispute and friction in the economic sphere to persist, and possibly fester, will undermine both sides desire to forge a closer relationship on foreign and security policy - as is now even more critical.

Dr Niblett has suggested the UK could embed itself, along with the US and Canada, in the parallel processes to develop a new NATO strategic concept and the EUs strategic compass.

He continued: A more specific UK-EU dialogue on security could also emerge from the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

That could include the establishment of a sanctions review group that would ensure alignment on the timing and targets of sanctions, as well as conditions for their lifting.

He noted that the UK had been at the forefront of arming and training the Ukrainians, but had lagged behind in terms of providing aid, moral hypocrisy, human rights and economic performance.

READ MORE:GB News: Joe Biden slammed for stepping into a potential minefield

There will be no more precious asset in the future for Britains influence in the world than a reputation for consistency.

A report recently released examines the implementation of the UKs year-old landmark integrated foreign and defence review.

It says that the Governments inconsistencies on policies such as human rights and climate change have opened the Government up to damaging accusations of hypocrisy and are out of step with the UKs role as a champion of liberal democratic governance.

It also says that the UK has stepped back from tackling global health and poverty challenges over the past year due to aid cuts.

Read the rest here:

Brexit Britain must repair relationship with EU in face of Ukraine crisis, says expert - Express

EXPERTS have warned there is a battle against time to deal with rising tensions in Northern Ireland over the fallout from Brexit.

Protests over the post-Brexit protocol which keeps the country within the single market for goods and requires EU checks on British goods entering Northern Ireland have been on the increase.

The beginning of the campaign for the council elections has been marked by a bomb threat and smashing of windows of a constituency office.

Dale Pankhurst, teaching assistant and PhD candidate at Queens University Belfast, warned there is a battle against time to prevent the situation escalating.

The longer the problem persists, the more agitated sections of the population will become, thereby increasing the likelihood of violence returning to Northern Ireland, he said. There are a range of issues that cause grievance amongst the Unionist community.

READ MORE:Brexit protocols, 'sabotage and collusion': What is happening in Northern Ireland?

Many Unionists view the protocol as an assault on the fabric of the Union and a violation of the principle of consent within the Belfast Agreement. Many see the Protocol as a stepping stone to a united Ireland as it forces businesses to strengthen trading ties with the Republic of Ireland due to the difficulty to trade the Protocol brings between Northern Ireland-Great Britain trade.

Last week Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader Doug Beattie linked an attack on his constituency office in which a window was smashed to his announcement he would no longer attend protests over the protocol.

He added: Somebody can smash my window but I can fix it, but the first time that someone gets injured, the first time that someone gets killed, there is no going back on that.

We are in a spiral of violence that I do not want to get us into. This is nothing to do with the election, this purely to do with protests around the protocol, which I do not think we should get involved in to raise tensions.

Beattie also linked the increasing political volatility to an upsurge in paramilitary activity, including a bomb hoax at an event attended by Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney in north Belfast. That incident, in which a van driver was hijacked at gunpoint, has been blamed on the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).

READ MORE:DUP threats over Brexit 'may see Northern Irish devolution collapse forever'

Prominent politicians from other Unionist parties, including DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and TUV leader Jim Allister, have addressed recent protocol rallies, and defended them as peaceful protests.

Brexit has led to anger on both sides of the political divide in Northern Ireland.

Pankhurst said: When there was a prospect of a hard, physical border returning along the Irish Border, nationalist politicians highlighted this would motivate resistance, both violent and non-violent, against border installations. Likewise with the onset of the Northern Ireland Protocol, Unionist politicians have highlighted that armed loyalist resistance may also materialise.

Last week Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Brandon Lewis (above) said the protocol is not sustainable in its current format, saying 200 businesses in Great Britain are not trading with Northern Ireland due to the post-Brexit trade arrangements. Talks between the UK and the EU over the protocol have not yielded a deal.

Pankhurst called for both sides to become more aware of how precarious the situation is now becoming in Northern Ireland and to move quickly towards a resolution.

He said: The longer this sore festers, the more intractable the likelihood of reaching a settlement becomes due to increasing entrenchment and polarisation.

This problem will not be resolved simply through placing a physical border here or there.

The UKs withdrawal from the European Union is the first time the bloc has faced this scenario.

The border lines between the UK and the EU now lie along the fault lines of one of the worlds most intractable ethnic conflicts. Both sides must realise the seriousness of this fact.

Speaking at a conference last week on the UK constitution, organised by thinktank UK in a Changing Europe, Katy Hayward, professor of politics at Queens University in Belfast, said: Unionism is in a difficult place and I think the British Government need to think seriously about how it is handling all of this.

The Stormont powersharing executive collapsed earlier this year when the DUP withdrew Paul Givan as First Minister in protest at the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Hayward said the Assembly had performed remarkably well just before it broke up, introducing progressive legislation such as paid leave for victims of domestic violence.

She added: We are coming into a huge cost of living crisis, Northern Irelands standard of living is below the rest of the UK and yet this election could well be dominated by the issues of the protocol.

View original post here:

Brexit protocol creating a 'spiral of violence' in Northern Ireland - The National

For the last two years our focus may have been on Covid and now Ukraine but our relationship with the European Union continues to be of importance. The signs are that the Conservatives want to make Brexit a major issue again by the time of the next general election.

This, in large part, reflects the fact the Conservative Party has little else to say. The coalition that voted Tory in 2019 had more in common on cultural issues than on economics. Every fiscal event exposes the lack of cohesion in the Conservatives economic thinking. In a low-growth economy, it will be impossible to achieve falling borrowing, low taxes and the promised additional funding for public services, as Rishi Sunak is discovering.

On boosting economic productivity, the Chancellor is asking some of the right questions and has a three-word slogan Capital, People, Innovation but has only got to the stage of asking businesses what he should do. It is hard to see how this will translate into anything that will make a tangible difference by 2024.

There is no obvious agenda on public service reform. Boris Johnsons big idea this week was that if pupils fall behind in English and maths schools should intervene and help get them back on track.Perfectly sensible but not exactly breaking new ground.

To be fair to the government, it has been consumed by two crises the pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine but this does not mean it will get a free pass for lacking a record of achievement or exciting new ideas. Its best bet may be to play a variation on an old tune: Keep Brexit Done.

We saw signs of this in the Prime Ministers speech to the Conservative Party spring conference when he claimed that the Brexit vote was an example of the freedom-loving nature of the British people, who shared this characteristic with the Ukrainians resisting the Russian invasion. For those of us Johnson-sceptics who thought that his handling of the Ukraine conflict had been broadly adequate, it came as a reminder that he does not have what it takes to be a war leader that can unite the nation.

This particular speech was so egregiously crass that even many Brexit-supporting commentators condemned it but there is evidence that it is part of a strategy. The Times recently reported that David Canzini, the Prime Ministers new deputy chief of staff, told No 10 staffers that the number one priority was delivering on the promises of Brexit. Keeping the Leave/Remain divide alive appears to be the plan.

One obvious problem with the strategy is that Brexit, as an economic project, is evidently not going well. In its Spring Statement assessment, the Office for Budget Responsibility confirmed its previous assessment that Brexit has cost us 4 per cent of GDP (twice the long-term hit of Covid) with none of the supposed benefits resulting in any material economic contribution. The economic damage has been caused by a decline in trade with the EU, which Sunak was forced to admit was unsurprising when you change a trading relationship with the EU and that a change in our relationship will obviously have an impact. Unsurprising to those who thought Brexit would be costly would be more accurate. Sunak also maintained that the UK was not becoming a less open economy which, given the trade numbers, is obviously nonsense.We have not even implemented import checks yet and may have to delay them further.

The Prime Ministers solution to falling trade, by the way, is characteristically vague, boosterist and ignorant. There is no natural impediment to our exports, it is just will and energy and ambition, he told the Liaison Committee.

The mounting evidence of the economic damage caused by Brexit ought to be a worrying vulnerability for the government, with Labour pushing the line that the reason taxes are having to go up is because economic growth is so weak. It is a very good point.

Pointing out that growth is low is one thing but setting out a convincing explanation that growth would be higher with a change of government is another. There is, of course, an oven-ready solution to low growth, which would be to repair our economic relationship with the EU. Some of the 4 per cent hit to GDP caused by us leaving the single market and customs union could be recovered if we were to move closer to these institutions.

Labour, however, is reluctant to reopen the issue for much the same reason that the Conservatives are keen to talk about Brexit. Both parties assume that if our relationship with the EU is a prominent issue at the next general election, this will favour the Conservatives.

It is a curious state of affairs. The government wants to boast about a policy that is damaging growth; the opposition is keen to show that we are growing slowly but is frightened to explain why. Both parties are being evasive.

We are starting to see a debate about how we restore strong economic growth but both main parties want to discuss anything but the inadequacy of our trading relationship with the EU. This does the country no favours. If we want a stronger economy, this has to be addressed.

Sign up for The New Statesmans newsletters Tick the boxes of the newsletters you would like to receive. Morning Call Quick and essential guide to domestic and global politics from the New Statesman's politics team. World Review The New Statesmans global affairs newsletter, every Monday and Friday. The New Statesman Daily The best of the New Statesman, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Green Times The New Statesmans weekly environment email on the politics, business and culture of the climate and nature crises - in your inbox every Thursday. This Week in Business A handy, three-minute glance at the week ahead in companies, markets, regulation and investment, landing in your inbox every Monday morning. The Culture Edit Our weekly culture newsletter from books and art to pop culture and memes sent every Friday. Weekly Highlights A weekly round-up of some of the best articles featured in the most recent issue of the New Statesman, sent each Saturday. Ideas and Letters A newsletter showcasing the finest writing from the ideas section and the NS archive, covering political ideas, philosophy, criticism and intellectual history - sent every Wednesday. Events and Offers Sign up to receive information regarding NS events, subscription offers & product updates.

See the rest here:

Brexit has been disastrous but neither Labour nor the Tories want an honest debate - The New Statesman

The forecast by economist Julian Jessop follows two years of damage to the global economy during the Covid pandemic. The expected growth comes in part as nations recover from the fall caused by various factors, as supply once again begins to meet demands.

Sharing new data on Twitter, Mr Jessop wrote: After a bigger fall in 2020 and initially a weaker recovery (due to Brexit), the UK caught up with the Eurozone in the last quarter of 2021.

I expect the UK to pull ahead in 2022.

The self-declared Brexit optimist went on to compare the UK with other EU nations.

He added: Comparing GDP in Q4 2021 with the pre-Covid level (Q4 201), France is still ahead, chapeau!

But on this basis at least, the UK has done better than Italy, Germany and Spain.

Mr Jessop also went on to explain the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in France was much higher than expected.

The increase in CPI was a surprise after state intervention in the energy market.

Figures released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) also show promise.

It says: UK gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have increased by 1.3 percent in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2021, upwardly revised from the first quarterly estimate of a 1.0 percent increase.

The level of GDP is now 0.1 percent below where it was pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) at Quarter 4 2019, revised from the previous estimate of 0.4 percent below.

Annual GDP in 2021 is now estimated to have increased by a revised 7.4 percent (previously 7.5 percent), following a revised 9.3 percent decline in 2020 (previously 9.4 percent fall).

READ MORE:'Radical Brexit opportunities key to solving cost of living crisis

With household costs set to rise as energy prices surge, some economists are predicting slower growth.

Paul Dales, chief UK economist at consultancy Capital Economics, said the spending revision suggested the squeeze on real incomes was starting to bite, although the decrease in the saving rate was providing a cushion.

Speaking to The Guardian, he said: The 0.1 percent quarter-on-quarter fall in real household disposable incomes was smaller than we had expected.

But it was the third decline in as many quarters and the big increases in prices that lie ahead means further falls are on their way.

DON'T MISS:Putin on the backfoot after guerilla attacks[REPORT]Fury over hated deal as Boris accused of 'broken promises'[EXCLUSIVE]Putin humiliated as 300 troops 'hitchhike home'[REVEAL]

Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, another consultancy, highlighted output excluding Government spending remained 2.9 percent short of the pre-pandemic high.

Mr Tombs said: Exports were a hefty 15.7 percent below their 2019 fourth-quarter level the worst performance in the G7, by some distance greatly exceeding the 6.4 percent shortfall in imports.

Exports have consistently underperformed relative to other advanced economies since the first quarter of 2021, suggesting Brexit is largely to blame.

Does this spell good news for post-Brexit Britain? Can the UK compete with the Eurozone in the long-term? Will the cost-of-living crisis dampen this good news? Let us know what you think about Britain's post-Brexit economy by CLICKING HERE and joining the debate in our comments section below - Every Voice Matters!

The latest figures from the ONS for 2022 show the UK maintains growth nonetheless.

It said: UK gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have grown by 0.8 percent in January 2022, and is now 0.8 percent above its pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) level.

Even more promising was the broad range of the British economy contributing to the growth.

The ONS ended: All sectors contributed positively to GDP growth in January 2022.

Services were the main driver contributing 0.6 percentage points, with production and construction both contributing 0.1 percentage points.

Here is the original post:

'Brexit Britain will pull ahead' Economist forecasts UK GDP will overtake Eurozone in 2022 - Express

The Chancellor has asked lawyers from Hogan Lovells to advise him on reforms in the financial sector. He is eager to scrap red tape that prevents more businesses around the world from doing trade in London.

It is understood that among the areas being looked at is the so-called "overseas person exclusion".

It allows UK firms to use the services of overseas companies and visa versa without the need for authorisation by the Financial Conduct Authority.

However, businesses have asked the Treasury to look at the details of the rules, accusing them of being overly complicated according to The Telegraph.

Ministers have vowed to make slashing EU regulation a priority.

READ MORE ON OUR BREXIT LIVE BLOG

They believe freeing firms from the burden of paperwork will help boost Britain's economy and attract businesses from around the world.

The Government believes EU rules have for years held back the City, while europhiles claim the UK's exit from the bloc will lead to the demise of Britain's place as a financial trading hub.

Last week a global financial centres index published by think tank Z/Yen Group found London remained Europe's dominant financial centre.

It came second only to New York out of the worlds top 126 finance hubs.

Mr Sunak, who voted to leave the EU in 2016, has set his sights on post-Brexit finance reform to rival Margaret Thatcher's record.

In 1986, Ms Thatcher introduced the sudden deregulation of the London stock exchange, known as the "Big Bang".

DON'T MISS:Thank goodness we left! IDS ruthlessly rips apart EU failings[REACTION]'Radical Brexit opportunities key to solving cost of living crisis[INSIGHT]Economist forecasts UK GDP will overtake Eurozone in 2022[UPDATE]

It accelerated London's position as an international financial centre and led to a boom in growth.

The Chancellor wants to be responsible for what he has referred to before as "Big Bang 2.0" as he changes Brexit rules.

"I think we always should be looking forward and figuring out what can we do differently? How can we turn things into opportunities?," he said in an interview last year.

He said he wants to make the UK "the most dynamic place to do financial services anywhere in the world".

The Chancellor added: Regulation is important, of course, as is timezone, as is language.

"All of those things are important.

But what is probably more important is the culture and creativity of our people.

"And no document can take that away from us. I feel very confident, and very excited, about the future of the City of London and financial services in general."

See the original post here:

Rishi Sunak plots bonfire of red tape as he assembles top team for Brexit finance boost - Express

As gas and electricity prices rises this month by 54%, the Tories refuse to take control of the energy crisis, argues Martin Hall

Throughout the period 2016-2019, Tory ministers repeatedly told us that bills would be slashed once the UK left the EU.

The 5% VAT rate on energy would be removed and families would find themselves with more money in their pockets. This would benefit those with the least the most.

Fast-forward to 2022, and the Ofgem price cap has risen to 1971, up an eye watering 693.

But heres the thing: it is easier to control prices outside of the EUs Internal Energy Market (IME), which is effectively a sub-set of the Single Market.

Why? Because it was set up to liberalise the energy market, increase competition and reduce monopolies. It is another EU measure that opens up public services to the market. Suppliers are free to determine the price of their product.

Of course, state aid is allowed in times of crisis. Indeed, the European Commission recommended member states adopt tax cuts and state aid last year. Some countries in the bloc have cut energy taxes and halved the sales tax on household energy.

And publicly owned companies can and do take part in the IME. EDF, which is 80% publicly owned, provide around two-thirds of the energy in France. And in France, EDF has been forced to take the hit, with a consequent price rise of only 4%.

The principal issue in the short term is political will, not whether or not a country is in the EU. The Tories could cap prices, introduce a windfall tax and remove VAT on bills. But in or out of the EU, they wont.

Does this mean EU membership is not a factor in this conversation, then? No, it doesnt. Outside of the EU, much more radical measures could be brought in.

Energy could be nationalised and not run for profit, as could oil companies. And lets be clear what we mean by nationalisation: state-ownership of the production, supply, transmission and distribution of all energy, not a market in which public companies can bid along with private.

This would include taking control of the inappropriately named National Grid, which is fully privatised and has paid out 1.4billion to shareholders in the last year.

It would mean taking control of Shell and BP, who posted profit forecasts of almost40 billionfor 2021/2022. Neither company has paid a penny in tax on North Sea oil and gas drilling in the last 3 years.

In the meantime, a windfall tax would be a start. The Tories are saying that cant happen because the companies wont have the funds to transition to low-carbon energy. But Shell and BP have given 147bn to shareholders in the form of dividends and share buybacks over the past ten years.

We need capital to shoulder the burden, not labour. Those dividends could have paid out to the workers in the form of higher wages. They could have subsidised the price of gas and oil and kept prices down.

Of course, the Tories vision of Brexit wasnt based on any of this. Taking these steps would require a radical rupture from the failed politics of the last 40 years.

The Tory vision of Brexit was about freeing up capital further and creating a new, global Britain like an Empire tribute act.

But voters, in particular those in the so-called Red Wall, were expecting to see record investment and improvement in living standards.

They were expecting new jobs, new opportunities and for government to provide a leg-up, especially in times of crisis.

They werent expecting to have to choose between putting the heating on and eating.

Counterfire is expanding fastas a website and an organisation. We are trying to organise a dynamic extra-parliamentary left in everypart of the country tohelp build resistance to the government and their billionaire backers. If you like what you have read and youwant to help, please join us or just get in touch by emailing [emailprotected] Now is the time!

Read more:

Whatever happened to taking back control? Brexit and the cost of living crisis - Counterfire