Tag: Featured

    Voters must be given the chance to change their minds on Brexit, Labour former prime minister Tony Blair has insisted. Mr Blair said people need to be allowed to give their view on any Brexit divorce deal with the EU, either through a referendum, or general election. "There is absolutely no reason why we should close off any options. You can't change this decision, unless it becomes clear in one way or another, that the British people have had a change of mind because they have seen the reality of the alternative. "We are entitled to carry on scrutinising, and, yes, if necessary, to change our minds, because it seems sensible to us to do so. This is not about an elite over-ruling the people. "If it becomes clear that this is either a deal that doesn't make it worth our whi...

    The UK economy grew by 0.5% in the three months after the Brexit vote, the Office for National Statistics has said. The figure for July to September was down from the 0.7% growth recorded in the second quarter of 2016 - the months before Britain voted to leave the European Union. But it is more robust than many economists had expected - and stronger than the 0.2% forecast last month by the Bank of England (BoE). Sky's Economics Editor Ed Conway said: "These are relatively punchy numbers. I think these numbers will be something of a surprise to the City and they will be reassuring to many people who thought that Brexit decision was going to hit confidence, spending and activity in the economy." The higher-than-expected GDP figure was driven by the services sector - which ac...

    PM Theresa May has come under intense criticism from politicians across the UK and Europe after it emerged that she had warned of the dangers of Brexit in a private talk at Goldman Sachs a month before the referendum vote. The prime minister was accused by a string of MPs, headed by Jeremy Corbyn, of ignoring her own concerns about the risks of leaving the single market, as revealed in her remarks to City bankers that were leaked to the Guardian on Tuesday night. In Germany, politicians from both governing parties accused May of failing to show leadership. They said her remarks demonstrated that it would be impossible to leave the European Union without economic consequences. Corbyn attacked May for failing to set out her plan for Brexit to the British people as clearly as...

    When Alasdair Haynes walked onto the market floor of the London Stock Exchange to start a new week one morning exactly 30 years ago today, he was greeted by an eerie sight. The 26-year old, who worked in traded options for stock jobbing firm Pinchin Denny, was accustomed to the usual hustle and bustle of the trading floor. But on Monday October 27, 1986, the LSE had suddenly become a “ghost town”. “We were one corner of the London Stock Exchange,” Haynes, who now runs share trading venue Aquis Exchange, recalls of his time working at the exchange in traded options. “Ninety percent of [the LSE] was filled with jobbers’ booths and brokers all walking around and the runners running around. “And then we all walked in on the Monday morning and there was the traded options marke...

    Theresa May privately warned that companies would leave the UK if the country voted for Brexit during a secret audience with investment bankers a month before the EU referendum. A recording of her remarks to Goldman Sachs, leaked to the Guardian, reveals she had numerous concerns about Britain leaving the EU. It contrasts with her nuanced public speeches, which dismayed remain campaigners before the vote in June. Speaking at the bank in London on 26 May, the then home secretary appeared to go further than her public remarks to explain more clearly the economic benefits of staying in the EU. She told staff it was time the UK took a lead in Europe, and that she hoped voters would look to the future rather than the past. In an hour-long session before the City bankers, she al...