Category Archives: Brexit

Four years ago, Tom Mutch thought he had the scoop of the century blowing open Russias involvement in Brexit. Now, after the UK has left the European Union and Putin wages genocidal war in Ukraine, he wonders whether we are any closer to knowing the truth

As I told my friend Boris Johnson, its you and I that are always being blamed for this, the Russian Ambassador in London, Alexander Yakovenko, said as he turned to me and smiled. It was a mischievous answer to my question on whether Russia had been involved in campaigning for Brexit.

The charming and sharp-suited senior Russian diplomat had just given quite a speech at the Oxford Union. It was May 2018 and he had been invited to promote the upcoming FIFA World Cup. Instead, he used his perch to deny Russias involvement in the ills of the world, issuing denial after denial.

No, Russia was not involved in the war in Ukraine. Nor had it interfered in the 2016 US Presidential Election. He repeated conspiracy theories about the Skripal poisoning in Salisbury and said he couldnt know whether the head of the Chechen republic Ramzan Kadyrov was right about there being no gay people in that part of Russia.

I had collared him for a short interview. Tell me, why would Russia want to cause such a mess? he asked me with an expression of bafflement on his face.

He could not have known then, but I had a particularly good answer to that question. For I possessed evidence that Yakovenko may have been personally involved in what could have been one of the biggest boons for Russian foreign policy of all time.

Having spent the past months in bunkers and trenches watching Putins armed forces trying to annihilate Ukraine, I thought about the Russian Ambassadors waspish charm and its incredibly ominous undertones.

In the book, Banks described his campaign to take on the British establishment with a ragtag team of fringe politicians and social media whizzes. With money from his insurance companies, combined with some pluck, gusto and well-placed Twitter trolling, Banks credited himself for pulling off one of the biggest upsets in British political history.

It was a tale that would take him to the top of Trump Tower, where he and his team were photographed next to a grinning President-Elect Donald Trump. Banks would later claim a little credit for this other great electoral shock.

But in the year after the book was published, Banks had come under serious scrutiny from both journalists and regulatory agencies around the source of his funding.

Reports which Banks contested suggested that his businesses were losing money and he could not have afforded his donations. Oakeshott and I had heard from a security services source that spooks were probing whether Banks had serious business interests in Russia and if this was connected to his Brexit largesse.

In late 2017, I was sitting with my family in Australia when I got a call from Oakeshott. Could I check the records we retained from our time working on the Bad Boys of Brexit and find if there was any truth to the allegations? I agreed. What I found deeply concerned both of us.

The documents revealed many undisclosed meetings between Banks Leave.EU campaign team and officials based in the Russian Embassy in London. Rather than the single boozy lunch the group had claimed in our book, it had held around a dozen meetings.

Several of these were with a Russian spook they described as the KGBs man in London. They included a series of lunches with the Russian Ambassador, who had offered Banks and his business associates significant investments in Russian state-controlled gold and diamond firms. They had also met to discuss the Brexit campaign and frequently traded messages of friendship and mutual support. One example was an email sent during a public dispute between Russia and the UK over the Syrian refugee crisis. Suggest we send a note of support to the Russian Ambassador, Banks wrote.

Isabel and I had already become uncomfortable with his attacks on journalists investigating him. He had shared a meme depicting Observer journalist Carole Cadwalladr being beaten in a mock-up of a scene from the comedy film Airplane. He said she wouldnt be so lippy in Russia!. Other emails detailed his plans to hire private investigators to dig up dirt on the BBC Newsnight team investigating his finances. This was personal stuff, things like girlfriends, if hes in debt.

Nothing we uncovered proved any illegality. Putting out false press statements or leading journalists up the garden path is not a crime. Nor is meeting representatives of foreign governments or considering investment proposals. Banks was a businessman, after all, with significant legitimate investments in commodities including diamonds.

But it was clear that the Russians were trying to cultivate important UK political figures to increase their influence.

The announcement of Robert Muellers probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election showed how high the stakes were especially as I was aware how intricately connected the two transatlantic campaigns of Brexit and Trump were.

Other documents showed Banks and Wigmore were offered a meeting with both Marine Le Pen of the French National Front, and that a Trump foreign policy advisor had asked them for an introduction to members from the German far-right AfD party.

The team behind the book drafted a public statement, saying that Oakeshott was concerned that Banks could be working as an agent of influence for the Russian state and that she cannot stand by while Banks publicly lies about his connections to hostile foreign powers. Unfortunately, she did.

Oakeshott, and her publisher Michael Ashcroft, decided to instead hold the material for an upcoming book about UK defence. I accepted this, but was never that comfortable with it. As time went on, revelations about Cambridge Analytica and the poisoning of Sergei Skripal increased my concerns that this material needed to come out.

I began speaking with journalists from other organisations about the documents, including Byline Times co-founder, Peter Jukes. He shared a draft with the Observer, which published it and all hell broke loose. The story was on the front pages of newspapers, the lead item on CNN and the UK Government called for an investigation into Banks finances. Senior opposition politicians were claiming that Brexit needed to be stopped until these allegations could be investigated.

A few months later, the National Crime Agency would announce a criminal probe into Banks, based on reasonable suspicion that he was not the true source of his funding for the Leave.EU campaign. Further investigations would show that one of Banks business partners had filed court documents claiming that the money he had raised from Russians to expand his diamond mines in a South Africa business had been diverted to fund Banks Leave EU referendum campaign.

It seemed like the scoop of the century the smoking gun connecting Trump, Brexit and Russia.

Shortly afterwards, the pandemic struck and by an odd twist of fate Arron Banks and I both ended up being stuck in Auckland. I asked if he would be willing to meet. To my surprise, he agreed.

Sitting in a small restaurant in the quiet suburb of Mt Eden, he looked a picture of health. Trim, well-dressed and beaming with energy. The restless politico was keeping himself busy with projects in the Antipodes and said he had just lunched with the populist New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters. He toasted me with his glass of pinot noir. It was his fourth or so bottle of wine by about 2pm.

A few games of squash, a couple of glasses of wine, and I feel the best I have in years, he said. After what we went through, I needed a break! Banks explained that, after the publication of his correspondence with the Russian Embassy in London, a Sunday Times reporter had called to tell him I cant believe it, weve never, in all my time at the paper, devoted the first six whole pages to a single report.

He said we were on the front page of The New York Times, the Washington Post and we had who knows how many hit pieces on us from Newsnight and Channel 4. He explained how he had suffered heavily at the hand of the fake news press; a slight smirk betraying how he somewhat enjoyed the notoriety.

We had met just once before, at an election night party on the eve of Trumps victory. Held at Londons exclusive Devonshire Club, I had listened to Banks close associate and press guru Andy Wigmore explain just how deep those transatlantic connections went.

He reckoned Trump could pull off a similar upset to Brexit. Leave.EU, he explained, had assisted the Trump campaign to design a strategy for targeting white working-class voters in the rust belt states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. This, he told me, was based on data and experience derived from Nigel Farages bus tour around similarly deprived communities in the north of England.

Banks said something similar in an email to a friend that December we have been in the US helping the Trump campaign for the last few months. He also boasted close relationships with three of the most senior figures in the incoming administration Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway and Jeff Sessions.

It appeared his connections were taken seriously by figures in the UK. Steve Hilton, David Camerons former advisor and advocate for positive populism, reached out to Banks to request a mobile number for Bannon. Wigmore even passed his contacts in the Russian Embassy a telephone number for the Trump transition team.

I asked Banks if this account was accurate. Yes, he said, before backtracking and claiming that Wigmore had slightly oversold it. What we did do was help Trump deliver his message better, he told me. Before we got there, he was reading these dull, pre-written speeches. Nigel got him to ditch the teleprompter, improvise more and liven things up.

Then, as the talk flowed, he let slip the thing that surprised me most. You know the lads from the National Crime Agency like most of the police are very working-class, he said. They made it clear to me they were backers of Brexit. I could not know exactly what he meant by this, but I had long harboured my own suspicions that the NCAs investigation had lacked rigour.

We are very interested in all of this, one of the officers told me gravely. Their subsequent actions would not bear this out.

They gave me a cable to transfer my records from my laptop to one of their computers. The transfer completed and I left.

Around a week later, they called again. The transfer had failed midway and corrupted the files and they wanted me to upload the material to a cloud-based system and give them a link to open it. I did so and then they changed their minds again, saying they were worried about the chain of custody of the evidence if they opened the link. They wanted me to transfer all the material to a hard drive, travel to the Peruvian capital of Lima (Id been travelling in South America at the time) and hand this drive into the British Embassy in the city. Despairing, I made it clear if they wanted, they could come and get it.

They never contacted me again.

When the NCA released a letter outlining its findings, there was no mention of any investigation of Banks links to the Russian state. The Electoral Commission, which had initially referred the case to Londons top cops, took the extraordinary step of publicly criticising the judgment for allowing foreign money into British elections.

The NCA claimed it had interviewed Banks and examined material from his business records in the Isle of Man, where his companies are based. The Isle of Man is regarded as a tax haven and has some of the worlds most secretive banking laws. I spoke with a senior source working for its financial regulatory agency who told me that its financial crime team had spent significant time preparing to deal with a request from the NCA to probe Banks dealings. This request had never arrived and the NCA did not probe Banks confidential financial records, according to this source.

There were hints that people at the agency knew more than it had let on.

Shortly before it publicly cleared Banks, a security source told the Daily Mail that Cabinet ministers joining Boris Johnsons Government in July were warned by security officials to steer clear of insurance tycoon Banks and his associates they were gently told they risked huge embarrassment if charges are brought and they were still meeting. The article went on to say that the NCA investigation was still live and that sources say its scope has widened. Another report claimed that former Prime Minister Theresa May had blocked a security services probe into Banks activities as it had been too politically sensitive.

As Parliaments Intelligence and Security Committees report into Russian interference in the UK showed, the Government and the security services had made no effort to investigate potential Russian influence on the Brexit vote.

After an ominous pause, he cracked a smirk and exclaimed: We really just dont care! He broke into a peal of laughter and turned to the group of students huddled around. Thats all from me today! he said, giving a wave. A moment later, he was whisked away.

The same week I met Yakovenko, I also attended a talk at the Institute for Statecraft, a think tank in central London but supposedly a haunt for members of the intelligence community. Brexit inevitably came up.

An audience member asked: Will the British public change their minds on Brexit, once it is publicly revealed how deeply the Russians could have been involved? After everything I have done to expose the links, I know the answer no, it didnt change a thing.

Banks sued Carole Cadwalladr in a court case that dragged on for nearly three years when she said he had lied about his connections with the Russian Government.

The judge in the case concluded that the four meetings were probably not the full extent of Mr Banks meetings with Russian officials and that the reason Banks gave for claiming and then denying his trip to Moscow was not credible.

Around the same time this judgment was handed down, I was standing beside a platoon of Ukrainian soldiers watching Russian rockets smash into the fields just a few hundred metres in front of us. Melodic birdsong mixed with the whistle and crash of the shells landing all around us. I was in Donetsk on the frontline of Russias war in Ukraine.

Though the truth behind the Russian states involvement in Brexit seems murkier than ever, we now know the depths of evil that Vladimir Putins foreign policy has been aiming towards. No longer is the Kremlin content with meddling in democratic elections it is now engaged in a full-on war intended to annihilate its democratic and sovereign neighbour.

As I hear the rumble of artillery outside my windows, I finally see what was lurking behind the ambassadors mask of jovial charm. And thats the story of my whole scoop of the century: what I had thought were diamonds, turned out to be ashes.

Byline Times has repeatedly contacted Arron Banks on a variety of issues raised in this article, meeting with no response or one of curt dismissiveness

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On the Frontline of Exposing the Truth About Russia and Brexit Byline Times - Byline Times

Stanley Johnson said the UK really did get a cleanup while in the EU and was known as the dirty man of Europe before joining.

Speaking to LBC host Rachel Johnson, the PMs sister, Mr Johnson said it was down to his sons government for the staggering amount of sewage being pumped into Britains waters.

The 82-year-old suggested that Brexit caused Boris Johnsons administration to feel not able to push to stop pollution as strongly as it might have if the UK was still part of the EU.

He said Britain faces a long slog now that he doesnt have the backing which the EU framework gave, and suggested Britain must now build a new union within the wider European network.

Has Brexit impacted sewage being discharged?

The Prime Ministers father recalled how Britain was known as the dirty man of Europe before it joined what is now known as the European Union in 1973 - due to the lack of statistical measurement of water quality at UK beaches.

He told LBC that European regulations during that period transformed the quality of bathing water around the whole of Europe and the UK really did get a cleanup.

But now the UK has left the EU, Mr Johnson said he suspects that we are now in a very, very difficult and dangerous situation.

He said while some of the EU legislation was carried over and should in theory be in effect, without the backing which the EU framework gave ... we face a long slog.

He added: Im talking particularly about the backing of the European Commission, the European court, and the fact that people were ready to take the government to court for not insisting that these standards are upheld.

Bring back, for example, the statistical measurements.

We havent measured water quality on our beaches for three or four years now. Its a shocking state of affairs.

Mr Johnson said that although weve finished with Brexit, ministers absolutely need to build a new union within the wider European network.

On the LBC show his daughter pressed him on who is to blame for the sewage situation.

Mr Johnson replied: I would say we have to blame the government for not pressing this matter as hard as it should have done, and of course absent the EU push as well you can understand how the government has felt able to not push this thing as it should have pushed.

We do have the amendment now ... but what I would like to see is for Britain to go back not go back obviously into the EU but at least go back into an agency which gives us the statistical evidence.

He added: Its not just sewage which goes into our seas and rivers.

Its all sorts of things. And you have to have a general framework of water management, and that was one thing which flowed well from the EU directives.

How did regulations on sewage discharge change?

Regulations over the process of dumping sewage into the sea changed in 2021.

Towards the end of last year, some businesses found it more difficult to get hold of water treatment chemicals because of supply chain disruption at ports - blamed primarily on Britains departure from the EU.

Because of this the Environment Agency said companies struggling to get hold of the required chemicals would be allowed to "discharge effluent without meeting the conditions" of their permits, which normally require water to be treated by a multi-step process.

Amelia Womack, deputy leader of the Greens, told The Independent at the time: "Our rivers are already appallingly polluted: water companies discharged raw sewage in UK rivers no fewer than 400,000 times last year.

"The public were rightly horrified by this failure of the Environment Agency to take action and clean up our waterways.

While the UK was part of the EU, the bloc had established two main legal frameworks for the protection and management of freshwater and marine resources.

The EU Water Framework Directive aims to prevent and reduce pollution, promote sustainable water use, protect and improve the aquatic environment and mitigate the effects of floods and droughts.

Member states are requested to draw up so-called river basin management plans to achieve good environmental status for all waters.

Meanwhile the urban waste water treatment directive introduced controls on the disposal of sewage and required water companies to phase out dumping sewage in the sea.

This regulation is still in place for members of the EU, but ceased to apply to the UK after it left the trading bloc.

What has been revealed about sewage discharge in the UK?

Ministers have come under increasing pressure to halt the routine pollution.

Dozens of pollution warnings were put in place this week at beaches and swimming spots across the UK after heavy rain overwhelmed sewer systems.

This led water firms to release sewage into the natural environment.

Environment Agency figures published suggested there had been a 27-fold increase in untreated sewage discharges into rivers and seas over the last five years.

The figures, obtained by Labour via Freedom of Information requests, showed raw sewage has been pumped into UK waterways for a total of 9,427,355 hours since 2016.

Meanwhile Lib Dem analysis of the agencys data found nearly one in four UK sewage discharges went unmonitored last year.

It also found that 1,802 monitors installed by water companies were not working for at least 90% of the time, and there was a complete absence of monitors during 1,717 storm overflows.

More:

How has Brexit impacted sewage being discharged in UK? - NationalWorld

Ukraine should 'start negotiating' with Russia says Lord Dannatt

For the first time since records began, there were no imports of Russian fuel to the UK in June 2022, six months earlier than the Government had planned to do so in response to the invasion of Ukraine. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), imports of Russian goods fell 96 percent compared to the average for the previous 12 months, hitting their lowest level since 1997. The data show the UK has made far greater strides in achieving energy independence from Russia than the rest of Europe.

In response to Russias invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, the UK Government announced it would phase out Russian oil imports by the end of 2022.

And now, according to new ONS data, this goal was achieved within four months, six months ahead of the deadline, with the UK recording no imports of Russian fuels in June.

Prior to the start of the conflict in February, Russia was the UK's largest supplier of refined oil, accounting for 24.1 percent in 2021, and also supplied 5.9 percent of the UK's crude oil and 4.9 percent of the UK's natural gas.

As of June, these have all hit zero, a 499million decrease compared to the monthly average in the year leading up to the start of the conflict in February.

As a result, there have been significant increases in fuel imports from Saudi Arabia, Belgium and Kuwait to compensate.

In terms of broader goods and services, the UK has also all but cut off imports from Russia.

Totalling just 33million in June, a 96.6 percent fall on the year, Russian imports were at their lowest level since comparable data was first published in January 1997.

Exports to Russia, despite increasing slightly in June, have collapsed by almost 70 percent, or 168million, relative to the monthly average for the year to February.

The only commodity whose exports to Russia have increased are chemicals, driven by a 39.1million increase in medicinal and pharmaceutical products, exempt from sanctions.

READ MORE:Britain to send microdrones to Ukraine

Although the Governments economic sanctions, including the imposition of 35 percent import tariffs on an expanding range of goods, are likely to be the primary reason for the drop-off in trade with Russia, businesses voluntarily seeking alternatives is also likely to be a factor.

The data show the UK is leading the way in terms of cutting off Russias principal revenue streams income from its fuel and gas exports.

However, this does come at the cost of exacerbating the cost-of-living crisis at home as household energy bills and food costs soar.

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Russia was the worlds largest fossil fuels exporter in 2021, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Fuel exports brought in roughly 170billion to the country in 2021.

Sanctions from NATO and its allies were implemented to make the cost of war too great to bear, but the Russian economy is faring better than expected.

Despite fuel export volumes falling, surging prices have curbed the impact of sanctions.

Having initially predicted a 12 percent contraction for the year, the Russian economy ministry now forecasts just a 4.2 percent fall in output.

Nearly half of all Russian crude and petroleum products were exported to Europe prior to the invasion of Ukraine.

In 2021, the EU imported 48billion (40.5billion) worth of crude oil and 23billion (19.4billion) of refined oil products from Russia.

Although the EU countries closest to Russia geographically are most dependent on its oil, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands were the biggest buyers of Russian crude in 2021.

The EU also got 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia last year.

On June 3, the EU introduced an import ban on all seaborne Russian crude oil and petroleum products, phasing them out in orderly fashion over the next six to eight months.

The EU has also committed to reducing Russian gas imports by two-thirds within a year, but the cost of shaking off the blocs energy dependency is slowing progress and threatening economic collapse.

Energy price inflation across the EU hit 38.3 percent on the year to July, pushing consumer price inflation up to 8.9 percent, according to the EUs statistical agency Eurostat.

In mid-August, Eurostat revealed that between April and June, economic output across the 19 countries using the Euro as their currency the Eurozone increased by just 0.6 percent, down from 0.7 percent forecast only a month earlier.

As the bloc attempts to build up gas reserves for the winter, pushing wholesale prices even higher, a growing chorus of economists predict an EU recession before the end of the year.

Read the original:

Brexit Britains triumph over Putin as UK free of Russian gas MONTHS before EU nations - Express

Eurostar stops in Kent will not restart for at least two years and post-Brexit border rules are among the factors affecting the delay, the operator has suggested.

Ashford International and Ebbsfleet Eurostar services were put on hold in March 2020 and had been expected to resume in 2023.

In a statement, Eurostar said: We can confirm that Eurostar services will not stop at Ebbsfleet or Ashford International stations in 2023, and that we cannot make any commitment for another two to three years.

As such, the wait for stops in Kent to restart could continue into 2025.

Our recovery is progressing well, but we have considerable financial commitments following the pandemic which we will continue to face for a number of years, Eurostar added.

Our border environment has also toughened post Brexit, and further complexity is expected with the launch of the EUs Entry Exit System.

The EUs Entry Exit system (EES) is due to come into effect in May 2023 and will involve extra checks on UK passport holders as, since Brexit, they are treated as third-country nationals when entering the EU.

Currently, UK passport holders travelling to an EU or Schengen-area country should have their document stamped on entry and exit to ensure they are complying with the rule that means that their stay within the Schengen area must be of no more than 90 days in every 180 days.

Passport stamps will no longer be required when EES comes into effect, but more checks will apply.

The new system will register a travellers name. their type of travel document, biometric data (fingerprints and captured facial images) and the date and place of entry and exit.

Border crossing processes will be affected by the EES requirement to record each UK passport holders (and other third-party nationals) fingerprints and picture. These checks could also slow down the entry process.

Alongside the EES, next year will see launch of the Etias (The European Travel Information and Authorisation System), a Esta-style application that non-EU visitor exempt travellers, including UK passport holders, will need to complete to visit EU and Schengen area countries. The date of its launch is now expected to be November 2023.

International travellers have no firm date by which they can expect services at the Kent stations to resume.

Trains heading for the Continent regularly stopped at both Ashford International and Ebbsfleet stations before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ashford International was rebuilt and upgraded for Eurostar services at a cost of tens of millions of pounds but since the start of the pandemic has only offered trains to London and South East England.

Read more here:

Brexit partly to blame as Eurostar Kent stops to remain closed for at least two years - iNews

Business leaders are calling on the UK to abandon its plan to tear up the Brexit deal with the EU. The Northern Ireland Business Brexit Working Group called on the Government to make a compromise with Brussels amid fears a trade dispute could cause a "myriad" of issues. The protocol and the Northern Ireland border in general has been a thorn in the side of Brexit negotiations from the get-go, with outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson eventually negotiating to keep Northern Ireland in the EUs single market. This, however, has caused a de facto border in the Irish sea, cutting Northern Ireland off from Great Britain.

As a result, Northern Ireland has faced disruptions to trade, and many unionists feel the country's place in the UK has been undermined.

Businesses are not the only voice to urge the Government to compromise.

In May, US President Joe Biden's allies were working to convince the UK to back down in the trade row with the EU.

Congressman Richard Neal is one of many people in Washington who have criticised the UK Government's stance.

He told the Guardian at the time: They havent breached it yet. Theyre talking about breaching it, so part of my job is to convince them not to breach it."

Mr Neal, a top Democrat in Washington, also told Politico: The broader occurrence here is that the protocol was duly negotiated by the British Prime Minister.

Its an international agreement that should be adhered to.

Its not going to be the words of the UK its going to be their actions.

"I dont think that Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement and the elections in the north [of Ireland] ought to be held hostage by a disagreement the UK has with the European Union.

President Biden has himself voiced concerns over the Northern Ireland protocol on a number of occasions over the last few years.

In May, he called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to show leadership and make progress in talks with Brussels.

Mr Johnson is on his way out, with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss the favourite to replace him.

READ MORE:Joe Biden warned he 'cannot salvage' midterms

Nile Gardiner, head of the Thatcher Centre at Heritage Foundation, said: Regardless of who is in office in Downing Street, there can only be tensions between London and Washington."

Elisabeth Braw, a UK specialist at the American Enterprise Institute, added: Just as Johnson and Biden were a culture clash...[Truss[ would have worked better with somebody like George W. Bush.

In response, a spokesperson for Ms Truss told Politico: Liz has a good relationship with her American counterparts.

"Theyve worked well together during her time as foreign secretary, in particular responding to Russias illegal invasion of Ukraine. As Prime Minister she would continue to work closely with our American allies.

Read the original here:

Biden's Brexit meddling as US tried to convince UK to back down to EUs demands - Express

Over the past few years, the UK has pressed on with building its space industry, from purchasing the OneWeb satellite constellation to opening the new spaceport Cornwall later this year. While Britain was hit with some setbacks, like being forced out of the EUs Galileo satellite constellation, it may become an exciting place for space companies to establish a space industry.

Speaking toExpress.co.uk, Bryan Dean, the co-founder of Dragonfly Aerospace hailed Brexit as an opportunity for the UK to work closer with other non-EU countries like the US and Australia.

Dragonfly is a satellite imaging systems company based in South Africa that makes optical cameras for space, along with satellites that use the technology.

His firm is looking to use satellites and satellite data to combat climate change, to help industries such as agriculture flourish, and to use data to help avoid or overcome humanitarian disasters.

He said: When you look in a pre Brexit context, Europe was clearly Britain's primary trading partner.

He admitted that while he wasn't supportive of Brexit when it happened, "from an economic point of view, international point of view, it marks a transition towards international bilateral collaborations and things like that.

I think that probably will be positive, so that's the one side on the economic level in terms of the trade Britain does.

Obviously from a space industry point of view, it marks a transition towards national priorities and nationalism.

Again, personally, I'm a bit proponent of globalism, but from the point of view of our company, UK internally focused means there's an opportunity for us to be a part of that.

READ MORE:US Navy hands Britain huge 480m contract for satellite tech

So that's our major development there, developing the radar capabilities in the UK makes sense to us.

In 2021, Britains space industry was already valued at 16.4billion, and the Government now has a goal of capturing about 10 percent of the global market, which is at $400billion (331.3billion).

Mr Dean noted that Brexit allowed the Government to focus on international trade, which even on a country-level, would eventually benefit space companies.

He said: In terms of bilateral trade agreements, the obvious one is between the US and the UK.

The US has traditionally been a strong trading partner for the UK and it seems to me that Brexit is a realigning of Britain's focus.

But it also opens up opportunities for trade agreements with other parties like Australia, and Japan, where a little bit of independence from Europe is actually a positive thing.

These country-level trade agreements broadly feed into the space industry as well.

As we see bigger trade deals with international partners, we also see space projects, agreements and collaborations increase well.

Read the original here:

We dont need EU! UK firms handed Brexit boost through new US and Australia links - Express

Dale Wood has spent the past 22 years investing in a huge variety of firms from technology, real estate to healthcare in countries ranging from East Asia to South America. The owner and CEO of Dale Ventures Group believes that Brexit has presented a fantastic opportunity for Britain, but warned that if it is not handled well it could backfire.

Speaking to Express.co.uk as Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss battle it out to replace Boris Johnson, he warned that people on all sides of the debate are unhappy with certain aspects of the current Brexit trade deal.

The global investor - who has invested in firms across Europe, Latin America, the Far East and the Middle East - added: Just like with any business, governments need to take the right approach.

Boris Johnson got Brexit done but there are clearly kinks in his deal - you can see that by the fact that people on all sides are unhappy with certain aspects of it.

That doesnt mean it cant be amended and I would hope that his successor makes that their top priority when they take office next month.

The UKs prime minister will no doubt be aware of that but whether they act upon it remains to be seen.

Mr Wood believes that Ms Trusss plans to cut taxes to boost economic growth could achieve their ambition as long as public services are still properly funded.

And the former Chancellors pledge to tame inflation - which rose to a 40-year high of 10.1 percent in July, is equally key, he said.

He said: There is no easy way to steady the UKs economy and both candidates have good ideas.

My libertarian streak leans towards Liz Truss because she wants to reduce the tax burden from its 70-year high.

But I am also mindful that the huge debts racked up during the pandemic need to be repaid and overheating the economy will not control inflation.

It is a difficult situation to be in and there is no doubt that something needs to be done to remedy it.

Whoever wins needs to be acutely aware of that and press ahead with making the most of Brexit on day one.

I know politicians love to talk about their plans for the first 100 days but this is more urgent than that.

The minute their foot is through the door the number one focus needs to be on tackling the cost-of-living crisis and delivering a truly Global Britain that will attract investment from across the globe.

Thats what we want to see at Dale Ventures and we believe it is possible whoever wins the race.

Read more:

'Prove all the naysayers wrong!' Next PM must take Brexit by horns' to transform UK - Express

Adrian Gillespie

By Ian McConnell

Business Editor

More than 1.4 billion of additional export sales are anticipated over the next three years by companies north of the Border on the back of support from taxpayer-funded Scottish Development International in the year to March.

Scottish firms were supported to enter 208 new markets over the 12 months, with a focus on opportunities in the US, China, Germany, Spain and France. As part of this, 176 new products and services left Scotland for these new markets, SDI noted yesterday as it published its annual results.

Overall, 467 companies trade efforts were supported by SDI in the year to March.

READ MORE:Bewildering Tory detachment as grim winter looms: Ian McConnell

The anticipated additional export sales total of 1.44bn is up sharply on the 1.16bn projected on a three-year view from support that was provided by SDI in the 2020/21 financial year.

Asked how the distinction was made between export sales that companies would have had anyway and those arising from the support, a spokesman for SDI replied: The international sales figures are additional export sales forecast to be achieved from the activities we have supported. The estimated additional international exports are validated by the company at that stage.

The results combine company projects supported by SDI, and Scottish Enterprise and its sister agencies Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise.

The spokesman noted that SDI is pan-Scotland so these results [cover] all the agencies (SE, SoSE and HIE).

Adrian Gillespie, chief executive of Scottish Enterprise, said: These are very positive results and show that, despite a difficult environment for exporters, Scotlands goods and services continue to be incredibly attractive to global markets and buyers.

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Scottish exporters have demonstrated enormous resilience over the past year to adjust to the challenges they have faced due to Covid-19, Brexit and now the conflict in Ukraine. Our SDI trade colleagues have been there to support companies every step of the way, providing knowledge, skills and access to our international networks, enabling hundreds of firms to enter new markets overseas.

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He added: Supporting innovative Scottish companies scale up and grow through exports is a priority for us. Not only is this a major contributor to Scotlands economy, an international focus plays a vital role in encouraging the innovation and competitiveness that are essential to our future economy. With markets fully opening up and our exporters taking advantage of additional routes to overseas customers, we are positive about future trade opportunities for Scottish exporters.

HIE chief executive Stuart Black said: It has been an extremely challenging few years for Highlands and Islands businesses that trade internationally, so these results from SDI are particularly encouraging.

"Our regions businesses contribute significantly to the value of Scotlands exports, which are dominated by sectors such as energy, aquaculture and whisky sectors where the Highlands and Islands high-quality products are internationally recognised.

Firms supported by SDI in the year to March included agritech innovator Intelligent Growth Solutions, marine energy management and storage technologies company Verlume, and Boe Gin.

Scottish Government trade minister Ivan McKee said: These results are extremely positive, and they highlight the demand for Scotlands goods and services across the globe. Trade and investment plays an integral role to help us create new, sustainable jobs and grow our economy.

He flagged the resilience of Scottish businesses over the last few years, noting export success had been achieved "despite the complications of the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequences of Brexit".

South of Scotland Enterprise chairman Russel Griggs said: These are fantastic results which show, despite the pandemic, trade is a significant part of the Scottish economy. We are already seeing a result of this in the number of inward investment enquiries we are getting in the south of Scotland.

Read more:

1.44bn boost to Scotlands exports in spite of Brexit woe - Yahoo News UK

Emily Maitlis has criticised the BBC for both-sideism in its coverage of Brexit suggesting its attempts to hear both sides of the argument led to superficial balance.

The former BBC journalist also argued the BBC and other media outlets are failing to tackle the impact of leaving the EU today, saying that sidestepping the issue feels like a conspiracy against the British people.

Maitlis, who left the broadcaster this year for rival media group Global, was addressing the annual MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Wednesday.

In one striking passage that won praise on social media, Maitlis said: It might take our producers five minutes to find 60 economists who feared Brexit and five hours to find a sole voice who espoused it.

But by the time we went on air we simply had one of each; we presented this unequal effort to our audience as balance. It wasnt.

She added: Id later learn that the ungainly name for this myopic style of journalism: both-sideism, which talks to the way it reaches a superficial balance while obscuring a deeper truth.

Not everyone agreed.

The broadcaster suggested the problems continue, and outlets including the BBC adopt an automatic crouch position whenever the Brexit issue looms large.

She said: Many broadcasters fear discussing the obvious economic cause of major change in this country in case they get labelled pessimistic, anti-populist, or worse still, as above: unpatriotic.

And yet every day that we sidestep these issues with glaring omissions feels like a conspiracy against the British people.

Maitlis joined the BBC in 2001 and presented Newsnight from 2006.

In February, she and Jon Sopel announced they were leaving the BBC to join Global, where they are hosting a new podcast, titled The News Agents, and a radio show together on LBC.

In her speech, Maitlis also said the BBCs board includes an active agent of the Conservative party as she issued a warning about her former employers impartiality.

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Emily Maitlis Has A Brutal Message For The BBC Over Its Brexit Coverage - HuffPost UK

London will lose its status as a global financial hub and be downgraded to a middling regional market without a post-Brexit overhaul of City rules, the chairman of the London Stock Exchange has warned.

Michael Findlay, who also chairs an influential advisory group to the City watchdog, issued a stark warning, saying officials must tear up decades-old orthodoxies and water down a host of stock market rules if the Square Mile is to remain competitivewith the likes of New York, Shanghai, Tokyo and even Amsterdam.

In a submission to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)s primary markets review, Mr Findlay said the UK has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to implement radical reforms to ensure London remains a relevant destination for flotations and capital raisings.

He added that without this essential modernisation, Londons status as a global market runs a material risk of diminishing to that of a regional exchange and that the size of Britain's public capital markets will continue to shrink.

The warning is the strongest indication yet that the Government and City regulators could be pushed to axe swathes of red tape in the financial services industry amid fears London is falling further behind rival cities.

It also comes as tensions continue to grow between ministers and watchdogs over the pace of post-Brexit regulatory reform, with Liz Truss weighing a potential merger of the Citys main regulators in a bid to put growth and competitiveness at the heart of post-Brexit regulation.

Mr Findlays submission, authored with Mark Austin, a partner at law firm Freshfields and chairman of another advisory panel to the FCA, argued that regulators must quickly do away with excessive rules, which are acting as a competitive disadvantage to the UK.

It said: We are in a foot race with our competitors, and we cannot afford to be ignorant of that or complacent about what we need to do if we want to stay relevant.

It means that we as a jurisdiction cannot and should not continue to assume that the gold plating that we currently have in place in regulatory terms is necessarily fit for purpose for our markets if we want to keep them relevant in the coming years.It was relevant in the past couple of decades, but it is unlikely to be in the coming two decades unless we are satisfied with slipping gently into being a relatively mid-market, regional capital market.The submission proposed abandoning the restrictive philosophy that governs the current listings regime in favour of a disclosure-led approach that was previously adopted by the Financial Services Authority, the FCAs predecessor.It also advocated a radical simplification of the current listings regime, including scrapping the current premium and standard segments and creating a genuine single segment with less stringent rules. In May, the FCA also proposed scrapping the current premium and standard regime to lure tech companies to the UK, with additional mandatory and supplementary obligations that public companies would have to meet.However, Mr Findlay and Mr Austin said this would in effect maintain a two tier regime, adding: "The FCAs current proposed criteria remain in some respects onerous and could operate as a competitive disadvantage when put side by side with other listing venues with which the UK competes." At present, only companies with a premium listing are eligible to be included in the FTSE indexes, meaning that scrapping the current regime would mark one of the most significant overhauls of Londons stock market rules since the 1980s.Londons capital markets ground to a halt this year following Russias invasion of Ukraine and the outlook remains bleak as a recession looms. In the first six months of the year, only 13 listings took place in the capital, raising proceeds of just under $150m, mammoth declines of 71pc and 99pc respectively on the previous year.Last year, the FCA reformed Londons listings rules to allow dual class share structures and lower free float requirements in a bid to boost the market, but the intervention from Mr Findlay suggests that the reforms do not go far enough.He warned that London is no longer the default European venue for listings and equity raises, adding that even cities such as Warsaw have shown an ability to host initial public offerings at attractive valuations with the participation of global investors.The submission also proposed relaxing the current sponsor regime, which requires a third party to provide oversight and assurances to the FCA about listed companies in a bid to protect investors.Mr Findlay was writing in capacity as chairman of the Markets Practitioner Panel, while Mr Austin chairs the FCAs Joint Listing Authority Advisory Panel.A spokesman for the FCA said: We are currently seeing feedback from the industry on potential changes to the listing regime in an aim to attract more high quality, growth companies to list in the UK. We are pleased to see the degree of debate it has provoked, and we welcome the panels' contribution.

Originally posted here:

Brexit shake-up essential to save the City of London, stock exchange warns - The Telegraph