Category Archives: Brexit

As the realities of the end of free movement are felt acutely by millions of British holidaymakers this summer, people in the UK and the EU have discussed their reasons for applying for a European passport after the Brexit vote.

The Guardian received more than 800 submissions and almost half of respondents had gained Irish citizenship, reflecting the surge in the number of Irish passports issued in Great Britain in recent years.

While the right to work, travel and retire in the EU were raised across the board, many also discussed the issue of European identity. Additionally, while the majority were not forced to give up their UK passport in order to gain EU citizenship, some said they would have done so had they been forced to choose.

Here, six people share why they applied for European citizenships and what it feels like to have gained another nationality.

I was granted French nationality in 2018, but I have kept and will keep my UK passport. My wife and children have joint British-French nationality. I was devastated by Brexit and applied after the referendum. The process took circa a year and cost about 800.

Because of my advanced age I did not have to take a language exam but decided to do so to show how committed I was to becoming French. This involved going back to verb tables and past exam papers. I had not written French since my O-level in 1964!

Im really proud of my French passport, and was pleased to vote in the last presidential election, which is part of being French. But when Im in France I dont tell people Ive got French nationality.

Some cultural differences are distinct: the French are fond of rioting, the British slow to kick up a fuss. I find the behaviour of French police very odd.

But I feel smug going through the short queue at the Eurotunnel, which is probably the only practical benefit of gaining EU citizenship for me, due to my age. Mark Noble, 75, a retired chartered accountant from Oxfordshire

I applied for Irish citizenship via my grandfather. Sadly, neither of my children are eligible to inherit my Irishness.

Im not sure what benefit the passport itself would give me, as my partner and kids only have British passports, and I would not want to be separated from them.

But I feel proud of it and look forward to visiting Ireland more, as I hardly know it, which is odd now!

My mum says her father would have found it astonishing that his grandchildren would be going through all this effort and expense in order to be Irish via him, as his generation felt they were leaving for better opportunities in Glasgow and that becoming British was going to improve their lives. Now things are a bit reversed. Amy Cooper-Wright, 37, a designer and entrepreneur from London

Both my parents are British; we moved to Finland for my dads job when I was 12. I did all of my schooling in Finland in English and moved back to the UK for university. In 2018, however, with Brexit on the horizon, I left my job in the UK and moved back to Finland with the intent of securing citizenship.

I spent two years improving my Finnish language skills its a very difficult language to learn. I passed that and since then, I have just been using it more and more, and I now work in Finnish.

As a male under the age of 30, though, I am required to complete either military or civilian service the price to pay for the citizenship, but one that I knew was part of the deal!

Getting citizenship solidified my affinity with Finland and then theres the nice aspect of travelling and working easily within Europe. Jamie McDonald, 26, Helsinki, completing national service

I moved to France in 2012 to live in our old family holiday house after my divorce and retirement, just me and the dog. I chose France as I wouldnt be able to afford renting in the UK on my small pension. All my children are in the UK. I cried on the morning after the referendum, I have always regarded myself European.

I was born in England to an English mother and Polish father and I never really knew my father but I read that I was entitled to Polish citizenship.

Finally after two years, a great detective search for my fathers documents and a not insignificant 1,800 [1,500] I received my Polish citizenship certificate. I cried with joy and relief when my Polish passport arrived, but did not have my British one rescinded.

For those of us living in the EU who arent millionaires Brexit has brought many stressful hurdles, the latest being a letter form Barclays telling me my UK sterling account I have had for decades and into which I receive my pension will close in January.

Ive never been to Poland, but Im hoping to go soon, its on the bucket list. Sandra Jones, 72, a pensioner living in Herault, France

I have lived in Spain for more than 30 years this is my home. I started the process the of applying for Spanish citizenship the day after the referendum. I had to wait 4.5 years for my application to be approved, partly due to the pandemic. In order to get my Spanish passport, I had to verbally renounce my British citizenship (but not hand in my British passport).

There was a swearing in ceremony where I had to promise to honour the king, obey the constitution and renounce my British nationality.

I did resent that, as Ill always be British, thats my culture, thats my upbringing, although Im very integrated here. I would have handed over my passport if I had to, and will do if the rules change in future.

I never had any doubts about doing it, I needed to be European. It feels like a huge relief to be a citizen here. Hilary Plass, 69, Madrid, retired

I was 14 going on 15, in the summer of 2015, when I decided to apply for a German passport, as the prospect of the Brexit vote grew ever closer. Everyone around me was convinced that we would remain but Ive always been a bit of a worrier. I was born in the UK, but my mother had UK and German citizenship, so I knew I was eligible.

Ive always had a strong connection to Germany, and I dont intend to stay in the UK I might go to Denmark next year.

Id give up my British nationality if I was made to choose. Id be locked out of so many opportunities if I were just a Brit. Being British just doesnt hold the same advantages any more as being German, Dutch or Swiss does. Karim, 21, a student from Surrey

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I feel smug going in the short queue: UK readers on getting EU passports - The Guardian

Dublin Ports trade volumes almost recovered to pre-pandemic and pre-Brexit levels in the first half of the year but Brexit has depressed average trailer and container loads, new figures show.

The States largest port released first-half figures showing an increase in trade volumes in the six months compared with 2021 as trade rebounded from the Covid-19 slump.

Overall volumes increased 10 per cent year on year but are still down almost 4 per cent compared with the first half of 2019, the period before the pandemic and Brexit suppressed trade.

Based on cargo units, the number of containers and trailers passing through the port increased by almost 8 per cent year on year and were just under 1 per cent below the same period in 2019.

Eamonn OReilly, chief executive of Dublin Port, said the post-Brexit pattern where the average cargo load per container and trailer fell by 4.2 per cent was now an established reality.

It is a permanent inefficiency in logistics supply chains caused by the introduction of border controls on imports into Ireland from the UK. This is putting greater pressure on port lands as trade volumes climb back to record levels, said Mr OReilly.

The port chief said that since Brexit businesses were choosing not to send goods across the UK landbridge between Ireland and continental Europe, while traders were choosing to source goods from alternative suppliers in continental Europe to avoid new border controls with the United Kingdom.

He attributed the decline in average cargo load per container and trailer to pressure on groupage loads where a haulier would carry different consignments in one container or trailer.

Pre-Brexit, this was a way for hauliers to make more money but having to file separate customs forms for every single item under the new border controls has made this too costly, he said.

You cannot use the container or trailer as efficiently as you used to, he said.

Speaking on the figures overall, he said the first-half trading results were the first opportunity to assess trends in port volumes after two years of disruption caused by the pandemic and Brexit.

What we are seeing is a return of the strong volume growth which has characterised Dublin Port for decades, said Mr OReilly who is leaving his role as chief executive next month.

This is driven by population growth as confirmed in the recent census. More people means more trade and more trade means greater volumes through Dublin Port.

The population rose by 7.6 per cent in the last six years, reaching 5.1 million people, the highest level in more than 170 years, according to this years census.

Ferry traffic volumes jumped significantly as Covid-19 travel restrictions were lifted. Passenger numbers more than doubled to 671,000 and tourist vehicle numbers more than trebled to 196,000.

Passenger numbers are still almost 20 per cent below where they were in the first half of 2019, while tourist vehicle numbers are 16 per cent below the pre-pandemic levels of three years ago.

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Dublin Port trade recovers to close to pre-pandemic and pre-Brexit levels - The Irish Times

Now a major initiative is being unveiled on Monday by Truss, designed to unleash Britains post-Brexit potential. In an echo of Margaret Thatchers Enterprise Zones, which helped create Canary Wharf and London Docklands and laid the foundations for massive investment in places such as Liverpool, the Foreign Secretary wants to establish whole new towns and communities that will benefit from low tax and low regulation.

These Investment Zones, as they will be called, are designed to give existing businesses a massive boost and encourage entrepreneurs to set up new businesses there.

Full details of how this will be achieved are still to be revealed, but new ideas are badly needed. This is a big one and it has great promise.

The crisis facing care homes in the UK came into sharp and shocking focus during the pandemic, with hundreds of lives lost, and relatives not being able to see loved ones.

At the time, the Government promised to put care, in all its forms, at the top of the political agenda.

But today, the Express can reveal that only four in 10 care homes have been inspected since the start of the pandemic, meaning that many of the most vulnerable in our society could be living in substandard conditions with, at worst, their very lives being put at risk.

This is a disgrace. Many of us have friends or family who have moved to care homes, and we expect that they should receive a high level of care. But how do we know for sure when so few have been subjected to in-person inspections?

Care home campaigners are pointing the finger at the Care Quality Commission regulator and accusing them of letting older people down. In turn, the CQC claims it is powerless to act because it is governed by regulations set by Parliament.

One thing is certain: we will make it our task to ensure that the next Prime Minister champions the cause of the elderly and those who are unable to live independently.

Football still has not come home at least not since 1966. But now the England womens team is on the verge of appearing in a major football final.

Standing in their way tomorrow will be Sweden. The Lionesses will give their their all and the rest of us will be roaring

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Zoning in on a boost for business after Brexit - EXPRESS COMMENT - Express

Delays are increasing at British airports. / photo file

Thousands of passengers are facing last-minute flight delays and cancellations as a result of staff shortages at UK airports, as well as additional post-Brexit passport controls and seals at major ports connecting the United Kingdom with France. Unprecedented delays are being faced due to installation.

Airports and Airlines Job cuts during pandemic lockdown They are having trouble hiring more workers as demand for tourism increases.

in addition to the following Long queues and thousands of canceled flightsproblems includeDelays for passengers with reduced mobility and bags that do not travel with passengers or that arrive late and are stored at airports.

Last week, Heathrow air terminal, the largest in the United Kingdom, went so far as to ask airlines not to sell more tickets because they cannot cope with a rebound in air travel.

The airport had to limit the number of passengers departing each day during the peak summer months to 100,000, which is currently 4,000 fewer than scheduled.

Gatwick, the UKs second largest airport, also had to reduce the number of flights during the peak summer season due to staff shortages.

Earlier in the week, passengers heaved a sigh of relief when hundreds of British Airways employees at Heathrow airport called off a strike after reaching an agreement for an 8% pay increase.

A total of 700 workers, mostly billing workers, declared unemployment during the boreal summer due to a 10% pay cut imposed during the pandemic.

The move was expected to create more problems and cause severe disruption and cancellations for passengers during busy holiday periods.

vacationers also had There was a delay of up to six hours in passing border control through the Channel Tunnel connecting with FranceWhose officials say the long queues are the result of a huge increase in travel following the pandemic, combined with passport controls following the British exit from the European Union (EU).

The problem began over the weekend and spread throughout the week, with huge queues at the ports of Dover and Folkestone as tourists and truck drivers tried to cross into France.

French authorities attributed the delay to additional checking and stamping of British passports.

However, the British government has assured that travel delays are caused by a number of factors and do not necessarily mean they have left the European bloc on December 31, 2020.

Because of the freedom of movement between EU countries, before Brexit, there was little need for strict border controls.

Because of the freedom of movement between EU countries, before Brexit, there was little need for strict border controls.

French authorities will now have to stamp the passport and carry out a series of checks: check that the traveler has not been in the EU for more than 90 days in the last 180 days, check if they have at least 3 months left on their passport If the traveler has a return ticket, has travel insurance, or has money to stay in the country of destination.

For example, Britons traveling to Spain must have 85 a day to spend under the new rules.

Transport expert Simon Calder told the BBC that checking each person could take up to a minute instead of a few seconds.

While the Port of Dovers executive director, Doug Bannister, for his part indicated to the British media that the French border police did not have enough personnel.

Problems may increase even more next year When the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) is in place for the British, a visa waiver program is exactly the same as for citizens of certain nationalities in the United States.

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Unprecedented Delays At Airports And Seaports Due To Brexit And Staff Shortages - Nation World News

The case for Brexit was very simple: it was the retrieval of self-government by the British people. When the Heath government joined the EU in 1973, with a referendum in 1975 under Harold Wilsons Labour government, both governments argued that British self-government was not at risk: we were joining a customs union only.

Tony Benn and Enoch Powell, at opposite ends of the political spectrum, warned that this would eventually lead to the loss of sovereignty, and in the intervening 40 years have been proved right. The EU has moved steadily towards its stated aim of a federal state of a united Europe, acquiring power over not merely trade but also regulation of all industrial and social areas of life, owing to the creation of the single market and then the Social Chapter.

The final straw for the British public was uncontrolled immigration from EU countries, with immigrants getting the same rights as UK citizens to public health, education and benefits. As has been made very clear since Brexit, it was not immigration as such that British people rejected; there has always been a welcoming attitude to immigrants from all over the world, whether they are true refugees (as are those from Ukraine), have a claim on us (as do those from Hong Kong), or are skilled workers able to contribute to the economy, with the ability to pay their way.

What Brexit offers us today, therefore, is the return of self-government and the long-term welfare gains that brings with it. The Remain side argued that there would be short-term economic costs from the disruption of the existing close links with the EU. On this, it was right; but this is a short-term cost, such as often occurs when long-term shifts of policy direction take place.

Furthermore, it could have been avoided if the EU, instead of taking the path of aggressive non-cooperation, had behaved as the friendly ally it is in its long-term interests to be. In any case, it is quite limited: the only statistically significant short-term effects of Brexit have been on our EU trade in both directions; they cancel out in their effect on GDP, where there has been no significant effect at all, once you allow for Covid. In the long term, the gains from the British people choosing the trade barriers and regulations that suit them best are the economic consequence of choosing political independence.

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EU economic policies have been chosen to suit the interests of EU members. Thus, they chose high protection of agriculture to suit French interests, and both protection and regulation oriented towards the interests of German manufacturing. To this, add the use of regulations to achieve social aims in the labour and product markets, in line with the social democratic philosophy of the major European countries.

These regulations were issued under the Napoleonic style of European law, with top-down interdiction of possible harms. To make such regulation effective in the UK with its common law system, under which all is permitted unless explicitly forbidden, these EU regulations had to be spelt out in the form of lists of interdictions, a damaging process known as gold plating.

It can be seen from all this that the EU was saddling the UK with governmental demands that were thoroughly at variance with British peoples interests. These demands to date, without factoring in what they might have been followed by in the future, imply large-scale long-term gains for our economy from leaving. In my modelling work, I estimated these at around 7 per cent of our GDP. But this was the minimum, assuming there were to have been no further divergence of EU policies from our UK interests which of course there were very likely to have been.

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It will take time for these gains to be realised by our political processes, which work by grinding out consensus after long debate. Free trade agreements (FTAs) around the non-EU world face opposition from vested interests in agriculture and manufacturing; but with more than 9 per cent of the labour force now working elsewhere, with their main interest being in competition and lower prices, these FTAs will gradually be rolled out.

Similarly, regulatory reform will face predictable opposition, but this will be overcome as people observe the benefits of a common law regulatory system based on responding to the side effects of free market experimentation.

This government is committed to pushing on with the Brexit programme. It could help matters by avoiding unforced errors, such as putting up taxes in the cause of rushing to pay off its Covid debts. But whatever errors it makes, the key point is that the British people now have back in their hands the power to vote in a government that will act in line with their interests. Our long history shows that they know how to use it.

Patrick Minford CBE is a British macroeconomist who is professor of applied economics at Cardiff University

To mark the six year anniversary of the referendum on Britains membership of the EU, Voices brings you Brexit, 6 years on a series exploring the impact of the vote to leave

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Voices: Brexit had to happen this is why - Yahoo News UK

Theres an old political joke where a soul is asked to choose between heaven and hell and is given a trial run in each. Down in hell, hes shown around what amounts to the best country club in the world, plays a few holes of golf with Beelzebub, is served fine venison, and washes it down with long-vanished Bordeaux vintages in a tte--tte with the devil himself. Preferring this to sitting on clouds listening to lyre music surrounded by winged toddlers, he chooses hell, only to be thrust into a fire pit, watching his best friend be flayed alive by a pair of oversized demons. What happened to the country club, he asks? Satan wastes no time in putting the poor soul right: Then, we were campaigning. Now, were governing.

As prime minister, Boris Johnson gave Britain a government that ended up on the lower end of purgatorycloser to the decaying end of a dictatorship, with sex predators being appointed to positions of authority, admissions of mysterious visits to supposedly former KGB agents villas, $1,000 rolls of wallpaper, and attempts to extort a $180,000 treehouse for his latest son, all against the background of a once-in-a-century pandemic and the most serious war in Europe since 1945.

The war and pandemic were of course outside his control. Brexit, however, is his responsibility. His decision to campaign for Britain to leave the European Union (he notoriously wrote a pro-Remain and a pro-Leave article before deciding to publish the second) is credited with giving it the 52 percent needed for victory. His takeover of the Conservative Party, ruthless purge of moderate Tories (including even Charles Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, as well as Winston Churchills grandson Nicholas Soames), and decisive victory in the 2019 general election enabled him to get an agreement acceptable to the EU through Britains Parliament.

Theres an old political joke where a soul is asked to choose between heaven and hell and is given a trial run in each. Down in hell, hes shown around what amounts to the best country club in the world, plays a few holes of golf with Beelzebub, is served fine venison, and washes it down with long-vanished Bordeaux vintages in a tte--tte with the devil himself. Preferring this to sitting on clouds listening to lyre music surrounded by winged toddlers, he chooses hell, only to be thrust into a fire pit, watching his best friend be flayed alive by a pair of oversized demons. What happened to the country club, he asks? Satan wastes no time in putting the poor soul right: Then, we were campaigning. Now, were governing.

As prime minister, Boris Johnson gave Britain a government that ended up on the lower end of purgatorycloser to the decaying end of a dictatorship, with sex predators being appointed to positions of authority, admissions of mysterious visits to supposedly former KGB agents villas, $1,000 rolls of wallpaper, and attempts to extort a $180,000 treehouse for his latest son, all against the background of a once-in-a-century pandemic and the most serious war in Europe since 1945.

The war and pandemic were of course outside his control. Brexit, however, is his responsibility. His decision to campaign for Britain to leave the European Union (he notoriously wrote a pro-Remain and a pro-Leave article before deciding to publish the second) is credited with giving it the 52 percent needed for victory. His takeover of the Conservative Party, ruthless purge of moderate Tories (including even Charles Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, as well as Winston Churchills grandson Nicholas Soames), and decisive victory in the 2019 general election enabled him to get an agreement acceptable to the EU through Britains Parliament.

Unlike his predecessor Theresa Mays deal, which sought to avoid the need for a trade and customs border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and included arrangements for security cooperation, Johnsons required checks on goods traded between the island of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Johnson, however, sought later to renege on his own deal and the Northern Ireland Protocol that gives it legal force, going so far as to introduce a bill that would give British ministers the power to unilaterally violate the protocol.

Yet there is a fundamental difference between getting Brexit to happen and ensuring it sticks. Johnsons idea of Brexit, famously summed up as pro having [cake] and pro eating it, has run up against its own impossibility and the incompetence with which it has been implemented. Six years after the vote, 53 percent of British voters think they were wrong to leave the EU, and only 35 percent say that the decision was right.

The Tories are behind in the polls, and though some of that is due to Johnsons now tarnished brand, they are also suffering from being in power for 12 years and from an adverse economic climate. In addition, Keir Starmer, who leads the opposition Labour Party, has detoxified his party so that the worst people say about him is that hes boring, while the third party, the Liberal Democrats, have become acceptable to left-leaning voters no longer put off by their time in government with the Tories between 2010 and 2015, while at the same time winning over the support of more pro-European former Tory voters.

This means that while Britains majoritarian system usually gives the party that can assemble around 40 percent of the vote a parliamentary majority, tactical votingin which voters choose the candidate most likely to defeat the one they like least rather than the one they support the mostagainst Conservatives has returned.

The approximately 60 percent of the vote now shared by Labour, Greens, and Liberal Democrats is likely to be more concentrated on the candidates most likely to defeat Tory incumbents. Setting aside Scottish National Party support for the moment, current polling would produce a Labour governmentsupported by the Liberal Democratswith a very slim majority. Such a government would probably change the electoral system to a form of proportional representation, making the Tories Brexit-reconciled coalition of voters unviable.

Now that pragmatic former soldier Tom Tugendhat has been eliminated from the Tory leadership contest, voters are likely to hear even less discussion about how to make the best of Brexit and even more determination to be tough on Brussels as the remaining candidates compete for the support of mostly anti-European party members. Yet, the route to Conservative success in the next election consists of more Brexit pragmatism, not less.

Current Tory support is vulnerable on two flanks. The red wall of Northern English seats formerly held by Labour and the blue wall of long-standing Tory seats in wealthy southern counties are both under threatfrom Labour in the north and the resurrected Liberal Democrats in the south. Red wall voters who switched to the Tories support Brexit but are vulnerable to economic shocks. The blue wall voters whom the Liberal Democrats are trying to poach opposed Brexit but have an economic interest in Tory government: They are generally affluent and support low taxes, low regulation, and other economically right-wing policies.

The main effect of Brexit has been to damage manufacturing on the island of Great Britain, which is no longer able to participate in Europe-wide supply chains. According to an economic analysis by the Centre for European Reform, the goods trade is down 14 percent, adding a further Brexit shock to inflation caused by energy price rises and the waning of the COVID-19 pandemic. U.K. inflation is expected to peak at 11 percent this year, compared to 7 percent inside the eurozone.

This crunchhigher prices and lower outputdisproportionately hits areas in the so-called red wall of parliamentary seats in the Midlands and North of England where the Tories picked up seats from Labour in 2017 and 2019.

The blue wall in South East England depends more heavily on services, which escaped a Brexit hit (the Centre for European Reform analysis tentatively concludes that services trade has gone up since), and it is populated by Remainers who are nevertheless reconciled to Brexit, provided their prosperity is maintained.

Figures from Northern Ireland suggest a way forward. The Northern Ireland Protocol gives Northern Irelands businesses access to both the U.K. and EU goods markets, and it has led to the region having the strongest growth of all (apart from London), a change from years of decline relative to the rest of the United Kingdom.

The protocols direct extension to the whole of the U.K. (which would essentially be the same as Mays failed Brexit deal) would revitalize U.K. manufacturing in the red wall, eliminating many trade barriers with the EU, and allowing U.K. manufacturers to take part in European supply chains again, while reassuring blue wall voters that Brexit is being pursued with an eye to pragmatism. It would also alleviate the fears of unionists in Northern Ireland (the mostly Protestant political community in Northern Ireland that wants to stay part of the U.K.), who would then have exactly the same relationship with the EU as the rest of the U.K.

Formal endorsement of Mays approach to Brexit is of course far too pragmatic for the current Conservative Party. The short period devoted to the Tory leadership racein which candidates compete for the votes of Tory members of Parliament, then of party membersdoes not offer the chance to develop such a radical argument.

But its spiritengaging with the needs of the manufacturing-centered economy of the red wall, adopting a pragmatic stance to keep the blue wall on their side, and extending the provisions of the Northern Ireland Protocol to the rest of the U.K. in order to reassure unionistsoffers the best route to Conservative victory in the next election. It would be their best option for preventing a Labour-Liberal Democrat government that would enact electoral reform, free Labour from its dependence on Euroskeptic red wall seats, and keep the Tories out of power for long enough to undo Brexit altogether.

Like Dante, the Conservative Party has been offered a glimpse of the underworld by Johnsons mismanagement of Brexit. Returning to Mays deal offers the chance to escape permanent confinement there.

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Boris Johnson's Fall Gives Brexit a Chance to Succeed - Foreign Policy

Conservative leadership hopeful Liz Truss has claimed that the unresolved row with the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol shows how she gets stuff done.

The foreign secretary pointed to the current dispute over Brexit as an example of her delivery despite her failure to reach a deal with Brussels on after several months of negotiations.

Ive shown I can get things done, she told BBC Radio 4s Today programme. Whether its sorting out the issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol to make sure we deliver the full opportunities of Brexit, I can get stuff done.

In her first full interview of the campaign, Ms Truss also shared her regret over her backing the Leave campaign in 2016 and claimed Brexit had been a success. I fully embraced the choice the people of Britain made, she said.

Reminded that she had predicted that Brexit would mean less trade, slashed investment and fewer jobs, Truss replied: I was wrong and Im fully prepared to admit I was wrong.

The foreign secretary added: The portents of doom didnt happen. Instead, weve unleashed new opportunities. And I was one of the leading figures driving those opportunities.

Ms Trusss attempt to tear up parts of the Brexit withdrawal dealin defiance of the EU have moved closer to becoming law, after the Northern IrelandProtocolBill cleared the Commons on Wednesday night.

But peers are expected to contest parts of the Bill, and leading figures in Brussels have warned in recent days that it could put the UK and the EU on course for a trade war.

Truss the bookmakers favourite to be the next PM also said she would bulldoze down opposition to her ideas and take on the Whitehall machine, as she positioned herself as more radical than rival Rishi Sunak.

I think every day when I get up in the morning, What can I do to change things? she said. Im impelled to do that. I am pretty hard working, pretty direct. And I will bulldoze through, frankly, the things that need to get done.

Defending her plan to cut taxes immediately, Ms Truss also pledged to wage an ongoing battle the Treasury if she makes to No 10. The Treasury do have an economic orthodoxy. They do resist change.

The foreign secretary said Sunak had pushed Britain in the wrong direction on taxation, and she would swiftly axe his National Insurance rise if she becomes PM.

She admitted her plan to cut taxes would cost at least over 30bn a year. About if it would cost about 38bn, as some have estimated, Truss said: Id say thats slightly high but its around that figure

But she insisted tax cuts would boost growth, and rejected widespread warnings that her cuts would fuel inflation. My tax cuts will decrease inflation Its not a gamble.

Asked to name the leading economists who agreed with her approach to tax, she named the right-wing Brexiteer Patrick Minford.

Ms Truss also denied modelling herself on Margaret Thatcher. I dont accept that. Im my own person. Im from a different background.

The Tory hopeful defended her backing for the Liberal Democrats as a student, saying her political views had developed over the years.

She also defended her loyalty to Boris Johnson in a later interview, telling GB News she wanted him to stay Boris admitted he made mistakes, she also told Today. But the positive side of the balance sheet is extremely positive.

Truss said she would be happy to serve under Sunak if he wins the Tory leadership contest. She also hinted at jobs for Sunak and rivals if she wins the race to No 10.

Weve had fantastic candidates present themselves, like Penny, Kemi, Tom Tugendhat and Rishi, and we need to make sure that those talents are being fully used, she told GB News.

Truss and Sunak will try to win over the support of local politicians on Thursday morning when they take part in a private hustings for the Conservative Councillors Association.

They will then tour the UK to take part in 12 hustings for the Tory members who will vote for their next leader, with the result being announced on 5 September.

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Liz Truss claims unresolved Brexit row with EU shows she gets stuff done - The Independent

The number of British acts appearing on the bill at European festivals has fallen by almost half post-Brexit, according to new research.

Campaign group Best For Britain which is pushing for closer relationships with Europe and the world shared the figures today (July 21). They showed that the number of British artists scheduled to perform in Europe as part of this years festival season had decreased by 45 per cent when compared to 2017-2019 (pre-Brexit).

Naomi Smith, CEO of Best For Britain, explained of the findings: The Beatles famously made their name in Europe and its on tour that many musicians gain the formative experiences and audiences they need to take off.

With their dud Brexit deal, our lame duck Government has not only robbed emerging British talent of these opportunities abroad, but has also made international acts think twice before including Glasgow or London in their European tours.

Chief Executive of the Incorporated Society of Musicians and UK Trade and Business Commissioner, Deborah Annetts, added: Previous witnesses to our commission have described how, if youre a festival organiser in Barcelona who needs to fill a last-minute slot, British bands will be at the bottom of your list due to new barriers created by this botched Brexit deal.

Whoever ends up replacing Boris Johnson must commit to removing this needless bureaucracy which is stifling the prosperity and creativity of the next generation of British musicians.

Protestors demonstrate against Brexit CREDIT: Getty Images

Earlier this year, artists, management and politicians spoke to NME about the ongoing issues of performing live in Europe post-Brexit.

It came over one year on fromthe music industry essentially being handed a No Deal Brexit when the UK governmentfailed tonegotiate visa-free travel and Europe-wide work permits for musicians and crew. As a result, artists attempting to hit the road again after COVID found themselves on the predicted rocky road for the first summer of European touring after Britain left the EU.

White Lies were forced to cancel the opening night of their 2022 European tour in Paris this April due to Brexit legislation causing their equipment to be held up for two days. The bands drummer Jack Lawrence-Brown told NME that the situation was incredibly frustrating.

Wed done our best to ensure that wed be prepared in any circumstance, he said. Its very frustrating when you prepare for as long as we have to then rock up to the first venue and find that your equipment has been stuck in a 25 mile-long queue on the M20 through not fault of your own, and no fault of the trucking company either.

It wasnt the plan that wed worked hard to get right.

Lawrence-Brown largely blamed Brexit-related red tape regarding visas and carnets (a document detailing what goods and equipment are being taken across borders) for the setback.

White Lies. CREDIT: Charles Cave

Prior to Brexit, this kind of tailback was never an issue, he told NME. Theres now a huge amount of paperwork for bands to deal with if they want to get themselves into Europe.

In January 2021, European festival bosses expressed their concerns over Brexit potentially preventing many UK acts from being booked to play live events on the continent.

Eric Van Eerdenburg, the director of Lowlands Festival in the Netherlands, told NME that the additional costs and requirements needed to tour in Europe would prove horrible and very limiting for UK artists.

The new findings from Best For Britain came ahead of todays cross-party UK Trade and Business Commission. It is taking evidence related to the post-Brexit challenges facing the UK music industry during the first festival without COVID-enforced restrictions.

Meanwhile, Elton John has warned that smaller, less established UK acts risk being stranded in Dover if Brexit-related travel issues are not resolved with the European Union (via Sky News).

See the original post:

Brexit: Bookings of UK acts at European festivals have fallen by 45 per cent - NME

LONDON, July 19 (Reuters) - British financial regulators will have to promote the global competitiveness of the country's financial sector, though a plan for more government oversight of their work has been put on hold for now, finance minister Nadhim Zahawi said on Tuesday.

Zahawi confirmed that a long-awaited financial services and markets bill would be introduced before parliament on Wednesday to "capitalise on the benefits of Brexit and transform the UK financial services sector".

Bankers have been calling for speedy reforms to bolster London's attractiveness as a global centre for finance after Britain's departure from the European Union.

Register

Amsterdam has already overtaken London as Europe's top share trading centre, prompting Britain to ease listing rules as it tries to persuade chip designer Arm to have a London listing.

Zahawi said the bill, which includes cutting "excessive" capital buffers at insurers to invest in infrastructure, would unlock "tens of billions of pounds", a step which pits it against a more cautious Bank of England.

The bill also cracks down on financial scams, ensuring vulnerable people and rural areas have access to cash, and introduces rules for using stablecoins, a type of cryptoasset, for payments.

"Consumers will remain protected, with legislation ensuring that victims of scams can be compensated while also acting to protect access to cash for the millions of people that rely on it," Zahawi told guests at the City of London's annual Mansion House dinner in the historic financial district.

Britain's Payment Systems Regulator will have powers to reimburse victims of so-called authorised push payment fraud, when fraudsters deceive people into sending them money online.

Regulators like the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority will be given a secondary objective to promote the global competitiveness of the financial sector, a requirement many regulators across the world already face.

Nevertheless, some lawmakers fear this could herald a return to the type of light-touch regulation which ended with banks being bailed out in the financial crisis. Zahawi said the new objective would be "unambiguously" secondary to maintaining financial stability and protecting consumers.

Part of the bill shifts laws inherited from the EU to the rulebooks of British regulators, making it easier to amend them in future but also giving the watchdogs far more influence at the expense of parliament.

As a counterbalance, the finance ministry had flagged it could grant itself "call-in" powers to tell regulators to review a rule, if it believed that would be in the public interest.

Lawmakers have said this should be done sparingly, and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey warned last week the independence of regulators was part of London's standing as a global financial centre.

Zahawi said call-in powers would not be in the bill, indicating a more cautious approach. "I want time to consider all the arguments before making such an important decision."

Caroline Wagstaff, chief executive of the London Market Group, which represents the insurance market, said the new financial services bill would boost the sector only if the competitiveness objective for regulators had real teeth.

"The bill absolutely must contain sufficient detail on how the regulators will be held to account on the issue of competitiveness or it will not achieve the regulatory culture change we need, and it will just be words on a page," Wagstaff said.

Vincent Keaveny, Lord Mayor of the City of London, said a clear commitment is needed on setting out how regulators will focus more on competitiveness, but a "bonfire of regulation" would damage the sector's international reputation.

A government-sponsored review on Tuesday set out recommendations to speed up how listed companies can tap markets for extra funding, and Zahawi said all of them have been accepted by the government. read more

A new digitisation taskforce, chaired by former HSBC chair Douglas Flint, will drive modernisation in owning shares by eliminating paper certificates.

The government will also streamline the capital raising process by reforming the Companies Act to accelerate rights issues and the processes around them, Zahawi said.

The first annual "State of the Sector" will be published on Wednesday to affirm the government's "vision for the sector".

Register

Additional reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Excerpt from:

Britain kicks off post-Brexit 'transformation' of finance - Reuters

LONDON Hes the millionaire ex-chancellor who loves small states and sound money; the Brexit-voting former hedge fund boss who attended one of Englands most exclusive fee-paying schools.

Yet in the frenzied race to replace Boris Johnson as U.K. prime minister, its Rishi Sunak who now finds himself painted as the high tax, pro-EU candidate of the Tory left.

Its been quite a ride for a man described only four months ago as a Thatcherite in trainers by the left-leaning Guardian newspaper.

Rishi blasted on socialist taxes, the front page of the right-wing Daily Mail screamed last week, promoting an op-ed article from Johnsons loyal lieutenant Jacob Rees-Mogg. Sunak has squandered the Conservative Partys decade-long efforts to build a competitive tax regime, Rees-Mogg warned.

Liz Truss: Ill spike Sunaks tax hike, its sister paper the Mail on Sunday had splashed the previous weekend, celebrating the foreign secretarys true blue campaign. Two days later, the Mail front page said ominously: Truss Back me or itll be Rishi. It sounded like a warning to readers.

Plenty of Tory MPs remain unconvinced by this Get Rishi campaign.

Sunak picked up 118 votes from his colleagues in Tuesdays fourth-round leadership ballot, retaining his place as the contests front-runner and leaving him just two short of the 120 required to secure his place in the final head-to-head.

But his hopes of actually winning that contest were badly undermined by a YouGov opinion poll of Conservative Party members the rank-and-file footsoldiers who will pick the winner from the final two candidates which found he would be well beaten by either of his remaining opponents in the crucial head-to-head vote.

This glaring disparity between the views of Tory MPs and the partys grassroots members is in part a reflection of a successful effort by enemies to undermine his record after two and a half years as Johnsons chancellor.

Opponents have accused Sunak of raising taxes to socialist levels a blasphemous accusation in a party that idolizes the free-marketeer Margaret Thatcher.

Sunaks critics repeatedly attack his tenure at the Treasury, which coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic and consequently the heaviest public borrowing since World War II. Sunaks attempts to reduce the burden on public finances through a national insurance hike for workers, and the reversal of business tax cuts, have enraged his enemies further.

Rishi, you have raised taxes to the highest level in 70 years, Truss told him pointedly in Sunday nights ITV hustings. That is not going to drive economic growth.

The socialist tag reflects the size of the tax burden, the size of the state and inflation, added an unimpressed Tory aide.

Improbably, Sunak also finds himself vulnerable to right-wing attacks on Brexit, despite having voted Leave in 2016. Some Brexiteers fear he would blink at the prospect of a damaging trade war with the EU, should relations deteriorate further in the months ahead.

Indeed it is Remain-voting Truss, now reinvented as the darling of the Tory right, who is seen as the tax-cutting, Brexit true-believer.

[Truss] is the only candidate thats going to get [Brexit] done. All of the others will be run by the civil service, and will cave to them, Tory Brexiteer Marcus Fysh told Nigel Farage on GB News this week.

Sunaks supporters claim to be relaxed by this angle of attack.

Actually its ill-advised, because it just serves to highlight that Truss didnt support Brexit in the first place, one former political aide supportive of Sunak said. It sort of forces him to come out and explain that he did.

Indeed, Sunak supporters were gleeful when the candidates were asked to raise their hands if they backed Brexit in a televised debate on Sunday.

Truss was clearly desperate to raise her hand, but couldnt, the former adviser said with relish.

Nevertheless, with their candidate tanking in party membership polls, Team Sunak has felt obliged to launch counterattacks against attempts to paint him as a soft-centered Tory.

At the weekend they released a tongue-in-cheek video titled Rishi & Brexit: A Short History, explaining how he went against the advice of his superiors as a young MP to campaign to leave the EU. It pointedly includes an image of his rival Truss promoting the Im In message that was one of the slogans of the campaign to remain inside the European Union.

And in an article for the Brexit-backing Sunday Telegraph, Sunak promised to rewrite former EU laws still getting in the way of British businesses, and outlined plans for a new Brexit minister and Brexit delivery department if he wins.

Sunak has also fought back on his economic record, labeling Trusss own borrowing plans socialism at the ITV hustings Sunday night.

Hes not a socialist. Its absolute nonsense. He just believes in sound money. Theyre the ones planning to borrow money to spend on things we cant afford, one senior backbench supporter said of Sunaks rivals.

To call the Conservative candidate a socialist, at least in my generation, it doesnt make sense at all. I think its a smear, a veteran former Tory MP added. The bigger influence is being chancellor of the exchequer, and seeing the books.

Another Tory MP backing Sunak believes many MPs are actually very grumpy about what the government was forced to do to prop up the economy when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020.

Few of those branding Sunak a socialist raised objections at the time to the billions of pounds released for the furlough scheme, the MP pointed out.

I dont remember people saying let businesses in my constituency go to the wall. I dont remember people saying dont help people on furlough, the MP added.Of course its big government weve just had COVID.

But the anti-Sunak political adviser quoted above insisted the COVID-19 outlay had been used by the Treasury as justification for sort of total retrenchment from Johnsons broader post-Brexit plans.

Will Tanner, director of the center-right Onward think tank, said in truth, Sunaks campaign had been notable for the fact that he hasnt wedded himself to an ideological pitch.

Its been relatively kind of centrist and establishment, actually, he added.

Torsten Bell, chief executive of the center-left Resolution Foundation, said Sunak was obviously not a socialist in any meaningful use of the word, but had fallen victim to the tension between the fiscal conservatism element of Conservatism, and the lower taxes element of Conservatism.

One further dynamic clouds the picture over Sunak the manner of his departure from government.

His dramatic resignation earlier this month helped precipitate Johnsons final downfall, and came after months of what Johnsons allies believed was blatant leadership plotting.

This is a Conservative colleague who turned on the prime minister, the hostile adviser quoted above replied, when asked about the socialism charge against Sunak.

Indeed, supporters of Sunak believe many of the attacks are coming from Johnson loyalists intent on revenge, fearful their own ministerial careers could now be in jeopardy.

There is a small cabal of people around Boris, a group of ministers, who frankly would not be ministers in any other government. And theyre out to get him, the senior backbencher quoted above said.

But that doesnt mean their efforts to rebrand him are not damaging his prospects of becoming prime minister.

Hes just obviously much better than the rest of them, one supportive Tory strategist said. But hes not where he needs to be on tax. If the others dont blow themselves up during the campaign which they blatantly could then honestly, Im not sure he wins.

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Red Rishi: Is a Brexit-backing Thatcherite too left-wing for the UK Conservatives? - POLITICO Europe