Brexit

[Azastan]

Looks to me as if the EU will be declaring protective tariffs to counter cheaper production due to lesser environment protections. As price cuts are difficult to measure the UK will find itself with tariffs that will be very protective for the EU side.

All those unintended consequences. Oh well!

[RTH10260]

Stellantis is owner of Euopean car maker brands like Peugeot

[Foggy]

Not just European brands. Stellantis own Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Mopar. They have 300,000 employees. They are a monster.

[RTH10260]

Two years back Stellantis promised to keep the UK production running. I guess they had spoken with the government behind closed doors and told them that their needs to be improvement in import / export with the EU. These requested enhancements likely never happened. Now they speak out.

ps. there are parts that get shipped multiple times between the UK to the EU and vice versa during the car production. Each time red tape, each subcomponent requires each time a certificate of origin to prove local UK (incl EU) origin.

[RTH10260]

Rishi Sunak says UK in talks with EU to allay carmakers’ Brexit concerns
PM’s comments come after Germany’s automotive industry joined calls for extension to trade deadline

Jasper Jolly
Thu 18 May 2023 15.41 BST

Rishi Sunak has said the UK is in talks with the EU over Brexit rules that could make some electric cars more expensive, after Germany’s powerful automotive industry joined other leading carmakers in calling for more time.

Germany’s main automotive lobby group, the VDA, joined calls on Thursday for an extension of a Brexit trade deadline for three years to avoid a 10% price rise on electric vehicles that cross the Channel to the UK.

The Brexit trade deal struck between the UK and EU at the end of 2020 contained “rules of origin” intended to spur the creation of domestic electric car battery industries to ensure the region does not remain dependent on Asian battery imports. However, new factories have not sprung up quickly enough, meaning some carmakers may face the prospect of tariffs on exports in January.

Speaking at the G7 summit in Japan, the prime minister signalled that the UK would be willing to reopen part of the trade deal to give carmakers more time.

“It’s something that car manufacturers across Europe, not just in the UK, have raised as a concern,” Sunak said, according to Bloomberg News. “We are engaged in a dialogue with the EU about how we might address those concerns when it comes to auto manufacturing more generally.”

The VDA said “it is now urgent to adjust” the deal because tariffs would represent “a significant competitive disadvantage for the European car industry in relation to its Asian competitors in the so important UK market”. Tariffs would slow down the shift to electric cars, it argued.

The VDA’s members include some of the world’s most powerful carmakers such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Volkswagen. The UK represents an important and profitable market for Germany’s carmakers – albeit a small part of their global sales.

Carmakers have had two years to prepare for the deadline, but the flurry of lobbying was triggered by Stellantis, the owner of brands including Vauxhall, Fiat and Peugeot, telling a UK parliamentary committee that it needed more time to source batteries from within Europe.




https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... price-rise

[RTH10260]

in for a long long wait ...

More than half of voters now want Britain to forge closer ties with the EU, poll reveals
Dramatic reversal in public opinion seen even in those constituencies that recorded the highest votes to leave

Toby Helm
Sun 28 May 2023 07.00 BST

A clear majority of British voters now favours building closer relations with the European Union, according to new polling that highlights a dramatic reversal in the tide of public opinion since Brexit.

Even in those constituencies that recorded the highest votes to leave the EU in 2016, more than twice as many voters now believe the best route forward is to move in the opposite direction – and forge closer ties with Brussels.

The survey of more than 10,000 voters, for the internationalist campaign group Best for Britain, accompanied by detailed MRP (multilevel regression and poststratification) analysis based on new constituency boundaries, will provide sobering reading for Rishi Sunak, who backed Brexit as a route to greater economic success.

The poll by Focaldata found that three times as many adults (63%) now believe Brexit has created more problems than it has solved, compared with just 21% who believe it has solved more than it has created.


Overall, 53% of voters now want the government to seek a closer relationship with the EU than it now has, having left the single market and customs union, against just 14% who want the UK to become more distant.




https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ll-reveals

[Foggy]

Too late.

[p0rtia]

Pretty sure there never was a majority of Brits that favored Brexit.

[RTH10260]

We are SOVEREIGN - how dare you criticize us

Brexit will be known as ‘historic economic error’, says former US treasury secretary
Larry Summers says departure from EU ‘contributed to higher inflation’ and calls economic policy ‘substantially flawed’

Joanna Partridge
Thu 1 Jun 2023 12.06 BST

Brexit will be remembered as a “historic economic error”, which damaged the UK economy and has helped to drive inflation higher, according to the former US treasury secretary Larry Summers.

Singling out Britain’s departure from the EU as a factor for higher costs, Summers also criticised the UK’s economic policy as “substantially flawed for some years”.

Brexit “reduced the competitiveness of the UK economy, put downwards pressure on the pound and upwards pressure on prices, limited imports of goods and limited in some ways the supply of labour,” Summers told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“All of which contributed to higher inflation,” he added.

Official figures last week showed inflation remained stubbornly high, at 8.7%, in the UK as households come under pressure from the fastest annual rise in food prices since the late 1970s. US consumer price rises have been slowing in recent months, dropping to an annual inflation rate of 4.9% in April.

In a stark critique of Britain’s management of the economy, Summers did not spare the Bank of England. He blamed the central bank for higher levels of inflation, saying these were “reinforced by very ill-judged monetary policies that were substantially too expansionary for too long”.



https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... -secretary

[RTH10260]

Non-EU workers outnumber EU ones in various UK sectors in post-Brexit shift
Exclusive: Analysis shows shift towards non-EU and British workers in sectors which once relied on EU workforce

Carmen Aguilar García
Thu 1 Jun 2023 07.00 BST

There are now more non-EU than EU workers in a number of sectors that were previously reliant on European citizens, demonstrating the Brexit effect and the impact of international events on immigration patterns.

Guardian analysis shows that the number of non-EU workers surpassed their EU counterparts for the first time in 2022, at an average of 2.7 million against 2.5 million workers last year.

It also shows that various sectors which once relied on EU workers – such as accommodation and food services, admin, and wholesale, retail and vehicle repair – have shifted towards non-EU and British employees.

Other sectors such as agriculture, forestry and fishing still depend on EU workers, but have witnessed changes. About one in seven people employed in the sector last summer were EU citizens, a significant decline from the 23% before the pandemic. The proportion of non-EU workers has risen to 6%, compared with 2% in 2019 and 1% before the Brexit referendum.




https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... ry-sectors

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London mayor’s office ‘banned’ from flying EU flag on referendum anniversary
Exclusive: A change in planning rules has stopped the EU flag from being raised, say City Hall sources

Daniel Boffey Chief reporter
Fri 23 Jun 2023 00.01 BST

Ministers have been accused of criminalising the flying of the European Union flag on government buildings in England after London’s City Hall was told it could be prosecuted for displaying it on the anniversary of the Brexit referendum.

Seven years after the referendum on leaving the EU, the Greater London authority (GLA) had planned to fly the flag on Friday but officials were advised that under the latest regulations they would need to secure permission from the local authority.

Without so-called advertising consent from Newham council, City Hall, which is the headquarters of the GLA and is where Sadiq Khan, the capital’s mayor, is based, would have been liable to criminal prosecution under the amended town and country planning (control of advertisements) regulations.

There is no such consent required for flying the flag of any country in England.

Also exempt are the flags representing the Commonwealth, the United Nations, sports clubs, the NHS, specified award schemes such as eco-schools and the rainbow flag of six horizontal equal stripes of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet.

Until 2021 the EU flag had also been among those that did not require permission but the law applying to England was changed as a response to the UK’s departure from the bloc on 31 January 2020.

Encouragement was instead issued by ministers at the time to fly the union flag of the UK throughout the year on national government and local authority buildings.




https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... nniversary

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discussing effects on science research

How important is Horizon science project for UK – and could it rejoin?
Brexit spat excluded Britain from £85bn European programme – at huge detriment to vital research, argue scientists

Lisa O'Carroll and Ian Sample
Thu 6 Jul 2023 16.59 BST

The UK is edging closer to a deal to allow it back into the flagship £85bn Horizon Europe science research programme after being locked out since 2020 in a row over Northern Ireland’s Brexit trading arrangements.

What might happen, and can British science recover its leading position in Europe?

Was there any point to the row?

Debatable. Scientists had nothing to do with the Northern Ireland protocol and the issue had little political capital. Arguably, the only losers were in the sector itself.

Is it over?

Not yet. The UK is close to a deal, sources say, speculating that there could be an announcement on the sidelines of the Nato summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, next Tuesday.

What does the UK say?

Downing Street said a deal had not been agreed between the UK and the EU on the Horizon Europe research programme.

Rishi Sunak’s official spokesperson said the prime minister was keen to seek “value for money for taxpayers” if the UK was to rejoin the scheme, with “constructive” discussions still going on.

“It doesn’t affect just the past two years, but also the future value that the UK will get from these programmes, and the UK would be a net contributor to the Horizon programme if the decision were made to take that approach. So obviously there are issues that we are discussing and that we continue to discuss with the EU, and we will consider next steps.”

The EU also says negotiations are continuing.

What is the issue?

Money. The government is concerned that confidence is so weakened in the science sector that the money it pays in will not be matched by awards and it will end up being a net loser.

What do scientists say?

They agree that confidence has taken a knock, but say there is no reason why applications to the fund will not recover with the UK taking a leading role in the programme once again. Physicist and TV presenter Brian Cox said returning to the programme would be “a huge relief”.

Can the loss be quantified?

EU data shows that in 2019, €959.3m went to the UK in 1,364 grants, compared with €22.18m in 192 grants in 2023 to date.



more at https://www.theguardian.com/education/2 ... -it-rejoin

[Sam the Centipede]

There is also the brain drain type loss to the UK: scientists (British, European or from outside the EU) who might have worked in the UK on European projects, contributing to the country's intellectual capital, training other scientists, etc., have instead been working in France, Germany, and many other countries.

Brexit has caused a huge setback to the UK in many areas of life and economy.

[RTH10260]

baby steps

British scientists can request grants if UK rejoins EU’s £85bn Horizon scheme
‘Expected’ return could help retain scientists and researchers lost after grants were cancelled in Brexit row

Lisa O'Carroll in Brussels and Ian Sample in London
Sat 8 Jul 2023 08.00 BST

British scientists and academic researchers will be able to reapply to the prestigious European Research Council (ERC) for grants if, as expected, the UK rejoins the flagship Horizon European programme, it has been confirmed.

The re-entry comes almost a year after 115 grants approved for British candidates were terminated by the council because of the delay in ratifying the UK’s associate membership of the £85bn Horizon funding scheme.

The removal of the UK from the EU science community has enraged scientists.

A former president of the Royal Society told the Guardian that the debacle over Horizon Europe meant the UK had squandered the opportunity to become “the California of Europe”.

A spokesperson for the ERC said: “The UK is expected to become an associated country to the EU’s research and innovation framework programme Horizon Europe.

“The UK will therefore have the same rights and obligations as other countries associated to the programme, which includes the possibility for researchers based in the UK to obtain ERC grants.”

A briefing paper on the “expected” return of the UK to Horizon Europe has already been prepared by the EU, which also confirms that eligibility for ERC grants will follow.

An announcement is expected in the coming week, days after New Zealand is confirmed as an associate member of Horizon Europe by the commission president, Ursula von der Leyen.

The UK was locked out of Horizon and the linked programme for solo scientific endeavours in retaliation for failing to implement the Northern Ireland Brexit trading arrangements.




https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... zon-scheme

[RTH10260]

opinion by a Happy >Eater

Here comes the next phase of Brexit – and it will be bad for our diet, health and wealth
Should we care whether we will have less access to artisan sheep’s milk cheese? When it makes the quality of life worse, then yes

Jay Rayner
Thu 13 Jul 2023 12.00 BST

They keep telling us to move on; to accept that Brexit is done. The problem is, Brexit isn’t done with us. It isn’t a single disabling event. It’s a degenerative disease, and here comes the next stage. On 31 October, after four postponements to get infrastructure in place, the UK will finally introduce checks on fresh and chilled food imports. The EU has already introduced its checks, which come with a vast amount of paperwork and significant costs. The impact on the export of fruit from the UK to the EU has been dramatic, reducing the value from £248.5m in 2021 to £113.8m by 2023, a drop of more than 50%.

Now it’s going to work the other way. EU producers of meat products wishing to export to the UK will have to employ a vet to certify their goods, which will cost up to €700 a time. All sectors will have to employ agents for data entry compliance which could add another €200. They will have to train themselves on the paperwork. Then, come January, there’s the border inspection charge of up to £43 for each consignment regardless of whether it’s physically inspected or not. Faced by all of this, thousands of small producers from across Europe who have kept this country supplied with a fabulously diverse range of quality products will simply decide it’s not worth the trouble. They’ll sell elsewhere. The quality of our lives will be diminished.

Any policy which means we will eat worse, that our lives are less good, is surely a terrible thing

Cue the eye-rolling. Why should we care whether you will have less access to artisan sheep’s milk cheeses, or lovingly made charcuterie? Or, as it was put in a sarcastic tweet by Nick Timothy, the ace political strategist who had to resign from Downing Street over his disastrous stewardship of Theresa May’s 2017 election campaign: “Younger voters might not know this but Britain simply didn’t have food before 1973.”



https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/j ... lth-wealth

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Daily Mail sales chief admits Brexit has been bad for business
You couldn't write it. A top sales executive for the Daily Mail has made a frank admission about the toll Brexit has taken.

Tom Head by Tom Head
2023-07-16 10:29 in News

The irony is not lost on Dominic Williams. The Chief Revenue Officer for the Mail Metro Media has candidly admitted that leaving the EU has ‘had an effect’ on advertising spends. This, despite one of their titles – The Daily Mail – being unashamed cheerleaders for Brexit.

Advertising boss for Daily Mail laments impact of Brexit

The controversial publication has made no bones about its views on the referendum result. It has chosen to brand judges ‘enemies of the people’, and even referred to Brexit critics as ‘saboteurs’. This fervent support has destroyed any guise of impartiality on the matter.

With the paper’s stance clear as day, advertisers now appear to be taking back control of their budgets. According to Williams, Brexit has proved to be one of four major hinderances to the group, lumping it in with COVID-19, Ukraine, and the cost of living crisis.

Isn’t it ironic? Media chief reveals ‘pushback’ against certain headlines

He confessed to The Media Leader that Brexit is now having an adverse impact on the British economy, hurting advertisers across the board. Interestingly enough, Williams also revealed that some advertisers had raised grievances with a number of Daily Mail headlines.

Though the media boss doesn’t want the ad-men dictating to the press, he does face up to one unavoidable truth: Brexit, the thing championed so vociferously by a leading title, is a major factor in his group losing money. Ironic, indeed…

• “At the moment, it’s tough out there. Really tough. We’ve had quite a tough time in the world. In the UK we had Brexit, and then we had the pandemic, and then we had Ukraine and cost-of-living. And it has effected advertising budgets. Not just us, everyone.”
  
  “Brexit is definitely having an effect on advertising spend, because of the UK economy. Is it ironic [given the Daily Mail’s stance on Brexit?]. Yes, it is. In the past, we’ve had some pushback from advertisers on some of our headlines.” | Dominic Williams

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/ ... ng-352702/

[RTH10260]

But... but... SOVEREIGNITY!!!

‘We are at 50% of the quota we had’: boss of UK’s last long-range trawler rues ‘squandered’ Brexit hopes
The Kirkella used to bring in 10% of the cod and haddock sold in chip shops. But the post-EU settlement means its quotas have been slashed. Can it survive?

Joanna Partridge
Sat 22 Jul 2023 16.00 BST

Docked in the port of Hull, the fishing vessel Kirkella dominates the quayside, towering over a nearby warehouse. Usually found trawling Arctic waters off the coast of Svalbard, catching cod and haddock to supply British fish and chip shops, it is in port for a short time before departing on another lengthy voyage to those distant seas.

It’s not just enormous: the five-year-old freezer trawler is also state-of-the-art. Fish snared in its giant nets are filleted and frozen within 40 minutes inside the onboard “factory” that spans a deck of the ship.

The Kirkella also contains enough modern comforts to sustain and entertain a 32-strong crew during weeks at sea, from a medical room and gym to a sauna and cinema.

Just hours after docking, the latest catch – about 300 tonnes of frozen fish fillets – has already been transported in Kirkella-branded boxes to the fish market at Grimsby, to be weighed, graded and sold.

While this may sound like a vast amount of fish, the UK’s only remaining “distance trawler” has returned home only half-full from its latest expedition.

“The catch wasn’t so good this time,” says the first mate, Dean Jackson, 53, who is finishing up checks of the vessel on the bridge before enjoying some time at home with his family after about six weeks at sea.

“Fishing is erratic,” he says. “We had four days when it was really good. But the problem when you get really good fishing is you’re at the mercy of the factory and processing.”

The reduced catch will also mean a financial hit for the crew, including deckhands Kurt Derees, Mark Gibson and Kane Thornley, who are clearing huge bags of fishmeal out of one of the chilly storage rooms before their shore leave begins. As share fishers, they are self-employed and are all paid a share of the haul, with a greater percentage being awarded to those in positions of responsibility, such as the captain and first mate.

“We could have stayed out longer,” says Jane Sandell, chief executive of UK Fisheries, the Kirkella’s owner. “But the guys need some kind of quality of life. Six to eight weeks at sea is plenty not seeing your family.”




https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... exit-hopes

[RTH10260]

CE mark to stay in UK as alternative delayed indefinitely

Business news | August 1, 2023
By Nick Flaherty

The Department for Business and Trade in the UK has announced an indefinite extension for the CE mark for UK businesses.

The CE mark indicates conformance with EU regulations of all kinds and was scheduled to be replaced by the UKCA mark at the end of 2024. There have been issues with test centre availability for electronics under UKCA, particularly for EMC testing, RF systems and medical approvals. This would bring additional costs, as the UKCA mark would not be recognised in Europe.

“As part of the government’s drive for smarter regulation, the extension will cut business costs and time required to place products on the market and benefit consumers,” said the UK government. “[This] follows extensive engagement with industry, delivering on a key ask from businesses to ease burdens and boost growth for the UK economy. Following extensive engagement with industry, British firms will be able to continue the use of CE marking alongside UKCA.”




https://www.eenewseurope.com/en/ce-mark ... efinitely/

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UK wine and spirit producers braced for new post-Brexit alcohol duty
Suppliers and makers warn system beginning on August 1 will hit sales of stronger drinks or trigger ‘drinkflation’

Madeleine Speed in London
JULY 28 2023

Fans of full-bodied red wines and boutique gins will have to shell out more from next week as post-Brexit alcohol duty rules come into force in the UK, while those who prefer beer risk ending up paying the same for a weaker lager in a sign of “drinkflation”.

First set out by Rishi Sunak in 2021, the new system aims to encourage consumers to cut back by taxing a drink according to its alcohol content rather than putting it in one of four categories: wine and made-wine, beer, spirits, and ciders.

At the time, the then-chancellor billed the overhaul as “the most radical simplification of alcohol duties for over 140 years”, enabled by Britain’s exit from the EU. In March, the government also announced a higher draught relief on beer bought in pubs as part of a “Brexit pubs guarantee”.

Carl Hanley, who runs the nearly 500-year-old Hand and Shears in the City of London, is among publicans who expect the duty — which will be linked to retail price inflation — to have little impact on customers’ habits. He said his regulars “don’t ask the price. They tap their cards and say ‘No worries’.”

However, producers and suppliers have warned that the rules will lead to a drop in sales volumes of certain wines and spirits, and a squeeze on craft distillers.

“There will undoubtedly be volume drops,” said Andrew Bewes, managing director of specialist wine distributor Hallgarten & Novum. “It’s more evident in retail — suddenly that £9.99 wine becomes £10.50 and the volume will drop massively.”





https://www.ft.com/content/657abb9c-7de ... c5c53ee53d

[Sam the Centipede]

Pruct safety and certification

Another bit of totally foreseeable, totally foreseen hilarity from the UK government, as described in an opinion piece in The Guardian! Polly Toynbee: Business is haunted by B ... nightmare.

As part of the self-destructive anti-all-things-European plan the nutters intoduced a new product safety mark (UKCA) to replace the CE (Conformité Européenne) mark for products to be sold in the UK. Of course the new standards would initially be identical to European standards but enny fule kan si that the UK standards practically would always remain in line with EU standards.

So the CE mark is still accepted as an, ahem, interim measure.

Predictable results: more red tape and expense for UK producers as they get their products tested in the UK and then have duplicate this expense and testing to be allowed to sell the product in Europe. Not good for exports.

Meanwhile those in the EU considering exporting to the UK would be thinking "extra retesting? import paperwork? transport costs? no thanks, the EU is a large enough market for us without the UK". So availability and cost of imported goods inside the UK worsen.

Toynbee's piece describes how the cowardly UK government has quietly let out the news that this interim acceptance of the CE mark will continue. They remain scared of the Russian-funded nutter Brexiters and their frothing mouthed ranters in Parliament.

Totally guessing, but I assume UK (UKCA) testing agencies cannot verify products as CE (EU) complian. Which means that the best option for an exporting UK manufacturer is to get all the certification performed in the EU, by-passing UK agencies completely. I bet that wasn't part of the plan.

[RTH10260]

As highlighted above in viewtopic.php?p=208418#p208418 the UK does not even have the capabilites (aka labs) to test certain classes of products for the "sovereign" UK onl label

[RTH10260]

not only cause of Brexit but also too

‘It all disappeared with Brexit’: Craft beer boom ends as more than 100 UK firms go bust
New trade barriers were compounded by Covid and tax changes

James Tapper
Sat 19 Aug 2023 13.44 BST

Kimi Karjalainen and his brother Marko poured their life savings into Bone Machine Brewing Co when it opened in Pocklington, East Yorkshire, in 2017 before moving to Hull, as part of the craft beer revolution that swept Britain.

“The entire investment, not including time and labour that we gave for free, was about £70,000,” Karjalainen said. Four weeks ago, it was gone. “That was my parents’ retirement.”

“It just got too much – Brexit,” Karjalainen said. “We were heavily geared for export. We’d be selling to Finland, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Netherlands, Italy, Spain. We had Hungary in the pipeline. And it all disappeared with Brexit.”

Post-Brexit trading arrangements with European Union countries meant that Bone Machine’s craft beers needed to be accompanied by expensive and time-consuming paperwork.

“Everyone was saying ‘it’s too complicated to import anything from the UK any more’,” Karjalainen said. “In terms of pure output, that was about 30% to 40% of what we made. In terms of income, it was probably more than half.”

Bone Machine is one of more than 100 small brewers that have been forced out of business in the past 18 months, hit by a combination of Brexit, the pandemic and the cost of living crisis and now threatened by changes to beer duty laws. In June, the accountancy firm Mazars found that 45 small brewers had gone into liquidation, but many more have either been sold or swallowed by rivals.

Steve Dunkley, founder of the Manchester brewery and taproom Beer Nouveau, which shut last year, has been charting the closure of breweries since 2022 and identified 83 last year which had closed down, with a further 33 so far this year and four more under threat.



https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/a ... ust-brexit

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UK poised to confirm fifth delay to post-Brexit checks on imports
Latest hold-up is intended to cut risk of new charges being passed on to consumers amid cost of living crisis

Joanna Partridge
Thu 24 Aug 2023 13.18 BST

A fifth delay on the introduction of post-Brexit import checks on food and fresh produce arriving in Britain is to be officially announced imminently, the Guardian understands.

The decision to once again push back plans to enforce the controls – which have been in place for exports from the UK to the EU – is linked to concerns that the move could further fuel food price inflation during the cost of living crisis, while traders have also asked for more time to adapt to the new rules.

The plan to delay the new border controls has been backed by the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, according to the Financial Times, which broke the news earlier this month that the postponement was on the way.

The government’s post-Brexit border strategy, including inspections of animal and plant products arriving in Britain, was originally supposed to be introduced in 2021.

According to the most recent timetable, import checks had been expected to introduced in three stages over the course of a year, beginning with new paperwork requirements – including health certificates for certain animal and plant products, as well as high risk food products – from the end of October this year.

Meanwhile, physical checks at the UK border had been expected to begin on 31 January 2024.

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City flitters: 7,000 jobs leave London's prized banking sector after Brexit

By Luke Hanrahan
Published on 23/08/2023 - 07:19•Updated 08:15

Dublin, Frankfurt and Paris are vying for a share of the financial services markets once dominated by London.

London’s role as the financial services King of Europe appears to be under pressure from the likes of Paris, Frankfurt and Dublin after Brexit.

Although the most dire forecasts for an exodus of a quarter of million City jobs after the split with Brussels have not materialised, a new report suggests 7,000 roles in the sector have been relocated away from the British Isles.

And while there may not have been a wholesale switch in Europe’s financial markets, some experts believe specific sectors are being reorganised and recalibrated, such as investment banking.

"London is still seen as a global financial player, but it isn’t necessarily seen as the single European financial services centre, and I think that is what has changed as a result of Brexit," David Henig, who works with the European Centre for International Political Economy, told Euronews.

"Now people think it’s not just London that’s a European financial centre, it is other places. It could be Paris or Amsterdam. It could be Dublin.”



https://www.euronews.com/2023/08/23/cit ... ter-brexit

[RTH10260]

The EU had suspended UK participation over problems with thevN.Ireland protocoll

Sunak hails ‘right deal for country’ as UK rejoins EU Horizon project
Scientists welcome long-anticipated deal to return to £85bn science research programme

Lisa O'Carroll Brussels correspondent
Thu 7 Sep 2023 08.26 BST

The UK is to return to the flagship Horizon Europe science research programme, Rishi Sunak has confirmed.

The prime minister said that from Thursday, British scientists can apply once again for grants from the £85bn programme, a move that will be welcomed with jubilation from the science community in the UK which was once one of the leading beneficiaries of the fund.

Sunak said: “We have worked with our EU partners to make sure that this is the right deal for the UK, unlocking unparalleled research opportunities, and also the right deal for British taxpayers.”

The deal was sealed after a call between Sunak and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, on Wednesday night.

According to a Downing Street statement, the UK will also rejoin the EU’s Copernicus Earth observation satellite programme, which has been crucial in monitoring this summer’s weather events, including wildfires across Europe.

But the EU has agreed to the UK’s demand not to rejoin the Euratom programme. The UK will instead pursue a domestic fusion energy strategy.

The European Commission said the UK would contribute about £2.6bn on average a year to Horizon and Copernicus, with the UK’s contributions due to start from January 2024. Downing Street said this would also “provide breathing space to boost the participation of UK researchers in open calls for grants before we start paying into the programme”.

The deal is being seen as another reset moment for relations between the UK and the EU. Von der Leyen said: “The EU and UK are key strategic partners and allies, and today’s agreement proves that point. We will continue to be at the forefront of global science and research.”



https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... ishi-sunak