Economics
Sending £1bn Royal Navy ship order overseas “Betrayal of May’s Red, White and Blue Brexit”
Shipyards in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, South Korea and Spain now eyeing up critical defence contract, GMB investigation reveals GMB, the union for shipbuilding workers, today said in the aftermath of the blue passports fiasco, Ministers must reverse their decision to put a crucial £1 billion order for three new military support ships out to non-UK bidders. New Fleet Solid Support ships are needed to service the UK’s £6.3 billion Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers and their strikeforce of new...
Jaguar Land Rover to shed 1,000 jobs because of Brexit and diesel “headwinds”
Britain’s biggest car manufacturer, employing 40,000 people in the UK is set to lose 1,000 temporary contracts. The job losses according to reports are due to cuts in production at Jaguar Land Rover’s Solihull and Castle Bromwich plants in the Midlands, where Range Rovers and the Land Rover Discovery SUV are built. The jobs of 1,000 agency workers will be hit. The carmaker now owned by Indian Tata Motors is set to make an announcement to staff on Monday...
Everyone should read the Migration Advisory Committee’s first report into the UK labour market and Brexit to dispel some dangerous myths
Despite the atmosphere of fear created in the Brexit debate: European workers in general do NOT take British jobs. They do NOT drive down wages or undercut minimum wages. They are less inclined to come to the UK in the current climate. Our economy is set to suffer if fewer arrive to work here. This could also lead to shrinking populations in some regions of the UK. The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) interim report into the effects of Brexit on...
Former Greek finance minister makes appeal to humanise economics, saying “the strong do as they will and the weak suffer as they must”
Former Greece finance minister Yanis Varoufakis used the madness and conflict of Shakespeare's characters to demonstrate how we can humanise economics in a powerful speech delivered at the Rose Theatre. The leading economist highlighted the seminal influence Shakespeare has had on his thinking as he took centre stage following an invitation from Kingston University. A committed Europeanist but outspoken critic of the European Union, Varoufakis explored how the complexities and contradictions of the Bard's characters have shaped his own take on...
Brexiteer Liam Fox will fight Trump’s steel tariffs…”working closely with EU”
Many people will see this as a strange statement, from an ardent Brexiteer and one of the more prominent leave voices during the referendum campaign, but Liam Fox wants the EU’s help to fight tariffs from the US. Mr Fox wants to EU to help the UK out over the 25% import tax on steel and 10 % on aluminium introduced by the Trump administration. Trump's move has raised concerns that the US is planning a widespread trade war, which...
Global trade war looms as President Trump signs off hefty steel and alluminium tariffs
The US launched its threatened hefty steel and aluminium tariffs despite 100 Congress men writing to the President warning that this would precipitate a trade war and global economic disaster. Donald Trump signed an order meaning US steel imports now face a 25% tariff and aluminium 10%. Trump exempted neighbouring Canada and Mexico, and hinted that "flexibility and cooperation" would be shown to friendly countries. The UK will be hit hard. 15% of our steel exports go the US. With...
The Brexit assessments the Government didn’t want released have been published – now everyone can see what they were hiding
@BenGelblum The House of Commons Exiting the European Union Committee has published the Whitehall Brexit impact analyses that the Government did not want you to see. Brexit Minister David Davis fought tooth and nail to keep the assessments of the possible impacts of Brexit on the economy confidential, insisting they might jeopardise negotiations with the EU if revealed. Yet it in the end there is only one section of the impact reports which has been left out of the 29...
How the UK Economy Can Grow With Big Engineering Projects
The engineering sector has been a cornerstone of the UK's economy over the years, and will be a factor in building the nation's prosperity as Britain braces itself for a new future. A lot has gone down in the sector and there is a number of issues to be addressed if the economy will see growth in the coming years. Presently, in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA), the contribution of engineering to the UK's GDP is 26% - more...
Brexit voting areas more likely to lose jobs to machines
As the UK economy becomes increasingly automated there are fears that the workforce in the North and Midlands will be adversely damaged, and these areas had a large percentage of Brexit voters. It is thought this will widen the north-south divide in the lead up to 2030. A total of 3.6m UK jobs could be replaced by machines. Of the top ten Mansfield, Sunderland and Wakefield are at the highest risk of having their jobs taken by machines. It it...