An Improving Outlook? Only Time Will Tell….. (Continuing old news)

Outlook for City after Brexit 'has improved'.

The outlook for the UK financial sector has improved since Brexit was triggered, the policy chief for the City of London Corporation has said. Mark Boleat said London would remain a leading financial hub, with only a few banking jobs likely to move. Urging speedy trade talks, he added: "We would hope that the negotiations go quickly and go well." The triggering of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty last month began the two year countdown to the UK's EU exit. Before the referendum, the financial services sector largely backed the Remain campaign, warning that quitting the bloc could spur an exodus of City jobs. The City of London, the council that covers London's financial centre, itself backed EU membership. Since then, banks including Goldman Sachs, HSBC and UBS have said they will move some jobs out of London as a result of Brexit. The historic insurance market Lloyd's of London has announced plans to open a Brussels subsidiary in early 2019. But in an interview with the AFP news agency, Mr Boleat said that while a few people would be moved, "no one is going to say 'we are closing down in London'".

Ford sees a future in UK after Brexit, says CEO Mark Fields.

Ford will be in the UK for "quite some time" despite concerns about the impact of the Brexit vote, the company's chief executive has said. However, Mark Fields told the BBC he could not guarantee manufacturing would stay once Britain leaves the EU. He repeated Ford's position that a free trade agreement needs to be reached with the European Union. Ford employs 13,000 people in the UK, with engine production lines in Dagenham and Bridgend. The US company has been reducing its manufacturing capacity in Europe in recent years and stopping making vehicles in the UK in 2013 after more than 100 years. Mr Fields said: "We need to make sure that all of our facilities around the world are globally competitive. We are very proud to be in the UK and we are going to be in the UK for quite some time but it's going to be really important, particularly because Article 50 is now triggered, that from our standpoint there needs to be free trade between the UK and the continent." Asked if Ford would keep manufacturing in the UK he said: "I can't guarantee anything, nobody can guarantee anything over many many years."

Call to ban unskilled migrants for five years after Brexit.

Unskilled migrants should be stopped from moving to Britain for five years to help reduce net migration, a report by a pro-Brexit group has said. Leave Means Leave, which is backed by senior Tory backbenchers, says the measure would help get net migration below 50,000. It is currently running at 273,000 a year. Anti-Brexit campaigners said such a move would cause skills shortages that would damage business and the NHS. Leave Means Leave wants to combine the Australian points-based system with plans for work permits which would come into force after the UK has left the European Union. The report is authored by independent MEP Steven Woolfe, who quit UKIP following an altercation with a colleague that left him in hospital. In a speech on Monday, Mr Woolfe will say: "We need an immigration system that is fair, flexible and forward-thinking. It must be fair in its outlook, flexible in practice and forward-thinking for our economy. Brexit is not about splendid isolation - it's about re-engaging with the world, without our wings clipped by the European Union."

EU migrants make up 11% of manufacturing workforce – ONS.

EU migrants make up more than one in 10 manufacturing sector workers in the UK, official figures have shown. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) also said EU workers from outside the UK tended to work longer hours than the workforce average. And it said non-UK workers were more likely to be overqualified for the jobs they were doing. The government is planning to change the way migration is managed after Britain leaves the EU. It has not yet set out the model it will adopt once EU free movement rules no longer apply, but has pledged that the "brightest and best" will continue to be attracted to the UK. In a report, the ONS said that last year an estimated 3.4 million workers, amounting to 11% of the entire UK labour market, were foreign nationals.

Lloyds eyes Berlin for post-Brexit push.

Lloyds Banking Group has decided to set up a European base in Germany after the UK leaves the EU, the BBC understands. Lloyds has decided to convert its Berlin branch into a European hub, in order to maintain a presence inside the EU, sources told the BBC. Several British financial institutions are putting plans in place to protect their EU operations after Brexit. With the UK likely to leave the EU single market, they want to make sure they can still cater for EU clients. Lloyds is the only major British lender that does not currently have a subsidiary in another EU nation. However, it already has a branch in Berlin and employs 300 people in the city. Lloyds is believed to have considered both Frankfurt and Amsterdam for its European base before finally opting for Berlin. The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported that Lloyds would apply for a new German banking licence within a few months, but the company has refused to comment. HSBC has already said it is likely to move 1,000 workers from London to its European headquarters in Paris, while the insurance market Lloyds of London recently said it was setting up an office in Brussels.

All details above from BBC News website.

[Of course it is a source of endless amusement to me – in the gallows humour sort of way – that our government who can barely agree on the time of day are accusing the Europeans of standing in the way of the Brexit process. Naturally the Tories want to talk about future trade agreements (whilst apparently, and sensibly, planning for the no-agreement scenario) before their business buddies give up in disgust and begin putting their relocation plans into effect. Yet, as the Europeans keep saying we need to agree on the other stuff first. I’m sure that one day, possibly this year possibly next, the Tories will actually stub their toe on hard reality and then either really start negotiating (too late naturally) or run screaming to the hills in the sudden realisation that they’ve screwed us all. Like the rest of the country I am awaiting developments….]