Business and Economics

UK export growth is slowing while European exporters are starting to flourish again, according to the latest European Export Index. The latest findings from the quarterly index show that UK exports have fallen to their lowest level since Q1 of 2016, when uncertainty loomed ahead of the nation’s vote to leave the EU. The UK’s Export Growth Index, which charts annual growth in total exports, fell to 96.0 from 98.2 in the first quarter of 2018, creeping closer to the...

Airbus's announcement that it is weighing up its future in the UK has sent shockwaves across the political spectrum today. With no assurances over Britain's future trading arrangements the boss of one of the world’s biggest aircraft manufacturers warned that Brexit would have "severe negative consequences for the UK aerospace industry and Airbus in particular". He said that Airbus has repeatedly been demanding clarity from Theresa May’s government over what trading arrangements will be available with Europe in March 2019,...

The boss of one of the world’s biggest aircraft manufacturers today warned that in any scenario Brexit would have "severe negative consequences for the UK aerospace industry and Airbus in particular." He said that Airbus has repeatedly been demanding clarity from Theresa May’s government over what trading arrangements will be available with Europe in March 2019. He warned that without a clear government strategy the aviation multinational would have to take steps to protect production, putting 100,000 jobs in the...

A hospitality leader has warned that there is likely to be severe workforce shortages in the industry unless action is taken. Kris Gumbrell, CEO of Brewhouse & Kitchen, says the loss of free movement will undoubtedly cause big issues in the hospitality sector which has a heavy reliance on European workers. A KPMG report for the British Hospitality Association found that EU nationals made up more than 75 per cent of waitstaff, as well as 43 per cent of the...

LGBT tourists splash out an estimated £160bn annually on foreign holidays, but many choose to steer well clear of countries where homosexuality is still criminalised.

There have been further warnings of a weakening of the UK economy, as we approach Brexit. This time the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) predicts gross domestic product (GDP) will increase 1.3 per cent in 2018, a downgrade from its previous forecast of 1.4 per cent. It has also sliced its 2019 GDP outlook from 1.5 per cent down to 1.4 per cent. Adam Marshall, director general of the BCC said the UK faces another “extended period of weak growth”....

With confidence in a divided Conservative government’s ability to negotiate a Brexit that makes sense for Britain, Europe and Northern Ireland at an all-time low – both at home and abroad, Theresa May urgently needed some good news. And according to the front pages of the newspapers that have been cheerleaders for Brexit and more likely to scream “traitors” than report concerns from any quarters, the “Brexit Dividend” is just the good news soundbite that our PM needed. This week...

These type of quality, well paid and skilled jobs will not be easily replaced - it will have a devastating impact on workers but also the economy says GMB union GMB, the union for manufacturing workers, has criticised the Government following the news of 1000s of Rolls Royce job losses. The engineering giant is to cut 4,600 jobs over the next two years as part of a major reorganisation. Today,  Secretary of State for business Greg Clark faces an urgent...

If the UK presses on with plans to leave the customs union, post-Brexit, large swathes of the car industry will face extinction, claims the president of the CBI. This news follows Jaguar Land Rover's recent statement that it is to move all production of its Discovery from the UK to Slovakia in a move that could lead to hundreds of job losses. The chief of the CBI, Paul Dreschler told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme there was “zero evidence” that...