The painfully slow and costly Covid-19 public inquiry cross-examined Matt Hancock yesterday. Here was a chance to question the man who took many of the big decisions during the pandemic. Perhaps the inquiry would thrash out some of the burning questions about lockdowns and whether – in hindsight – the social and economic costs were all worth it. Guess what happened…
A good chunk of time was instead spent navel-gazing about whether Covid was made worse by… Brexit. Responding to the idea that the lack of pandemic preparedness was the fault of no-deal Brexit preparations, Hancock issued this punchy rejoinder:
“The work done for a no-deal Brexit on supply chains was the difference between running out of medicines in the peak of the pandemic and not running out. We came extremely close within hours of running out of medicines for intensive care during the pandemic… I think the only reason we didn’t run out is because of [that] work… which they did during 2019 in preparation for a no-deal Brexit, but became extremely useful in saving lives during the pandemic.”
He went on:
“At the point at which the pandemic struck, because of the no-deal Brexit work, we knew more about the pharmaceutical supply chain in the UK than at any time in history. We had relationships with the pharmaceutical suppliers and the data to know exactly who had what available and where and the extent of that information was the difference between running out and not running out of drugs in intensive care in the pandemic.”
Guido suspects that’s not what an audience of largely Remain-supporting lawyers and public health big wigs wanted to hear. Do Remainers think we beat Covid #DespiteBrexit?
London remains the top European country for attracting foreign investment in financial services, with 46 projects in the capital receiving outside investment last year, up from 39 in 2021. Warnings that London would plummet down the rankings following Brexit have time and time again proven to be a false alarm, as Paris saw foreign investments fall from 38 to 35 and Madrid drew in 22 compared to 29 the previous year. Milan came fourth in the rankings.
A four per cent rise in jobs created through financial services investment projects proved experts wrong who had previously predicted Brexit would cause a loss of jobs, investment, and innovation to the continent. Economic secretary to the Treasury Andrew Griffith cited “a tremendous track record of attracting the brightest and best companies in the world” and the UK’s “attractiveness as a place to do business” as reasons for London topping the table every year since Brexit. Don’t trust everything you read on the BBC.
Banking giant JP Morgan is planning to switch out the lights in its Frankfurt HQ for the last time and shift its workforce to London amid blackout fears across Germany this winter. With Putin turning off the gas taps to Europe, spooked executives are drawing up emergency measures to set up shop in Britain should Germany go dark over Christmas. The same JP Morgan that shifted billions in assets out of London right after Brexit. Welcome back.
Even if they ultimately decide to stay in Frankfurt, they’re also considering bringing in diesel generators just to keep the phones working without mains power for several days. Although they’re obviously still insisting this is all just contingency planning:
“It would take a perfect storm of a complete shutdown of Russian gas supply, no reduction of gas use at all and little alternative sourcing for gas before it would have real impact on our business.”
Hopefully no cold, dark nights in Brrr-lin this winter…
Airbus has announced new plans to invest £100 million in beefing up its Broughton manufacturing plant over the next few years, creating more than 500 jobs at the site as the company ramps up aircraft production as it emerges from the pandemic. We have take-off…
This will be a bit of a surprise to those who believed the Remain campaign’s scaremongering. Guido’s old enough to remember when Will Straw, executive director of “Britain Stronger in Europe”, paraded around with the company’s UK’s president to scaremonger about Brexit and act as though leaving the EU would send the country into a tailspin:
“The success of Airbus Group’s operations in the UK, which depend on European industrial organisation and integration, are a clear demonstration of the economic benefit the UK receives from EU membership. If the UK exits the EU, there are likely to be significant changes to the regulatory and economic environment with subsequent impacts on our competitiveness.”
Airbus even donated to the losing anti-Brexit campaign, George Osborne would tour the Airbus facilities, hard hat and high-vis jacket and all, to pretend the UK’s access to the single market was what allowed all that investment to happen. In an interview with Andrew Neil, he even brandished a part from a plane wing and claimed those parts might not even be manufactured in the UK if we left the EU. He sat there bickering with Neil, prop in hand, acting as though the planes might fall out of the sky without access the single market. The lies they told…
Despite the supposed woes of Brexit, London is still the top overall destination for financial services worldwide – including as the leading foreign exchange trading centre – according to a new report by the City of London Corporation. Beating other cities to the crown – including New York, Singapore, and Paris – thanks to an “unmatched international financial reach” across 95 metrics…
The City was once again found to be Europe’s top destination for financial services investment, and was given an overall competitiveness score of 61, with New York 3 points behind at 58 and Singapore on 53. Paris, meanwhile, scored just 41…
Once again proving London is still a global leader in finance and commerce, despite repeated warnings that all this would come crashing down once we left Europe. Two years on, and that supposed exodus of talent is yet to materialise…
The OECD is forecasting 4.9% GDP growth for the UK next year, the fastest in the G-7. Growth this year will be better than the OECD previously estimated at 6.9% rather than 6.7%. Guido looks forward to how doomster remainers explain this…
As well as the prospect of two years of back-to-back surging growth, it is worth noting that the pound is now higher than it was before the referendum, foreign direct investment in the UK is still massively out-performing our continental rivals and the unemployment rate in the UK is half that of the Eurozone. Thanks to Brexit!
