Another day, another reason to be pleased that Britain doesn’t contribute toward EU funds anymore. Authorities are peeling back the layers of a potentially huge fraud web entangling €2.5 billion in EU post-pandemic funds allocated to only 10 companies in Greece, according to Politico. Last month, the Greek competition commission raided the three Greek telecom titans – Cosmote, Vodafone, and Nova – alongside five IT firms and two consultancies. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has also launched an investigation. This isn’t the first scandal to have hit the EU’s pandemic recovery fund either…
Recently there’s been a flurry of arrests across Italy, Austria, Romania, and Slovakia after a plot allegedly siphoning €600 million from the fund in Italy alone was revealed. This latest probe shines a torch on these dodgy backroom dealings, with companies accused of cosy collusion, aiming to strangle competition, hike up expenses, and fleece EU taxpayers. Even staunch Remainers have to be glad not to be wrapped up in this…
Despite Brexit, the UK has surged to claim its place as the world’s fourth-largest exporter, fuelled by a surge in services, moving up three places since 2021. Services exports reached a record high of £470 billion last year. Not quite so gloomy as many doomsayers predicted…
Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch welcomed the news, saying:
“These new figures show how the UK is punching above its weight on trade. The appetite for world-class UK produce continues to grow and this government will keep supporting our brilliant businesses, helping to create more jobs, pay higher wages and grow the economy.”
The US, China and Germany were the three ahead of the UK on the list. The other 26 of the 27 EU bloc countries are behind Britain. So much for the “you need to be part of a trading bloc to trade in the world” nonsense that rejoiners spin. And Remoaners said Britain would never prosper outside the bloc…
S&P Global has released its new UK Business Outlook report today – it’ll make sorry reading for the remoaners. Their survey of 12,000 manufacturers and service providers has put production expectations in the UK at their highest level since February 2o22. Topping the pack of 12 countries surveyed…
A net balance of +49% of UK private sector companies are anticipating a rise in business activity over the next 12 months. That’s 240% of the Eurozone, above the global level, and well ahead of France and Germany at the bottom of the pack…
UK companies are also expecting a jump in their profits, with a net +26% expecting profits to increase over the year ahead, up from +17% in October. Leaving the sluggish European competition lagging far behind…
The remoaners will be seething again today as experts predict a significant economic upturn for the UK. Bloomberg’s chief UK economist Dan Hanson projects growth to reach 1% by the end of the year with potential to reach 1.9% were household savings to be spent – which would put us at the top of the G7, all while extra-sluggish European economies slow down. Tax cuts to stimulate production would have an even greater effect…
British Land Company CEO Simon Carter says the government has “made changes” by cutting taxes and stabilising EU relations which is “creating a more positive backdrop for investment“. The UK received the second-most green-field foreign direct investment in all of the three years to 2022 – that’s above even China. Meanwhile, Bank of America corporate strategist Kamal Sharma, who said two years ago there could be an “existential” sterling crisis, now predicts the currency will jump to $1.37 and says “the pound is the US dollar of Europe“. The “total disaster” of Brexit keeps reaping fruit…
Four years on after Brexit, and that supposed exodus of talent from Britain is yet to emerge. The UK’s capital has been attracting talent instead. Last week, oil and gas company Exxon Mobil asked traders in Brussels to cross the Channel and relocate to London, writing in an email that they had to either up sticks from the bloc’s HQ or leave the company. The statement won’t be music to Remoaners’ ears:
“As we continue to strengthen our trading community, London provides better proximity to trading activities, trading talent pool, and will support our evolution as a trading organization.”
Exxon has already made the savvy move of transferring its UK traders from commuter town Leatherhead to the capital, all to allure top-tier talent. Fuelling yet another win for Brexit Britain…
It’s four years on since Britain officially left the bloc, and despite the doomsayers’ predictions, armageddon hasn’t ensued. The Department of Business and Trade has released a lengthy report on the many successes of Brexit which hasn’t been promoted by Number 10. Kemi Badenoch writing in the introduction says this is just “the first of many chapters to come in Global Britain’s success story” before highlighting some of positive facts about Brexit Britain:
- The IMF forecast the UK to have the third fastest cumulative growth in the G7 over the 2024-28 period, growing faster than Germany, France, Italy and Japan.
- Since the pandemic, the UK has grown faster than Germany (Q4 2019 – Q3 2023).
- Despite the remainer narrative that Brexit would lead to job losses, the UK labour market is strong by historic and international standards, with the number of jobs in the economy at a record high (and up by over a million since pre-pandemic).
- The UK was the fifth biggest exporter in the world in 2022, up from sixth in 2021/12 and achieved £870 billion exports in the 12 months to November 2023.
- Services exports to the EU are at a record high. Reaching £169 billion in the 12 months to September 2023, up from £126 billion in 2018.
- The UK’s FDI stock is the highest in Europe and more than Germany and France and Italy combined.
- Despite all the dire forecasts the UK remains the second largest exporter of financial services globally after the US.
- The UK was the 8th largest manufacturer in the world in 2021 and had the fastest manufacturing productivity growth in the G7 between 2010 and 2021.
- In 2023 the value of the UK tech sector reached $1.1 trillion, up from $640 billion in 2012. The UK is the third country in the world to pass the $1 trillion milestone after the US and China. The UK is number one in Europe for Venture Capital (VC) investment (and third in the world behind the US and China) – with VC investment reaching £21 billion in 2023.
Some facts that Kemi rightly felt worth highlighting to the gloomsters.
The Prime Minister on the other hand, not usually one to shy away from making videos and posting on social media, hasn’t done anything yet to celebrate the day. It wasn’t mentioned in PMQs, and so far only Kemi’s department has acknowledged the anniversary. You’d think the by the end of the working day the PM would have said something…
Read the Department of Business and Trade’s report in full below:
