The SNP have released a paper detailing what their fantasy independent Scotland would look like and grovelling to the EU about the benefits of rejoining. The 81-pager mainly drones on about what Scotland could bring to the bloc if it was allowed to join. The SNP claims Scotland’s “vibrant culture” and alignment with the EU’s “values” make them ideal candidates. The European Commission must be desperate to bring Glaswegian culture to the continent…

In a nod to Starmer the SNP praises Labour’s proposed renegotiation of the EU trade deal, suggesting that it could lead to a reduction in physical checks and consequently make the whole thing less of a problem. In the unlikely event of an independent Scotland, Guido’s not sure bagpipes and kilts will be enough for the EU to welcome the Scots back into the fold…

Ursula von der Leyen has just announced that the EU Commission has agreed to increase aid to Gaza by a third to a total of €100 million. The UK pledged £10 million in humanitarian aid three weeks ago. Previous taxpayer-funded aid was used by Hamas to turn water pipes into rockets…

Trouble in paradise this morning as Macron is suing the European Commission for employing English-only tests in its hiring processes. Paris has been getting increasingly annoyed at what they say is the decline of French proficiency in the bloc.

Paris’ case is focussed on the hiring process for officials in key sectors like economics and defence. Macron’s arguing that using tests exclusively in English violates the EU commitment to treat all citizens on equal terms. Liberté, égalité, anglais…

The European Commission’s proposals from November last year to cut packaging waste have been voted through by the European Parliament’s environment committee. Not that anything more important is going on at the moment…

Under the draft rules packaging will be steadily standardised to allow for easier reuse. It can be heavier or more intricate than the minimum only if it fulfils certain “performance criteria”, though the commission have deleted “consumer acceptance” and “marketing and product presentation” from the list. Brand identification won’t be a good enough reason to keep a packaging design. Anything that uses glass is at high risk – bottle designs for coke, perfume, and spirits could go out of the window. Kiss that Grey Goose goodbye…

The glass bottle manufacturer trade association FEVE says “creative designs and iconic shapes will gradually disappear, and commercial value will be squandered because brands can no longer stand out from each other on the shelves“. Meanwhile, several packaging formats will also be banned, like single-use packaging in restaurants and hotels. Goodbye ketchup sachets and mini-shampoo bottles…

Good news for post-Brexit competition today as the UK scraps the cap on bankers’ bonuses. The EU imposed the rule in 2014 in a half-brained attempt to reduce risk appetite among bankers. Looks like Truss was right after all… 

The cap will be lifted from 31 October and the first pay period to benefit will be 2024. European and UK banks have been using rule-based allowances to circumvent some of the negative effects of the policy, though bankers on the continent have been worried about us scrapping the cap for a while – one was quoted as saying the move “will make it even harder for us to compete in London and with US banks overall”. London’s on the way to becoming a lean, mean, post-Brexit machine…

An EU-funded think tank is now pushing for a global minimum wealth tax of 2% as the “logical next step” after Sunak’s favourite global minimum corporation tax. The EU Tax Observatory gets €1.2 million annually directly from the EU and is run by high-tax ultra Gabriel Zucman who is obsessed with tax havens. It wants governments to initiate talks at the G20 summit in Brazil in November 2024. Wealth taxes were previously standard across Europe but were all scrapped because they failed…

Jacob Rees-Mogg led the charge against the minimum corporation tax this year and tells Guido “taxation is a national not a multi-national responsibility. The EU is always looking for ways to extend its powers and this is another example“. The difference between death and taxes is death doesn’t get worse every time the bureaucrats get together…

The ASI’s Duncan Simpson says that wealthy people obviously “don’t have piles of cash just sitting around” and would have to sell tied-down assets to pay the tax. Instead of doing that they “will simply leave, taking their money with them and ultimately reducing tax receipts“. Sunak will probably be interested…