Brexit

The UK is set to diverge from the EU’s chemical regulation scheme as the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has announced changes to the post-Brexit system. Following Brexit, the UK established its own regulatory framework, UK REACH, initially modelled after the EU system, while in Northern Ireland, EU REACH continues under the […]

As Brexit progresses, the UK is likely to see a “shift to lower-productivity manufacturing, reinforcing weak economy-wide productivity”.  Higher-productivity manufacturing will decline as the UK is left out of deeply-integrated European supply chains.  Jack Semple (Secretary of EAMA) notes that these are findings of a report, Trading Up, from the Resolution Foundation (RF), a well-respected […]

UK Investment, 3rd Quarter 2022:  Among the package of data published last Friday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) were the figures for investment spending in the 3rd quarter.  At this stage, we only have the high level data, with the breakdown by sector and industry to follow at a later date. Total business […]

The controversial Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill (RUEL) is now going through parliament.  It was condemned in the Commons this week by Hilary Benn as giving unprecedented powers to government to sweep away law and he noted that there was little indication from the government as to how much change it intended. Benn […]

Jack Semple, Secretary of EAMA offers a round-up of what has happened in the past few days at Westminster in a combination of news and comment. Sunak has announced his new cabinet and those who will attend but are not full members.  There is a clear-out of many Johnson and Truss backers, although Therese Coffey […]

At the end of an historic week at Westminster, here are some highlights, with comment. Prime minister Liz Truss resigned on October 20th.  In a brief statement, she said that she had “set out a vision for a low tax, high growth economy – that would take advantage of the freedoms of Brexit.  I recognise […]

The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data for manufacturing for July makes rather gloomy reading with most countries seeing multi-month lows and a number falling below the crucial 50 level. The global PMI compiled by J P Morgan using the data from S&P Global (which excluded Ireland and Canada when it was published on Monday) fell […]

CBI Industrial Trends Survey, May 2022: The latest results from the CBI Industrial Trends Survey (ITS) show an improvement in both output and orders growth in May – note that the data collection ran from 26th April to 12th May so this really refers to April (or the month before the date of the survey […]

Bank of England’s Agents’ Summary of Business Conditions – Q1-2022:  In conjunction with the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPS) this week, at which they voted 8-1 to increase the Bank Rate to 0.75%, the Bank of England has published the latest summary of business conditions collected by their Agents around the country.  This […]

The Global Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for manufacturing which is produced by J P Morgan using the data from IHS Markit, improved slightly in February to 53.6 but apart from January, it is at its lowest since the start of 2021.  There was an increase in output, new orders and employment and the although the […]

The government has published a guide to the benefits of Brexit and Jack Semple (Secretary of EAMA, of which MTA is a member) has written a summary. He notes that the paper draws aggregates much of what the government has done and aspires to do, without any particular reference to what was not possible while […]

EAMA, of which MTA is a member, has submitted evidence to International Trade Committee for its inquiry into the EU trading relationship. The six-page submission seeks to set out an objective overview of member firms’ experiences so far and views for the future, mindful that the impact of Brexit will vary according to circumstances and […]

The government has announced the formation of an AI Standards Hub, with a pilot being led by the Alan Turing Institute supported by the British Standards Institution (BSI) and the National Physical Laboratory (NPI). As part of the UK’s national artificial intelligence strategy, the hub will aim to increase UK contribution to the development of […]

Doing business with Europe has changed. The UK has left the Single Market and Customs Union, subsequently new rules now apply. From 1st January 2022 new UK import controls on most goods in UK-EU trade came into force and there is a growing number of reported delays. You are invited to join us for our […]