News

News. 30^th September
The Government has been paying management consultancy firms at least £56 million of taxpayer money.  The money goes to very large companies to help to find PPE, or to do some financial analysis, or to help run an emergency fund for small charities.  None of these companies have any relation to the virus as such and are not in the health area at all.  It is not clear if there was a proper fair competition for the contracts.
UK has sent in some new (last minute) documents for the Brexit negotiations.  But the EU says there is still a problem as they do not want UK to make payments to companies so that they can produce goods or services cheaper.  That would undercut the EU. However, the EU is studying the UK documents now.
Another issue about Brexit came up.  If there is not a deal, then information about criminals that the UK supplied to the EU would be destroyed and UK would have no access to the databases which the EU holds.  This could make it easier for terrorists and criminals.
Another problem has come up for the car industry.  After Brexit, the parts that are used in making cars have to come from other countries like Japan and Turkey, and this means they will have higher tariffs – they will be charged more if they cars are to be sold in the EU.  This makes British cars more expensive.