Weekly News Update

Fiscal watchdog says no-deal Brexit will cause UK recession

The chances of a no-deal Brexit have increased following declarations from both Tory leadership contenders that they would be willing to leave the EU without a deal.

Upon analysis of what a no-deal Brexit would mean in practical terms for the UK, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said that borrowing would be at almost £60bn up from £29.3bn.

Using IMF analysis, the OBR calculated that the UK economy would contract by 2% in 2020.

In a report for the BBC, the OBR state that in this situation ‘heightened uncertainty and declining confidence’ would deter investment, while higher trade barriers with the EU would ‘weigh on exports.’

The UK is set to leave the European Union later this year on 31st October.

Boris Johnson’s kipper blunder 

The European Commission has debunked a claim by Boris Johnson that European food safety laws are damaging to the trade of kippers.

Johnson held up a packaged kipper fish as he spoke at the final hustings of the Conservative party’s leadership contest on Wednesday night. He claimed that the fisherman from whom the fish had come from was ‘utterly furious’.

He went on to claim that ‘after decades of sending them through the post like this he has had his costs massively increased by Brussels bureaucrats who are insisting that each kipper must be accompanied by a plastic ice pillow.’

This was refuted outright by a spokesperson from the European Commission on Thursday who stated that ‘the case described by Mr Johnson falls outside the scope of the EU legislation and is purely a UK national competence, so I hope this is clear.’

Boris Johnson is in the running to become the next leader of the Conservative party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom along with fellow contender Jeremy Hunt.

Netflix suffers loss for first time since 2011

It was announced on Wednesday that Netflix has suffered a loss in the number of US streaming customers for the first time since 2011, as well as missing targets on overseas subscriptions.

According to Reuters shares sank by nearly 12% following the publishing of quarterly results which showed the company shed 130,000 US customers from April – June.

One suspected reason behind this fall could have been the company’s decision to up their prices, which came into force in countries such as Britain, Switzerland, Greece and Western Europe.

Facebook crypto-currency Libra comes under fire

Facebook’s plan for cryptocurrency ‘Libra’ continues to come under fire as the Senate Banking Committee questions executive David Marcus.

The tech giant has been questioned on whether it is deserving of the trust of its future customers, and concerns have been raised over how the currency will be regulated online.

Acknowledging the criticism, Mr Marcus said ‘I know we have to earn people’s trust for a very long period of time.’

According to the Financial Times the Republican representative from Missouri Ann Wagner said she was worried about the pace at which Facebook was planning to roll out its project.

“I’m concerned that a 2020 launch date demonstrates deep insensitivities around how Libra could impact US national security, the global financial system, the privacy of people across the globe, criminal activity and international human rights.”