Some EU context from Daily Telegraph

Vast majority of City would vote for UK to stay in EU

New survey reveals most financial workers want the UK to remain part of the Euopean Union despite more than 40pc believing that Brussels is actively hostile towards their industry

By Ben Wright

9:43PM BST 20 Apr 2015

       

The vast majority of finance workers would vote for the UK to remain part of the European Union even though more than 40pc believe that Brussels is actively hostile towards their industry, according to a new survey that lays bare the City of London’s ambiguous relationship with Europe.

Nearly three-quarters (73pc) of respondents said they would either “definitely” or “probably” vote to stay in the EU, according to a survey conducted by the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI). Only 12pc of those surveyed said they would “definitely” vote for a so-called "Brexit" if given the opportunity to do so.
 

However, in a finding that highlights the mixed feeling many who work in the City have about EU membership, 42pc of those surveyed said they thought the European Commission is “hostile” towards City interests. A further 42pc felt Brussels is “neutral” and only 16pc believe Brussels is supportive of the UK financial industry.
 

Andrew Hilton, director of the CSFI, said: “The City is scared of the implications of an out vote and about its vulnerability if the UK chooses to go it alone.
 

“That said, support for the EU is based on resignation rather than enthusiasm. Yes, the City wants to remain in the EU, but it doesn’t like Brussels, it fears European regulation and it is worried about the political drift of the EU.”

Lucy Thomas, campaign director at Business for New Europe, said she thought the perception that Brussels is hostile to the City is born out of several, high-profile European Court of Justice (ECJ) cases – especially one related to the EU’s cap on bank bonuses – which the British government has fought and lost. This has created a perception that the UK, and the City in particular, struggles to make itself heard in Europe.

However, she added that there have also been a number of successes, most notably in March when the ECJ ruled against the European Central Bank's desire to limit the number of euro clearing houses outside the eurozone – hailed by many as a significant victory for the City.

Ms Thomas added: "We also now have the first British commissioner in charge of financial services in Lord Hill. He understands the UK and is pushing for capital markets union, which will undoubtedly benefit the City."

More than 80pc of those surveyed by CSFI – over 400 professionals working in the UK financial services sector, including bankers, investment managers and economists – expect the UK to remain part of the EU in the foreseeable future. However, many respondents expressed concern about over-regulation, the UK’s declining competitiveness and British influence diminishing within the union. Nearly two-thirds of those who took part in the survey said Britain’s MEPs don’t fight hard enough in support of the City.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of Business for Britain, said: “Too often advocates of the EU conveniently ignore the damage done to the city’s position as the financial capital of the world by excessive and poorly designed EU regulation.

“Support for membership must be contingent on securing a significant reduction in Brussels interference and greater freedom to trade across the globe, particularly in emerging markets. With increased integration in the eurozone, it’s vital the UK’s position outside of the euro is reinforced otherwise attitude towards the EU will only harden further.”

The issue of Europe has already emerged as a key battleground as the UK’s main political parties attempt to woo British businesses. The Conservative Party has pledged to hold a referendum on the UK’s continued membership of the European Union in 2017 if it is returned to power following next month's general election.

The Labour Party, meanwhile, took out a full-page advertisement in the Financial Times on the first day of the election campaign saying it would “put the interests of Britain and British business first rather than risk an EU exit”. Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, has said an EU referendum is "a clear and present danger" to jobs and business.

Five things you could use in essays:

From the Daily Telegraph:

By Matthew Lynn

4:44PM BST 19 Apr 2015

38 Comments

Protecting the NHS. Improving education. Fighting climate change. Devolving power to the regions. Controlling immigration. Lots of very familiar issues feature in the main parties’ election manifestos, to be debated in the run-up to May 7.
 

Even some fairly minor issues will get their few minutes in the spotlight. The Greens have helpfully raised the issue of rabbit hutches, and whether they are cruel or not. The Liberal Democrats are promising to investigate a cycleway to run alongside the proposed HS2 high-speed rail link from London to Birmingham. If you don’t have much else to do, you could easily fill up the coming days uncovering all kinds of minor and fiddly initiatives that one party or another is cooking up.
 

And yet, many equally important issues will not be discussed at all. If you just take the economy, there are five major discussions, each with significant choices to be made, that are just as crucial as anything any party is talking about. Such as? Tax simplification. The euro crisis. Robotics. Our trade deficit. And an ageing workforce.

 One of the striking aspects of the political debate is how wealth creation seems to have been largely forgotten. There are plenty of promises of more spending, and much debate about whether we should move a bit faster or a bit slower on reducing the deficit. But how might we create a richer economy? Or what challenges might threaten our prosperity? No one seems bothered. But there are plenty of trends that we should be thinking harder about. Here are five:
 

First, tax simplicity. Whether you think the state should be spending 35pc or 45pc of GDP, which is about the range of options on offer, our tax system has become horrendously complex. It started under Gordon Brown, but has continued under the Coalition. Tolley’s Tax Guide now comes in at a whopping 16,000 pages, more than even the smartest accountant can comprehend.

Complexity is a far bigger problem than tax avoidance, which all the parties bang on about endlessly, even though the UK is hardly a country with much of a culture of dodging taxes. All the evidence suggests simpler tax systems generate more cash for the Treasury, and make it easier for businesses to grow. High but simple taxes are still better than high, complex ones – simplification is more about stripping out red tape than cutting the overall amount paid.

Second, the euro. Britain’s biggest economic problem by far is that our largest neighbour and biggest trading partner has locked itself into a dysfunctional currency system that is trapped in a depression. The biggest risk over the next five years is a chaotic collapse triggered by an accidental Greek exit from the currency. Who knows how much damage that could do to the UK economy? It could knock 3pc or 4pc off our GDP. There is not much point in the UK just crossing its fingers and hoping for the best. Greece clearly won’t make it within the single currency.

We should be coming up with a plan for it to get out, with generous loans from the US, the IMF, and indeed ourselves, to get the country through a difficult period. It is going to happen one day, so it might as well happen in an orderly, planned way. If we put that forward, we would be taking out the number one economic risk we face.

Third, robotics. If you haven’t already got one of the whizzy new robot vacuum cleaners, you soon will. It will – sort-of – tidy up your house. Robotic chefs that will whip up a meal for you are on the way, while the driverless car that will take the kids to their ballet classes and collect you from the pub after a few drinks is just around the corner.

Robotics will soon be the biggest technology since the internet, and arguably a lot bigger. But both create two challenges. How do we make the UK a world leader in what will be a huge industry? (One answer – being one of the first countries to license driverless cars would be a help). And how do we cope with the inevitable disruption to traditional careers that robotics will create, and re-skill people so that the transformation does not simply create lots of unemployment? Neither will be easy – but the earlier you start discussing it, the better.

Fourth, our trade deficit. The UK’s trade deficit hit £2.86bn last month. As a percentage of GDP, it is now above 5pc, and it is higher than at any point since the Lawson boom of 1989. Now, you can argue that in a world of floating exchange rates, and with free movement of capital, trade deficits don’t matter any more. And maybe you’d be right. The trouble is, do you really want to bet your economy on that theory? Every country that has run deficits on that scale has been plunged into a crisis sooner or later – Spain was the latest example, with deficits of close on 10pc of GDP before the euro crisis overwhelmed it.

The truth is, we’d be wise to start planning ways to get that down, targeting a cheaper currency if necessary. While we are at it, we might want to have a discussion about whether we want near-zero interest rates forever, with all the potential distortions of the market they create. Or would we prefer an economy that rewarded saving – which, as it happens, might have a smaller deficit as well?

Finally, an ageing workforce. As life expectancy increases, and pension systems come under greater pressure, we will need to do more to encourage those in their sixties and seventies to work longer. Some evidence from the US shows they can be more productive than younger people, because they have had more time to develop the soft skills such as communication and teamwork that are valued by companies. But businesses will need to be encouraged to get them back into the workplace, and pension systems may well need to be reformed to ensure it is worth their while. How productive the those aged 65-75 are, and what percentage of them are in employment, may well be the key determinant of how prosperous our economy is in the 2020s.

Right now, only 10pc of the over-65s are working nationally, although it is 12pc in London – and it is probably no coincidence the capital is one of the richest parts of the country. If we could get that up to 20pc, or even 50pc, it would make a huge difference to GDP.

Each of these issues is probably more important than most of the stuff being discussed during the campaign. They are certainly more important than rabbit hutches or cycleways. They might even wake up an electorate often disengaged from politics. But the main parties are remaining silent on all of them.

A little piece on the impact of increased taxes

As tax jumps on U.K. banks become increasingly more painful, HSBC (NYSE:HSBC) and Standard Chartered (OTCPK:SCBFF) are weighing the possibility of calling it quits on their London home. The banks, which make most of their profits in Asia, face a combined $2B bill this year under the annual U.K. bank tax, up from $1.5B last year and almost double what they paid in 2013. HSBC would probably move back to Hong Kong, where it moved from in 1993, while StanChart would likely relocate to Singapore, where most of its businesses are already run. However, the price-tag of moving could also be heavy. Analysts estimate the cost to be between $1.5B-$2.5B per bank.

courtesy of seekingalpha.com

What would the impact of this be? How many ways can you think this would ripple through the economy - and where does this fit with the Laffer Curve? A great little snippet for an essay on deficit reduction...

Conflicts and trade-offs - revision slides

AS Macro Revision: Macro Objectives and Conflicts from tutor2u

Tutor2u revision slides - Aspects of Globalisation

A2 Macro - Aspects of Globalisation (2015) from tutor2u

Revision webinars from tutor2u

please use the link to check dates and times for different topics; all units will be covered:

http://beta.tutor2u.net/economics/blog/economics-revision-webinars-with-geoff-riley

I hope you are all...

Enjoying the sun, getting decent amounts of exercise - and revising. You need to be on top of the news, to be sure to have some great context for essays. Take this morning's policy comment from Labour, and the response from the newspapers & commentators - excellent material for any question on how to reduce the deficit:

Morningbriefing   ASA BENNETT ASSISTANT COMMENT EDITOR   FOLLOW US TAXODUS Good morning. Ed Miliband's pledge to abolish the "non-dom" tax status has already sparked a maelstrom of controversy, with experts warning that the "cataclysmic" plan would drive out tens of thousands of entrepreneurs and business leaders. "Labour tax plan to spark exodus", is our take, Tweeters coined the term "#NonDomniShambles", while the Sun branded Miliband and Ed Balls "dom & dumber" over their policy "chaos". Will it raise much? Labour don't seem to know. Jolyon Maugham, a tax barrister who helped Labour develop the policy, admitted that it may result in an "enormous flight" of wealthy taxpayers from Britain. The policy, he estimated, could raise up to £1 billion, but he admitted there was a risk of a "negative tax yield". Footage also emerged of Ed Balls, back in January, warning earlier that abolishing the non-dom rule would cost Britain money. "That self-inflicted wound was particularly egregious given that at the time the interview was given, Mr Balls was one of few Labour figures who knew that the non-dom announcement was being prepared," my colleague James Kirkup notes.Labour also got into a muddle over whether they want to abolish the non-dom status outright, or just tighten the rules a bit. The Tories are now trying to take the sting out of their plan, with George Osborne - according to the Times - considering stopping children from being able to inherit non-dom status. What many won't mention is that non-doms pay as much tax as 10 million low-income families, and the wealthy are paying more than they ever did under Labour. Miliband's announcement is a "cheap election stunt", our view is. Despite the fuss, ConservativeHome's Mark Wallace notes: "Most voters will simply hear "Labour plan to tax the rich", if they hear anything of the story at all." And so the Tories are moving the debate on, launching an offensive today against Miliband on defence policy and whether Labour would work with the SNP in government. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon will warn that Britain will be open to "nuclear blackmail by rogue states" because Ed Miliband is "would be prepared to trade Britain's national security just to get his hands on the keys to Downing Street" by dumping the UK's Trident nuclear deterrent as part of a deal with the SNP.  The Tories are turning the screws on Labour by making a £100 billion manifesto pledge to build a new generation of four nuclear submarines, coming after Nicola Sturgeon said Trident was a "red line" in any coalition talks and Ed Balls admitted that he would "of course" be looking at whether to have three, or four, subs. Defence, as I've argued before, is a good topic for the Conservatives to attack Miliband over, as the polls show David Cameron is significantly more trusted on the issue than his Labour rival. The Tories' tactics feed into their much-beloved "competence vs chaos" narrative. Floating voters, they hope, will ask themselves in the polling booth: "Who do I trust to keep Britain safe?" TO RUSSIA WITH LOVE Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras ramped up his defiance towards eurozone creditors on Wednesday, using a visit to the Kremlin to assert that his country’s sovereignty remained undiminished in the wake of its protracted debt crisis.. The Leftist premier hailed a "new spring" in Greco-Russian relations. "We are a sovereign state and we can sign agreements in our common interest in order to combat the crisis in our country. This is why we came here. We want to create bonds of trust with Russia," he said. Mehreen Khan has more. ELECTION FATIGUE It's one thing trying to get children to read when its term time, it's another when they're at school during the Easter holidays. David Cameron encountered this on Wednesday when six-year-old schoolgirl Lucy Howarth from the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Primary School in Westhoughton, Bolton seemed rather bored and ended up resting her head on the desk. You can watch what happened here.THE TONY RICH PROJECT Tony Blair has insisted he is not among the "super-rich", despite reports that he has been earning around £20 million pounds a year since leaving office. Speaking to Newsweek magazine, Mr Blair said his high earnings went towards the "infrastructure" for his work around the world. He added: "Am I better off than most people? Yeah, I'm very lucky. Am I in the league of the super-rich? Absolutely not, though you will have to make up your own mind about that." The Daily Mail's James Chapman has more. CLEGG ISN'T YAPPY Nick Clegg has insisted, in an interview on ITV's Tonight programme, that he "rarely" thinks of himself as a "Chihuahua in David Cameron's handbag", after a Lord Ashcroft focus group with floating voters led to him being described in these terms. ONE INDYREF, NO REDOS Prime Minister David Cameron has ruled out agreeing to a second independence referendum for Scotland, telling the House magazine that the issue is now "settled", just 24 hours after SNP first minister Nicola Sturgeon hinted that her party would put another referendum in their manifesto. Read more here.REEM TEAM Nigel Farage was joined by reality TV star Joey Essex on his campaign trail in Grimsby on Wednesday. The Ukip leader described the reality TV personality as an "icon of youth" who could help inform youngsters' opinions on politics. You can watch what happened when they met here. LOVE BITES Justin Thornton says she fell in love with Ed Miliband when he bandaged her hand after she was bitten by a dog while out canvassing for him. The 44-year-old lawyer says she was leafleting in Runcorn in 2005 when she was attacked by the animal. She told the Mirror: "I’d been bitten by a Doberman. Ed bandaged me up and I fell in love with him." Nicola Harley has more. COBURNED The BBC hosted a leaders' debate between the six party leaders in Scotland, which quickly turned into a shouting match between Labour's Jim Murphy and Ukip's David Coburn, as the Ukip MEP attacked "open door immigration". Murphy mockingly characterised the Ukip argument as "the immigrants are to blame for everything". HuffPostUK's Ned Simons has more.THINGS GETS NAZTY A Welsh politician was slammed on Wednesday for comparing the English to "Nazis". Plaid Cymru candidate Mike Parker said that rural Wales had been invaded by "gun-toting Final Solution crackpots" from over the border. Here are more details. THAT'S WEL-UNFAIR Rachel Reeves has claimed that the Conservatives are planning to fill their welfare ‘black hole’ by taking child benefit away from millions of middle class families. Speaking to The Telegraph's Rosa Prince, the shadow work and pensions secretary said the refusal by George Osborne earlier this week to rule out a reduction in child benefit by wrapping it into the Universal Credit showed the party was planning to "clobber" middle class families. THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWNDavid Cameron, Nick Clegg, Ed Miliband and Nigel Farage have joined together in a boyband, as depicted in a Green Party video in an attempt to urge voters to "change the tune". The video, which is due to be aired on BBC 2 at 5.55pm on Thursday, feature actors dressed as the four leaders singing about their shared love of austerity and agreement on other policies in "party political harmony". Mad, or just bad? You can watch their coalicious broadcast here. HE'S NOT A FIRESTARTER... Pub landlord Al Murray kicked off his official election campaign in South Thanet official by handing in his nomination papers at the local council's offices in Margate, Kent. He also unveiled his campaign vehicle, a fire engine, which he had converted into a mobile pub. Thanet Extra's James Rose has more.MAKING YOUR MIND UP Not sure who to vote for yet? The Telegraph has teamed up with Vote Match, the UK's biggest voting advice app, in order to help you find the party that best matches your views. The app is quick and easy to use, and the results may surprise you... POLL POSITION Average of polls as of Monday, April 6: Lab: 34%, Conservative: 33%, UKIP 14.1%, Lib Dem 8.4%, Green 5%. The data is from: YouGov, Populus, Opinium, ComRes, Survation, Ipsos MORI, ICM, TNS-BMRB. TOO MANY TWEETS… @JamesCleverly: Farage meets Joey Essex. One is pretending to be thick, saying increasingly outrageous thing to get headlines, the other is Joey Essex! COMMENT From The Telegraph James Kirkup - Tory scaremongering is playing into the hands of the SNP and putting the Union at riskSimon Walker - Why scrapping non-doms would be a terrible mistake From elsewhere Mark Wallace - On non-doms, the two parties play tennis with their shoelaces tied together Joe McGuffin - I’m mad as hell and Ed Balls needs to stay out of my eyeline AGENDA 0830 UKIP deputy chairman Suzanne Evans announces the party's policies for women 09:00 Nick Clegg's weekly phone-in on LBC 09.00 Ed Miliband makes an education manifesto announcement in central London. 12:00 UK interest rate decision from the Bank of England 12.00 David Cameron is giving a PM Direct Q&A in Nottinghamshire.1500 Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt and shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna speak in London on Labour’s priorities for education and skills 1900 LBC Women Leaders Debates with Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, shadow deputy prime minister Harriet Harman, Crime Prevention Minister Lynne Featherstone and Suzanne Evans, moderated by Iain Dale. 19:30 Nick Clegg to feature on a special edition of ‘Tonight’ on ITV 22:40 Ed Miliband is to appear on ITV's ‘The Agenda’ alongside actor Brian Cox, actress and comedian Katy Brand and CEO of Newton Investment Management, Helena Morrissey.22:45 ‘Question Time’ from Bristol. On the panel: Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable, Conservative Environment Secretary Liz Truss, Labour's shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander, Green MP Caroline Lucas and Telegraph journalist Tim Stanley General election candidate declaration deadline, four weeks ahead of polling day Greece is scheduled to make a €450m payment to the IMF as part of its bailout agreement TODAY IN PARLIAMENT HOUSE OF COMMONS No business WESTMINSTER HALL No businessHOUSE OF LORDS No businessThanks very much for reading, I can be reached via email at asa.bennett@telegraph.co.uk, or on Twitter @AsaBenn Follow Telegraph Politics   Sign Up  |   Unsubscribe