Victory for Boris Johnson’s all-new Tories

www.economist.com /leaders/2019/12/13/victory-for-boris-johnsons-all-new-tories

print-edition iconPrint edition | LeadersDec 13th 2019
7-8 minutes
BRITAIN’S ELECTION on December 12th was the most unpredictable in years—yet in the end the result was crushingly one-sided. As we went to press the next morning, Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party was heading for a majority of well over 70, the largest Tory margin since the days of Margaret Thatcher. Labour, meanwhile, was expecting its worst result since the 1930s. Mr Johnson, who diced with the possibility of being one of Britain’s shortest-serving prime ministers, is now all-powerful.

Brexit Bulletin: Bankers Threaten Exodus

Bankers threaten early exodus, while PM May tries to head off a constitutional crisis

Bloomberg

Emma Ross-Thomas

Banks will start moving operations out of the U.K. late this year and early next as they anticipate a hard Brexit. That's according to  Anthony Browne, chief executive officer of the banking lobby group BBA, writing in the Observer newspaper on Sunday.

International banks’ “hands are quivering over the relocate button,” he wrote. “Many smaller banks plan to start relocations before Christmas; bigger banks are expected to start in the first quarter of next year.”
Without identifying any banks by name, he said lenders can’t wait until the last minute and have to “plan for the worst,” especially because “public and political debate at the moment is taking us in the wrong direction.”
Handily, some real estate companies are already finding them new digs.  A property company managed by Schroders Plc is bidding for an office building in Frankfurt, joining CBRE Global Investors LLC and Standard Life Plc, which are seeking to purchase office space in cities from Dublin to Amsterdam.

With One Battle Over in Scotland, Another Begins

By JOHN F. BURNSSEPT. 21, 2014

The New York Times

AUCHTERARDER, Scotland — With one struggle concluded and another set to begin, this ancient slate-gray town in the russet-leaved approaches to the Scottish Highlands has been busy in recent days, swapping the political passions of last week for the breezier enthusiasms involved in preparing for what many local residents regard as the greatest sporting event ever to be staged in Scotland.

Scottish Vote on Independence Starts

Referendum Will Determine Whether Scotland Splits From the U.K.

The Wall Street Journal

By JASON DOUGLAS, JENNY GROSS and CASSIE WERBER

Updated Sept. 18, 2014 5:40 a.m. ET

EDINBURGH—Voters in Scotland on Thursday began casting their ballots in a historic referendum on whether to go it alone as an independent country or remain part of the U.K.

Ten Things to Know About Scotland's Independence Referendum

BY ALASTAIR JAMIESON

NBCnews

NDON -- Britain is under 72 hours away from a once-in-a-lifetime vote on Scottish independence that could break up the 307-year-old United Kingdom, splitting apart one of America’s key global allies. With polls suggesting that a Scottish split from the rest of Britain is a real possibility, lawmakers including Prime Minister David Cameron are making urgent appeals to save Britain its biggest constitutional upheaval since the Wars of Independence that led to the creation of the United States.

What will be voted on?

Dollar drops to two week-low vs euro ahead of Fed outcome

BY GERTRUDE CHAVEZ-DREYFUSS

NEW YORK Tue Sep 16, 2014 3:49pm EDT

…"If Scotland becomes separate from the UK, it will most likely become a member of the EU. When it does, it will realise it cannot be 'independent, ever, because many aspects of life (political and economic) will be dictated by Brussels," said SLJ's Jen…