Tag: Cabinet Office

British officials have revived cold war emergency plans to relocate the royal family should there be riots in London if Britain suffers a disruptive departure from the European Union, two Sunday newspapers have reported. “These emergency evacuation plans have been in existence since the cold war but have now been repurposed in the event of civil disorder following a no-deal Brexit,” the Sunday Times said, quoting an unnamed source from the government’s Cabinet Office, which handles sensitive administrative issues. The Mail on Sunday also said it had learnt of plans to move the royal family, including Queen Elizabeth, to safe locations away from London. Voters will never forgive Tories for a no-deal disaster, says minister Read more In January an annual speech by the Queen, 92, to a women’s group was widely interpreted in Britain as a call for politicians to reach agreement over Brexit. Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative MP and keen supporter of Brexit, told the Mail on Sunday he believed the plans showed unnecessary panic by officials over a no-deal Brexit as senior royals had remained in London during bombing in the second world war. But the Sunday Times said an ex-police officer formerly in charge of royal protection, Dai Davies, expected Queen Elizabeth would be moved out of London if there was unrest. “If there were problems in London, clearly you would remove the royal family away from those key sites,” Davies was quoted as saying.

The offer to examine a possible timetable for a second vote drawn up by the Lib Dems was made during discussions between senior Liberal Democrats and two cabinet ministers involved in the talks, Michael Gove and David Lidington, in the Cabinet Office on Thursday morning. It has also suggested that a second vote would take up to a year to prepare and conduct. Cable spoke in the Commons to the prime minister on Wednesday evening, after Labour’s no-confidence motion was defeated and soon after May had said she was ready to open talks on a way forward with opposition MPs, including party leaders. While May reiterated her opposition to the idea to Cable, senior Lib Dems then repeated the demand at the subsequent meeting with Gove and Lidington on Thursday. The Lib Dems say Gove asked at the second meeting to see the detailed plans, suggesting an active interest. “As you will know, we have published on a cross-party basis two bills. The first is a two-clause bill which could be enacted within a week, to enable the Electoral Commission to begin consultation on a referendum question. Dominic Grieve tabled these in presentation bills in parliament last week. Voters would back remaining in EU over May's Brexit deal Read more “With sufficient political will, a referendum bill could be passed in very short order – perhaps within days. While Liberal Democrats firmly reject her deal, we have no doubt the prime minister would campaign vigorously for public approval of it.

Only, the Japanese central bankers kept doing them, too. To begin with, the central bank is (largely) irrelevant. I wrote in April 2016, more than two wasted years ago: Central banks have proven by their own actions, not their words, that they will only allow "their" recovery which in the end means none. Japanese GDP in Q3? Japan's economy peaked in Q3 2017. Japan, as Germany, is uniquely susceptible to trade disruptions; which is where turmoil churning within the global reserve currency system hits first. Economic growth during its more than half decade run has actually been worse than the overall "recovery" as a whole from the 2009 trough. Every single time the Japanese economy, meaning the global economy, begins to take a step forward (reflation) it doesn't get very far for very long (eurodollar squeezes). It's a total disaster not because QQE or the first QE in 2001 was the cause(s), rather by keeping the same ideological blindness in place nothing else is ever tried. It just has nothing to do with QEs or even Economics, except the total purge of any thoughts about QEs as well as to transform Economics back into economics (starting with monetary economics).

Key talks on establishing the China-dominated Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) – poised to be the world’s largest economic bloc covering almost half of the global economy – are expected to be held in November in Singapore. The United States has decided not to attend the summit, which may provide extra impetus for China and 15 other nations to agree the deal. China is pushing hard for the deal in light of its current trade war with the US and the decision by US President Donald Trump to pull out of the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement. But Kotaro Tamura, Asia fellow at the Milken Institute and a former senator and parliamentary secretary in charge of economic and fiscal policy in Japan’s Cabinet Office, said it was possible that the deal would fail as different countries’ conflicting agendas emerged during the negotiations. The deal would involve the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, which means it would cover countries that have wildly different levels of economic development. The deal may face further complications if the key elements cannot be agreed upon in November as Australia, India and Indonesia all face important elections next year. India’s general election – due to be held in April or May – may also act as an obstacle to its participation in the RCEP due to widely held concerns about the country’s trade deficit with China. “India is worried that implementation of RCEP may increase its trade deficit with China,” she said. “India’s trade deficit with China is already at a worrisome level for Indian industry, even without the free-trade deal.” Yet analysts agree that while countries may have reservations about signing up to the China-led deal, it would help offset the impact of Trump’s protectionist trade policies. Tamura also said RCEP may help insulate Japan from the impact of trade tensions, adding that the country was looking for “real allies on free trade” amid the spread of protectionist measures around the globe.