Lloyds Banking Share Discussion Threads

[xxxxxy] 15/6/2020 19:47

No Deal it is then
NO DEAL

[tygarreg] 15/6/2020 19:46

Bargainbob is that a copy and paste of the latest Momentum missive. Getting a bit predictable these days.

[xxxxxy] 15/6/2020 19:46

Fred Spurgin
15 Jun 2020 6:16PM
Foundations appear to be on rather sandy soil -- the EU claim that the level playing field will have to stay and in that case no one in their right mind would sign up to such a deal (yes.....I know the obvious answer to that one !!)

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Derek Kemp
15 Jun 2020 5:17PM
Don't sell us out Boris shed loads of voters are watching you and so is Nigel.

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Janet Warrior
15 Jun 2020 5:14PM
As long as Barnier sticks to his level playing field and fishing unicorn demands, on top of his ridiculous tying in of defence and security to a trade deal, there will be no deal. They won’t talk sense until the transition is nearly over, or even beyond it, as is their wont.

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Ann Standing
15 Jun 2020 4:46PM
Author of this article has gone rogue. So he believes we must concede our territorial waters, agree to LPF, ECJ oversight and a host of other conditions so that we continue to run a £90bn trade deficit in the EUs favour. Pull the other one, it's got bells on!

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M Maccallum
15 Jun 2020 4:29PM
@Gareth Mandel @M Maccallum



Yeah, well we export a lot less to the EU than we do to the rest of the world on WTO, and as everyone on these threads never tires of telling you, our exports to the EU amount to about 4-5 % of our gdp. And that figure is declining year on year.



It’s the EU that has the problem, not us.



Why do you keep droning on day after day on the same false premise? You’ve had it explained to you by dozens of different people why you are wrong. But you still don’t get it.

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David James
15 Jun 2020 7:08PM
@M Maccallum @Gareth Mandel



I understand the total is even smaller. The World Bank reported No Deal ‘might’ impact the U.K. economy by 0.25% of GDP.



That’s before any benefit from leaving and doing FTAs with fair reasonable trading nations, not EU mafia intent on extortion, blackmail and political domination to screw the rules.

[xxxxxy] 15/6/2020 19:40

Don't give an inch.

NO DEAL

[xxxxxy] 15/6/2020 19:39

Analysis: Deal is there to be done on the Brexit battleground
The UK and EU may be beating their chests in public but the foundations for a free trade agreement are quietly being put in place

By
James Crisp,
BRUSSELS CORRESPONDENT
15 June 2020 • 10:26am
David Frost and Michel Barnier, the UK and EU's chief negotiators in Brussels at the start of the trade talks.
David Frost and Michel Barnier, the UK and EU's chief negotiators in Brussels at the start of the trade talks. CREDIT: AFP
It is not in the UK or the EU’s interest to admit as much but a Brext trade deal is there to be done.

Both sides continue to insist it is up to the other to compromise on their red lines first, which plays well to their domestic audiences, but the groundwork is being laid for a free trade agreement to be finalised by October.

Britain and the EU agreed last week to a programme of intensified negotiations of weekly rounds of talks in July. Today’s meeting of Boris Johnson with the three EU presidents is expected to end with a call for renewed impetus in the talks.

UK threats of walking away from the negotiations in June if there was insufficient progress in trade talks have proved empty. For all the mutual recrimination in public, negotiators are continuing their work in sewing up the agreement.

The issue of whether or not the UK will ask for an extension to the transition period was put to bed on Friday. Britain will leave transition at the end of this year, with or without a trade deal.

Forget the rhetoric and propaganda. Neither Britain or the EU want to trade on WTO terms and with tariffs, which would be far less lucrative for both sides than the zero tariff, zero quota trade deal on the table.

Both the UK and the EU took up initial negotiating positions that are so maximalist, it leaves negotiators no option but to compromise.

The last round of negotiations ended, as all the previous had, scuppered on the rocks of the major obstacles of fishing rights and the level playing field.

Britain wants a Norway-style fishing deal, separate from the free trade agreement, with annual negotiations over fishing opportunities based on zonal attachment. Zonal attachment is a scientific method that evaluates where fish are.

The EU wants a long term status quo fishing agreement, folded into the free trade agreement and without annual negotiations, with EU boats having access to UK waters under “existing conditions”. Those conditions are in the Common Fisheries Policy, which uses historic catch patterns to divide fishing opportunities..

In the last round, negotiators were due to discuss other factors such as historic pre-EU fishing rights and the economic impact on coastal communities that could be taken into account when calculating fishing opportunities. This would have been a small but significant step forward but EU fishing nations blocked the talks.

Nevertheless Michel Barnier knows the current EU position can’t hold and that, deal or no deal, the UK will become an independent coastal state on January 1.

He has called for a balanced agreement but warned a fishing deal is a precondition for a trade deal.

A former fisheries minister, Mr Barnier is well aware of the emotive power of the industry but will also know that it is a relatively small sliver of the EU’s economy, as well as the UK’s.



Boris Johnson has vowed that Brexit will mean the UK taking back control of its waters.
Boris Johnson has vowed that Brexit will mean the UK taking back control of its waters. CREDIT: AFP
Mr Barnier told EU ambassadors that the British were trying to use their leverage over fishing to force EU concessions over “rules of origin”.

If Brussels caved, the UK would be able to import products from around the world, assemble them in the UK, then import them to the EU as a “British good” tariff-free. This could turn the UK into a competitive manufacturing hub for the EU, Mr Barnier warned.

The UK fishing industry is also simply not ready to catch all of the new quota it expects to get under the new system. Its major market for fish is the EU, with UK customers preferring fish imported from countries such as Iceland and Norway.

Gradually phasing in new fishing arrangements over a number of years with opportunities calculated on a mix of zonal attachment and other factors could be the solution. This would buy preparation time for the UK and EU industry and allow both negotiators to claim victory.

The EU has called for level playing field guarantees, which are commitments to not undercut the bloc’s standards on labour rights, environment, state aid and tax, to protect its businesses from “unfair” British competition.

Such guarantees are usual in free trade agreements but the UK argues that Brussels’ demands are far stricter than those in EU deals with Canada and Japan. Officials fear they will hinder the UK’s ability to diverge from EU rules.

Brussels argues those stricter demands are justified because of the proximity and interconnectedness of the UK market. It is the EU’s “sovereign right” to set the terms of access for its market, the bloc adds.

After the last round, Mr Barnier signalled the EU had dropped its most egregious demand that EU state aid law, which governs bailouts and mergers, would continue to apply in the UK.

A combination of non-regression clauses along with a system of reviews of both sides regulations would be acceptable to Britain. The EU’s member states, wary of the competition to their industry, will want stronger safeguards than mere dialogue between regulators.

If both sides can agree on a review system which would ensure the level playing field stays relevant over time, a deal could be done.

Both sides hope the “high level meeting” between Boris Johnson and the three EU presidents today will bring fresh political impetus to the trade talks.

That is unlikely with EU leaders preoccupied with the coronavirus pandemic. The last minute compromises will come in September or October, which will give the European Parliament time to ratify the trade deal before the end of the year.

The impetus will be provided by the ticking clock, which is not without its dangers. It could mean a very basic agreement.

Both sides also believe the looming deadline works to their advantage, which increases the risk of miscalculation and an accidental no deal exit.

[freddie01] 15/6/2020 19:30

If true Alphorn good news.

[alphorn] 15/6/2020 19:23

Swiss news reporting that a Brexit deal could be there in July.

[grahamite2] 15/6/2020 18:42

Maybe withdrawing the old folks' concession was actually a not so subtle hint?

[diku] 15/6/2020 18:39

Work from home all very good!...no mention of Data protection act...customers personal details can be on view floating about at somebody else's home...




Lloyds mulls office closures as Covid-19 accelerates work from home adoption

[freddie01] 15/6/2020 18:34

Considering the anger at the BBC there must be more and more people not paying the license. As you say Utrickyteers it's easy to avoid.

Only a matter of time. The model is dead.

[utrickytrees] 15/6/2020 18:23

Stop paying the license fee. The license detector man has to ask for access....just tell him no, better still dont answer the door to unannounced callers. Better better still remove your door bell & knocker. Plenty of stuff online. The BBC is actually offensive.

[grahamite2] 15/6/2020 18:06

Back in 1953 the "BBC pub" was full of people crying into their beer over the death of Stalin. Their sons and grandsons are running the place now.

[jl5006] 15/6/2020 17:54

Last warning.
Dont post comments about M2
Ironic - the genteel posts made by M2
Dobbin is here 2

[grahamite2] 15/6/2020 17:51

I don't know why Tygarreg's link didn't work but it's well worth a read, even if it is a little old and a little long:



Sissons captures the essential problem at the BBC. It's not deliberate falsification so much as an overriding leftist ethos. Everything is seen through that prism.

[utrickytrees] 15/6/2020 17:39

Freddie, it's not untill you've earnt a pound that you understand the value of one. The fkin Jocks have had everything served upto them on a platter. Time for a reality check.

[tygarreg] 15/6/2020 17:17

Just what we always thought!

[tygarreg] 15/6/2020 17:16

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1349506/Left-wing-bias-Its-written-BBCs-DNA-says-Peter-Sissons.html

[freddie01] 15/6/2020 17:15

Thomas Kerry: The tale of two governments


OF all the support measures implemented as a response to the Coronavirus pandemic, perhaps the most wide reaching and innovative has been the UK Government’s Job Retention Scheme – commonly known as furlough.

According to figures announced by HMRC last week the scheme, by which the UK Government is directly paying 80% of the wages of employees right across the country, has helped to support over 600,000 jobs in Scotland. In Glasgow that amounts to more than 77,000 families having the security of a pay packet during these challenging times when otherwise their employer would simply have been unable to sustain the cost of wages. On top of these incredible figures, an additional 146,000 people in Scotland have claimed under the separate scheme for those who are self-employed.

The Chancellor’s recent announcement that the furlough scheme will be extended until October, with added flexibility to support a phased return to work as we begin to emerge from this crisis.

The furlough scheme is just one of the examples of the ways in which the UK Government has sought to support households right across Britain. Unlike other devolved schemes like business support grants, it doesn’t matter if you live in Parkhead or Pontypridd – the furlough scheme has helped to provide for families right across our United Kingdom. This is on top of the £3.8billion of additional funding for Scotland – as well as access to UK-wide VAT deferral, company loans and a strengthened welfare safety net – that proved the strength that comes from pooling resources across our family of nations.

In my own patch, data shows Glasgow East has been the largest beneficiary from the furlough scheme of any constituency in the city – with a total of 12,800 jobs being directly underpinned here by the UK Government.

In contrast, we’ve also learned in recent days that Forge Market traders in the East End will continue to be denied the business grant funding they should be entitled to because of updated Scottish Government guidance.

David Linden MP was quick to take credit on social media when he thought his government had fixed this issue but it’s now clear that he falsely raised the hopes of market traders in a shameful exercise in self publicity.

Shockingly, the National Market Traders Federation (NMTF) which represents market traders right across the UK have told me that they have had no engagement with the Scottish Government regarding eligibility for Coronavirus Business Support Grants – despite having written to a Scottish Government minister over a month ago.

Their figures show that 84% of non-essential goods traders do not employ any staff, 80% are not liable for business rates for their stall/unit and 70% are sole traders. So despite David Linden’s assertions to the contrary, it’s clear the vast majority of Forge Market traders do not meet the eligibility criteria dreamt up by the Scottish Government.

The NMTF has also told me it believes Glasgow Forge Market traders would be eligible for support under the equivalent scheme in England and that they find it “odd” that the Scottish Government has introduced eligibility criteria to include the requirement to have a business bank account and employ staff.

It’s a complete dereliction of their responsibility to the people of the East End that the SNP didn’t bother consulting the industry before making these rules and didn’t even consult their own party’s Member of Parliament.


The tale of two governments this week has never been so stark. On the one hand a UK Government working flat out to preserve jobs and incomes right across the country. And on the other a Scottish Government too busy manufacturing division that their own separate schemes are utterly failing those that need them most. So much for ‘standing up for Scotland’.

[freddie01] 15/6/2020 17:10

Coronavirus: SNP ignores how much UK has done to protect Scotland's economy – Jackson Carlaw MSP


Finance Secretary Kate Forbes’s call for more borrowing powers to deal with Covid crisis shows how the SNP is stuck in the past, writes Jackson Carlaw MSP.

The SNP’s call for more Scottish Government borrowing last week felt almost laughably out-of-date. It’s as if Kate Forbes missed the economic bazooka Rishi Sunak fired at the Scottish economy.

On Thursday, we heard that the UK’s support schemes saved 800,000 jobs in Scotland – so it’s clear the UK is Scotland’s insurance policy, and it has paid out, in full and on time.

It’s also breathtakingly hypocritical. Under independence or full fiscal autonomy, the Scottish budget would have been shredded by the coronavirus. Instead, the current rules protect Scotland from big, UK-wide shocks.

It’s only if we grow relatively slower than the rest of the UK that our budget goes down – and vice versa. And that places the responsibility firmly on the SNP.

We know, for example, that we will be living with Covid-19 for some time, and we can only reopen the economy when it’s safe to do so. That requires an effective test, trace and isolate system.

But the SNP’s record on testing is woeful – and risks undermining our exit from lockdown.

Timing the release from restrictions might be tricky too, but the SNP seems intent on confusing it further. Hotels in Scotland only got an opening date last week, well after the rest of the UK.

Shops south of the Border opened on Monday. Garden centres, recycling centres and building sites have been operating safely for weeks elsewhere, while in Scotland, big retailers like Ikea look likely to open six weeks

later.

In some cases, this will directly hit the Scottish budget. The housing market will probably reopen a month later here than in England. There’s no obvious public health difference for this, but the gap between a normal month of stamp duty revenue and the amount received in a month of lockdown is about £30 million in lost tax take. Whatever we lose, it’s on the SNP.

In fact, when we see that the Welsh Government found twice as much cash as the Scottish Government to tackle coronavirus from a much smaller budget, when we remember that the SNP has already used up much of Scotland’s current borrowing totals with a budgetary black hole looming in the next few years – and when we remember that the SNP committed long ago to an independent review of existing borrowing powers before any further changes – last week’s move by the SNP to talk about more borrowing starts to look a lot like a distraction tactic.

It smells a bit like the old nationalist game: pick a constitutional fight to hide from their record.

Fiscal devolution in 2016 was supposed to stop that. Finally, instead of complaining, governments in Scotland would be held accountable for their own decisions on tax and spend. That kind of maturity is surely what people will want after the virus. We’ve just been through too much to go back to the old finger-pointing.

So Kate Forbes’s comments last week aren’t just misplaced. They aren’t just hypocritical. They represent the arguments of the past. After the virus, we all deserve better.

Jackson Carlaw is leader of the Scottish Conservative Party

[freddie01] 15/6/2020 17:07

Lloyds mulls office closures as Covid-19 accelerates work from home adoption


Lloyds Banking Group is reportedly considering options to shrink its office space as more employees switch to home working in the UK, the Sunday Times has reported.

In a memo sent to its staff, the bank told that it will be seeking to consolidate its presence to six strategic hubs across the UK.

Lloyds Bank people and property director Matt Sinnott said: “In the longer term we will be working to understand what the future of work and the office looks like, which will also help to inform our decisions.

“Due to changes to the way we work in a post-crisis environment, it was likely Lloyds would need fewer buildings and different types of spaces in future.

The move is in line with the lender’s strategy to adjust to new ways of working and focus more on flexible arrangements.

Sinnott added: “Our priority is the health, wellbeing and safety of our teams and we will be engaging with them on their preferred future working arrangements, while also building on our agile and flexible ways of working that we have been using for some time.

“This is a new situation for us, and we don’t have all the answers right now, but I hope that it will give us an opportunity to reset and improve the way we work for the future.”

PwC, the Big Four accountancy firm, reopened its offices last week accommodating only about 15% of its staff, the report added.

In 2017, Lloyds Bank already sold its Gresham Street offices to China’s Hengli Investments for £160m.

The bank has now agreed to a 20-year leaseback deal for the 119,742 square feet city base for consolidating its offices.

According to a report last month, Lloyds decided to suspend all job cuts until October this year.

[utrickytrees] 15/6/2020 16:47

It's all gone quite in Brussels?? I'd have expected Boris to have emerged from high level discussions with Barniers underpants between his teeth by now, wonder what's going on.