NHS trust chief in no-deal Brexit medicine warning

Health reporter(wp/bbc):::

NHS trusts could "quickly run out of vital medicine" in the event of a no-deal Brexit, the chief executive of a leading hospital group has warned.

Dr David Rosser of University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) said that, despite NHS stockpiling, shortages would likely occur due to "unprecedented" distribution challenges.

Dr Rosser made the warning in a paper presented to the UHB board last week.

The Department of Health said planning for a no-deal Brexit was "ongoing".

It added: "We are working closely with the NHS, industry and the supply chain to make detailed plans to ensure continued access to healthcare, medical devices and clinical supplies in the event of no deal."

In his memo to the UHB board, Dr Rosser said: "In terms of the potential for major operational impact and severe and widespread risks to public safety, by far the greatest concern is the availability of medicines, devices and clinical supplies."

He added that a Department for Health report into which medicines were likely to face shortages had "not been made available" to NHS trusts but that "it is assumed that a significant proportion of the medicines and consumables we use at UHB on a daily basis may be at risk".

These shortages, Dr Rosser said, would lead to most non-urgent operations being postponed.

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On Tuesday, MPs backed an amendment in Parliament rejecting a no-deal Brexit, but the vote was not binding - meaning the date for exit remains 29 March.

MPs also backed seeking "alternative arrangements" to replace the Irish backstop in Theresa May's Brexit plan - but the EU has said it will not change the legal text agreed with the UK PM.

Dr Rosser also warned "a fractious no-deal scenario" could have a "major impact" on EU staff working in the NHS.

"We employ around 1,200 EU staff, of whom 262 are doctors, 375 are nurses or midwives, 320 are scientific or other clinical staff, and the balance are in support services," he said.

"All of these people are vital and highly valued colleagues."

Islington stabbing: Three arrested over boy's death

Crime watch(wp/bbc):::

Three teenagers have been arrested after a 17-year-old boy was stabbed to death in a street attack.

He was pronounced dead in Caledonian Road, Islington, north London, after police were called at about 19:00 GMT on Tuesday.

Two male suspects, aged 16 and 17, were arrested on suspicion of murder close to the scene, Scotland Yard said. An 18-year-old was later arrested at an address in Islington.

All three remain in custody.

The stabbing happened just over a mile away (about 1.6km) from The Emirates stadium where Arsenal played Cardiff City on Tuesday evening.

Supporters were told to avoid Caledonian Road after the football match.

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Formal identification has yet to take place but the Met Police said officers were "confident they know the identity of the deceased".

A post-mortem examination was due to be held, the force added.

Officers put in place a Section 60 stop and search order, which allowed police to search anyone in a given area until 03:00 on Wednesday.

That area covered much of Islington, Clerkenwell, Finsbury Park and Bloomsbury.

Park Lane doorman stabbing: Three charged with murder

Crime reporter(wp/bbc):::

Three men have been charged with the murder of a doorman who was stabbed to death at a private party in London's West End on New Year's Day.

Security guard Tudor Simionov, 33, was attacked outside Fountain House at around 05:30 GMT on 1 January.

The Romanian, who lived in Ilford, was attacked by a group of men who tried to enter the party, police said.

Three men, aged between 20 and 25, are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.

Scotland Yard named the trio as Haroon Akram, 25, Adham Khalil, 20 and Adham Elshalakany, 23.

All three are charged with Mr Simionov's murder, as well as four counts of grievous bodily harm and one count of violent disorder.

Detectives are still appealing for information to help trace Ossama Hamed, 25, and 23-year-old Nor Aden Hamada in connection with the murder investigation.

A 26-year-old woman has already been charged with perverting the course of justice in relation to the case and a 25-year-old man has been charged with violent disorder.

Snow and ice hit parts of UK

Staff reporter(wp/bbc):::

Snow showers and icy conditions have swept across the UK, with weather warnings in place for large parts of the country.

The Met Office has issued four yellow warnings for snow and ice and has predicted up to 10cm (4in) of snowfall on higher ground.

No services will run on Merseyrail until around 11:00 GMT on Wednesday due to ice on the tracks.

And Liverpool Airport is also expecting delays due to snowfall.

Customers travelling to the airport have been advised to check with their airline before setting off and to "allow plenty of travel time".

A number of roads and schools were closed in Scotland, northern England and Wales on Tuesday.

Forecasters expect similar conditions until Friday.

Police have been urging motorists to take extra care and plan ahead.

The four weather warnings affect most of the UK, warning of road and rail delays.

• The first for Wales, northern and western England came into place on Tuesday and will last until 11:00 GMT on Wednesday. It warns that rain will turn to snow, especially on the hills.
• The second warns of further snow showers across north-west parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland from late Tuesday afternoon until 11:00 GMT on Wednesday.
• Another warning, for south-east England, the Midlands, and East Anglia, took effect from 17:00 GMT on Tuesday, continuing until midday on Wednesday.
• Finally, the Met Office has said it expects rain and snow to move in from the south-west, moving across England and Wales through Thursday into Friday.
• The Met Office said there was a "slight chance" that some rural communities could be cut off and a "small chance" that power cuts may occur and mobile phone coverage could be affected.

Britain proposes tougher stewardship code for asset managers

Business reporter(wp/reuters):::
Asset managers in Britain should spell out in greater detail how they picked sustainable investments that benefit clients, society and the environment, regulators proposed on Wednesday.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) set out major revisions to toughen up the stewardship code that asset managers, proxy advisers, investment consultants and pension fund trustees follow on a “comply or explain” basis.

It heaps pressure on a sector that is already facing a “value for money” drive from regulators.

The revisions introduce substantial changes to encourage asset managers to explicitly take environmental, social and governance factors into account when investing.

This could include climate change, and the treatment of customers and suppliers of companies in which they are investing.

The revision also proposes that asset managers state their values and culture policies, and report publicly each year on how their activities achieved them.

“It’s a substantial change. This code, hopefully, is as groundbreaking as when we launched the first one,” David Styles, FRC director of corporate governance, told Reuters.

“There is no requirement to sign up. Those who are interested in responsible investment for the long term ought to do so,” Styles said.

The revisions are being put to public consultation until March with a final version published in July. The code, last revised in 2012, is separate from the corporate governance code that directors of companies are asked to comply with.

The FRC ruffled industry feathers with the current code by slotting companies into two tiers to indicate full and partial compliance with the code.

Some asset managers decided not to apply it at all, but Styles said that public findings on compliance by those who sign up may be changed.

“With the new code, we will have substantially more information, and we going to have to look at exactly how we evaluate and we publish the assessment,” Styles said.

The FRC is also proposing to extend the code beyond investments in listed companies to include other assets like bonds, fixed income, infrastructure and private equity to reflect the changing nature of investments.

UK shop prices rise at fastest pace in nearly six years: BRC

Business reporter(wp/reuters):::
Prices in shops in Britain rose by the most in nearly six years in January, but inflation is not a big risk as long as the country can avoid a no-deal Brexit, a group representing retailers said o
n Wednesday.

Shops increased prices by an 0.4 percent compared with a year earlier, the most since April 2013, the British Retail Consortium said.

In December prices rose by an annual 0.3 percent.

Retailers have been holding prices down in the face of tough online competition and faltering consumer confidence as Britain approaches the date when it is due to leave the European Union.

Despite the gradual increase in shop prices over the past four months, the BRC said consumers had little to fear from inflation as the underlying upward pressure on prices was easing.

“That is unless the UK leaves the EU without a deal on March 29, leading to increases in the price of many goods in the weekly shopping basket,” BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said.

Prime Minister Theresa May is struggling to rally her own Conservative Party behind her plans for taking Britain out of the European Union in less than two months’ time, raising fears of border delays and a fall in the value of the pound that would make imports more expensive.

Food price inflation held at an annual rate of 1.5 percent in January despite a faster increase in the cost of perishable items. Non-food prices showed the fell by the smallest amount since March 2013, dropping by 0.3 percent.

Britain’s official measure of consumer price inflation stood at 2.1 percent in December, a touch above the Bank of England’s 2 percent target. The BoE expects inflation to drift down as it raises interest rates gradually.

Separately on Wednesday, a survey showed confidence among employers about Britain’s economic outlook and about their hiring and investment decisions sank to their joint-lowest levels since June 2016, the month of the Brexit referendum.

“The business community is united in wanting a no deal Brexit off the table,” said Neil Carberry, chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, which commissioned the survey, which took place between Sept. 25 and Dec. 19.

The survey showed companies expected to hire more permanent staff but the resilience of the labor market would not defy the effects of deep uncertainty about Brexit indefinitely, Carberry said.

FTSE seen boosted by weaker sterling after Brexit vote

Business reporter(wp/reuters):::

Britain’s blue-chip index is expected to open higher on Wednesday following a sharp fall in sterling overnight after British lawmakers voted down a proposal in parliament that aimed to prevent a potentially chaotic “no-deal” Brexit.

The exporter-focused FTSE 100, which makes 70 percent of its income abroad, is seen up 35 points at 6,869, according to financial spreadbetter IG.

The index is often boosted by a weaker domestic currency because its multinational companies earn a big portion of their revenue abroad in foreign currency.

The CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX 30 are see lower.

British lawmakers instruct May to change Brexit deal; EU says 'No'

Political reporter(wp/reuters):::
British lawmakers on Tuesday instructed Prime Minister Theresa May to reopen a Brexit treaty with the European Union to replace a controversial Irish border arrangement - and promptly received a flat rejection from Brussels.

Two weeks after overwhelmingly rejecting May’s Brexit deal, parliament backed a proposal intended to send her back to Brussels with a stronger mandate to seek changes that were more likely to win their support.

At the same time, they rejected a proposal to give parliament a path to prevent a potentially chaotic ‘no-deal’ exit by making May ask Brussels for a delay if she cannot get a deal through parliament.

With two months left until Britain is due by law to leave the EU, investors and allies have urged the government to clinch a deal to allow an orderly exit from the club it joined in 1973.

“Tonight, a majority of honourable members have said they would support a deal with changes to the backstop,” May said, only two weeks after her divorce deal was crushed in the biggest parliamentary defeat in modern British history.

“It is now clear that there is a route that can secure a substantial and sustainable majority in the house for leaving the EU with a deal,” May said, adding she would seek “legally binding changes”.

The Irish backstop is an insurance policy that aims to prevent the reintroduction of a hard border between Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland, a crucial part of a 1998 peace deal that ended decades of sectarian violence, and preserve frictionless trade.

However, critics said it could bind the United Kingdom to the EU’s rules indefinitely.

The proposal, put forward by influential Conservative lawmaker Graham Brady and passed by 317 votes to 301, called for the backstop to be replaced with unspecified “alternative arrangements”, and said parliament would support May’s Brexit deal if such a change was made.

“RENEGING ON COMMITMENTS”

However, Brussels has repeatedly said it does not want to reopen a treaty signed off by the other 27 EU leaders.

Speaking immediately after the vote in parliament, a spokesman for European Council President Donald Tusk said the backstop was part of the withdrawal deal and not up for negotiation, a stance echoed by the Irish government.

“This is a deal which was negotiated with the UK, by the UK, signed off by the UK and the prime minister - and now it looks as though this evening, essentially, there is a row-back and a reneging on the commitments that were made,” said Irish European Affairs minister Helen McEntee.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said there could be no renegotiation and demanded a “credible” British proposal.

If the British parliament cannot find a majority for a way forward, the United Kingdom will leave the largest global trading bloc without any deal, a scenario that businesses fear will bring chaos to the world’s fifth biggest economy.

Neither May nor her ministers spelled out what compromises she would seek from the EU, but suggestions include securing a time limit to the backstop or allowing a unilateral exit clause - elements that defeat its purpose, according to the EU.

Hardline pro-Brexit Conservative lawmakers made clear that their support for May on Tuesday was conditional on her securing a deal they approved of.

“The backstop is not going to get through this parliament,” Steve Baker, a leading member of the group, told Reuters. “Change the backstop, fix the date of the end of the implementation period, and agree a plan C.”

“MAY WILL BE REBUFFED”

However, EU diplomats played down May’s chances of being able to present a substantially different deal to the British parliament in a decisive vote expected to take place on Feb. 13.

“May will now come back to Brussels and be rebuffed,” one diplomat said. “The House of Commons will have to vote again mid-February on plan C. And it will have to be plan A all over again, but with even more pressure of no-deal Brexit looming.”

Members of parliament (MPs) on Tuesday rejected two amendments that set out a clear path for parliament to prevent a no-deal exit if May cannot get a deal passed next month.

However, they did later approve a symbolic proposal calling on the government to stop a potentially disorderly no-deal exit, sending a signal that a majority oppose such a departure.

It provided no mechanism for preventing a no-deal Brexit, but kept open the option that members of parliament could try to take the initiative in the “amendable” vote that May has promised for Feb. 14 if she cannot get a deal approved.

Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said he would meet May to “find a sensible Brexit solution that works for the whole country”, listing changes that Labour wanted to see, but that May has shown no sign of supporting.

Sterling, which recently hit a 2-1/2-month high of $1.3218 on hopes that a no-deal Brexit would be avoided, fell about 0.8 percent. [GBP/]

“This isn’t a good night for the country,” Labour lawmaker Wes Streeting tweeted.

“The prime minister voted against her own deal to go back to Brussels for something she’s said is impossible. MPs voted against ‘no deal’ - but also voted to make ‘no deal’ more likely. We’ll be back for another round of Groundhog Day soon.”