Germany wants UK’s banks to come

Business correspondent(es/wp):
Come to Frankfurt and sack your bankers, appears to be the latest blandishment from Germany’s financial centre trying to attract London-based banks looking to move after Brexit.
In the battle for banks who might either move their headquarters or open branch offices in the EU following the referendum, Germany is ready to water down strict European employment laws to make it easier for them to fire highly paid executives.
“The British say: ‘If we hire top earners when it’s booming, we have to be able to quickly reduce our high-wage staff when a boom… stops,’” Thomas Schaefer, Hesse’s finance minister told Bloomberg.
“You can surely waive strict dismissal rules for those who earn a significant amount of money.”
Frankfurt, the capital of Hesse, is vying with Paris, Dublin and Amsterdam to attract banks who want access to the EU after Britain leaves.
“We’ve got to get ahead of the situation on Brexit before other cities like Paris and Milan do,” said Uwe Becker, Frankfurt’s deputy mayor.

David Cameron quits as MP for Witney

political correspondent(wp/es):
 David Cameron quits as MP for Witney.
David Cameron announced he is standing down as an MP in the following statement:

"I spoke this morning to the chairman of the West Oxfordshire Conservative Association and I have just come from a meeting with my constituency agent and other members of staff.
"Having fully considered my position over the summer, I have decided that I am going to stand down as the Member of Parliament for Witney.
"There will now be a by-election and I will do everything that I can to help the Conservative candidate win that election.
"In my view, the circumstances of my resignation as prime minister and the realities of modern politics make it very difficult to continue on the backbenches without the risk of becoming a diversion to the important decisions that lie ahead for my successor in Downing Street and the Government.

"I fully support Theresa May and have every confidence that Britain will thrive under her strong leadership.
"It has been an honour to serve the people of Witney and West Oxfordshire for the last 15 years. I want to thank them for making the job of representing them such a pleasure and a privilege.
"I would like to thank the party workers, volunteers, councillors and supporters for all they have done to help me.
"Our house in Dean is the place Samantha, my children and I call home, and that will not change. I will continue to support the local causes and charities that mean so much to me and many others in this beautiful and enterprising part of our country.
"I now look forward to a life outside of Westminster, but hope to continue to play a part in public service and to make a real and useful contribution to the country I love."

After passengers trapped British Airways i360 in Brighton tower closes

Brighton correspondent(wp/es):
A 450ft-high vertical cable car in Brighton has been closed after passengers became trapped in observation pod twice in a matter of days.
Two hundred customers were locked into the British Airways i360 for over an hour yesterday after the doors broke and would not open.
It was the second time in less than a week that passengers have been stuck after a "technical hitch" caused 180 customers to be suspended in the air for two hours on Thursday.
East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service was called and two fire engines were sent to rescue passengers, including a heavily pregnant woman, who were stuck on board for about two hours.

The ride was due to open as normal on Monday after engineers attended to the fault, but now customers are being turned away as “specialist technicians” conduct further checks on the 360 degree viewing platform.
A statement in the i360 website said: “British Airways i360 will close today while specialist technicians conduct further checks on site.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Customers who have booked tickets for flights today will be offered alternative visits or refunds.”
The structure, designed by London Eye architects, opened on August 4 and is the thinnest of its kind on the planet.

east London school gives three days notice for Muslim festival Eid-al-Adha

staff reporter(wp/es):
Parents at an east London school were given just three days notice that it would be closed today so staff could mark the Muslim festival Eid-al-Adha.
Chobham Academy in Newham said the closure of its primary school was due to “a high number of staff requesting leave for religious observance”.
Children were sent home with a letter last week warning their parents.
One mother criticised the short notice, claiming it made finding childcare difficult.

She told the Sun: “People have jobs and lives and will find it difficult to get childcare at such short notice.
“I got a text out of the blue at about 11am on Friday saying the school would be closed on Monday but it didn’t explain why.
“Then they sent the kids home with a letter from the head saying it was because a lot of teachers had suddenly asked for the day off.”
Head teacher Mark Elms wrote to parents to say the nursery, reception, year 1 and year 2 pupils would not be able to come in.

He said: “Please accept my sincere apologies for the short notice which could not be helped and for the disruption to the beginning of the new academic year.”
Eid-al-Adha is the holiest day in the Muslim calendar and – like Easter – its date changes every year as it’s based on the lunar cycle.

It was predicted to occur yesterday on September 11, causing controversy as that was also the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.
But religious leaders in Saudi Arabia announced last Friday that it would actually take place today.

British business ‘too fat and lazy’, cabinet minister :Liam Fox

political correspondent(es/wp):
The UK has lost its way as a trading nation because “lazy” executives prefer to play golf instead of fulfilling their duties as exporters, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has suggested.
In an extraordinary attack on British business culture, the Cabinet minister indicated the UK had grown "too fat" on the successes of previous generations.
Dr Fox made the unguarded comments at a reception for the Thatcherite Conservative Way Forward group, where he told audience members British business attitudes had to adapt.
He said: "We've got to change the culture in our country. People have got to stop thinking about exporting as an opportunity and start thinking about it as a duty - companies who could be contributing to our national prosperity but choose not to because it might be too difficult or too time-consuming or because they can't play golf on a Friday afternoon." At the drinks reception on Thursday night, reported by The Times, Dr Fox said: "This country is not the free-trading nation that it once was. We have become too lazy, and too fat on our successes in previous generations.
"What is the point of us reshaping global trade, what is the point of us going out and looking for new markets for the United Kingdom, if we don't have the exporters to fill those markets?"

He told supporters of the Conservative Way Forward group: "If you want to share in the prosperity of our country, you have a duty to contribute to the prosperity of our country."
Number 10 distanced itself from Dr Fox's comments, with a source saying he was expressing "private views" while a spokesman for the minister said he was committed to supporting UK business.
Dr Fox also risked inflaming tensions between his department, created by Theresa May when she entered Number 10, and Boris Johnson's Foreign Office.
In his speech to Tory activists, Dr Fox dismissed the "Foreign Office view of the world" for focusing on capital cities and diplomacy rather than commerce, the newspaper reported.

He said his department would "look at the GDP map of the world" - noting that the city of Los Angeles has higher gross domestic product than Saudi Arabia.
"We have to start to think about (the world) in a totally different way," he told the reception.
"We've got to change from the cartographer's view of the world to the mercantilist view of the world. The structures of government (have) to respond to where the opportunities arise and the size of markets."
A Number 10 source said "clearly he's expressing private views" and there were no proposals for any penalties for firms that do not export.
A spokesman for the Trade Secretary said: "Dr Fox is committed to supporting the full range of businesses in the UK so that they can best take advantage of the opportunities that Brexit presents."

Britons will have to pay for visas to visit Europe

staff reporter(wp/es):
Britons may be forced to apply for visas and pay a fee before travelling to Europe if EU plans go ahead, it has been reported.
European Commission officials are said to be drawing up proposals aimed at tightening security in the bloc’s borderless Schengen zone, of which the UK is not a part.
According to the Guardian, this may include the introduction of a visa programme similar to the US waiver for all countries not signed up to the Schengen agreement.
 Currently British passport holders can travel in member states without having to apply for visas, but the issue is likely to feature in Brexit negotiations once Article 50 has been triggered.

The possible scheme is said to feature in draft legislation for the EU travel information and authorisation system (Etias) – which is set to be unveiled later this year, the Guardian said.
It may mean Britons will have to apply online 72 hours in advance of travelling and pay a fee of £10.
EU law expert Camino Mortera-Martinez, from the Centre for European Reform, told the Guardian: “In theory UK citizens, as third-country nationals, would certainly be subject to the obligations [of such a scheme]."
“This will have to be part of the Brexit talks. It will all have to be negotiated.”

The City of London ‘will suffer’ in single-market exit, European Commission warns

Business correspondent(es/wp):
A senior figure at the European Commission has issued a stark warning for the future of the City of London if Britain leaves the European internal market, ramping up the rhetoric ahead of Brexit negotiations.
Vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis warned that leaving the market as well as the European Union “would have serious effects” for the capital’s financial centre.
In an interview with German newspaper Handelsblatt, Dombrovskis said the EU would not allow Britain to “cherry-pick” in Brexit talks by abandoning the free movement of labour while keeping free access to EU financial and capital markets.
“At the moment, British banks only need a licence for one EU state to be able to be active in all member countries. The banks would lose this EU passport if Britain no longer wants to completely respect the rights and duties of the European internal market after it has left the EU,”  he said. Britain is yet to trigger Article 50 of the EU constitution, which would effectively rubber-stamp its intention to leave the 28-country union

However, a big concern for lenders is making sure the UK retains access to the European banking passport system which would allow business to be conducted across the union.
Dombrovskis’ comments came after Anthony Browne, chief executive of the British Bankers’ Association, this week said that unless a transition framework is put in place banks would soon have to decide whether to move operations to Europe, as such shifts could take several years to implement.
He added that Britain should negotiate transitional arrangements to avoid “cliff edge” disruption to financial markets