Business news – live: No-deal Brexit fears as food firms call for relaxed rules to cope with shortages
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Food firms are urging the government to waive parts of competition law to allow them to work together to minimise disruption to supplies in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Meanwhile, the pound remains close to the 30-month low of $1.21 reached last week but is up slightly against the dollar and euro, despite news on Brexit appearing to worsen this morning.
Senior Tory MPs have suggested that the Queen may have to step in to use prerogative powers to remove Boris Johnson as prime minister if he refused to step down after a potential no-confidence vote.
Mr Johnson, whose government has a majority of just one MP, could face a no-confidence vote if he attempts to push through no-deal as promised on 31 October.
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The government is unlikely to grant the food industry's wish for relaxed rules to alleviate food supply problems, says Mark Jones, partner at law firm Gordons. Big supermarkets probably won't be on board either.
Jones says: “The ‘big four’ control almost 70 per cent of the market and if any of them have a supply chain advantage post-Brexit, it offers them an opportunity to gain market share," says Jones.
"I cannot see them wanting to help their competitors. They will want to help their own customers.
“As to suppliers, if they can sell the stock they have, they will, and they may well be able to make a better profit if supply is tight.
"If they cannot sell or use their raw materials, there is nothing stopping them picking up the phone to their competitors and selling raw materials now.
"Relaxing rules on anti-competitive behaviour is, in my view, unlikely to help shortages and I cannot see the Government going for it.”
The pound is a quarter of a per cent lower against the dollar so far today at $1.2137, not far off the 31-month low of $1.2080 it hit last week.
Against the euro, sterling is down 0.1 of a cent, leaving it slightly above the 23-month low reached yesterday.
With little to look out for on the economic calendar, Connor Cambell, financial analyst at Spreadex, predicts markets will remain "incredibly susceptible to the minutiae of the trade war" and comments from Donald Trump.
Twitter has revealed it may have used some people's personal data to target them with advertising without their permission because of issues within the platform's settings, the Press Association reports.
The social media giant said it had recently discovered issues in its website where settings choices may not have worked "as intended", resulting in some gathered data being used to personalise advertising.
Twitter said it fixed the issues on 5 August.
In a blog post discussing the problems, Twitter detailed how, in one case, data may have been shared with advertisers despite not receiving user permission to do so.
The UK government is yet to respond to a request by the food industry to waive parts of competition law so that companies can cooperate after a no-deal Brexit to mitigate food shortages.
Full story from business and economics editor Olesya Dmitracova here:
The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, says he had “wide-ranging” talks with Donald Trump, including on a post-Brexit trade deal. with the US
But what might that include? Given the UK's massively inferior negotiating position is (not to mention the president's macho posturing on trade) many informed observers think it will include pretty much whatever the US wants it to include.
Trade expert Sam Lowe points to America's demands which are listed here.
You won't find anything specific on the infamous chlorinated chickens, hormone treated beef or genetically modified organisms - they all come under the bland-sounding 'Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures'.
“Establish rules that further encourage the adoption of international standards and strengthen implementation of the obligation to base SPS measures on science if the measure is more restrictive than the applicable international standard.”
Basically, the US agricultural lobby hates EU food standards (many of which it believes aren't based on science) and wants to follow its own, more relaxed rules.
The story of the UK's food supply post-Brexit has perhaps never been told with such emotional heft as in Sean O'Grady's wonderful account of Tomas the tomato and his journey from a Spanish vineyard to the shelves of your local Spar.
"You can see how no deal Brexit and titanic queues the Channel ports could crush the hopes of our plucky little Tomas and, as it happens, reduce him to mere passata."
Read the full tale in all its narrative glory here:
Donald Trump will not be pleased...
China's currency has weakened again.
The yuan has fallen another 0.4 per cent against the dollar on Wednesday to 7.0488 to the dollar.
Trump wants a comparatively weaker dollar and stronger yuan to make US exports cheaper relative to Chinese ones.
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