Here’s a round-up of the top brexit-related stories this week.
The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) has warned that UK farmers face a potential ‘triple jeopardy’ when the UK leaves the EU:
Mary Creagh, chair of the EAC, said:
“UK farming faces significant risks – from a loss of subsidies and tariffs on farm exports to increased competition from countries with weaker food, animal welfare and environmental standards. The government must not trade away these key protections as we leave the EU.”
Growth in the services sector continued in December 2016, according to the Markit/CIPS quarterly survey.
The growth represents a 17 month high for the service industry with new business increasing at its fastest rate since July 2015.
Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit, said:
“At face value, this improvement suggests that the next move by the Bank of England is more likely to be a rate hike than a cut, but policymakers are clearly concerned about the extent to which Brexit-related uncertainty could slow growth this year.”
Housing revenues and average selling prices rose as demand continues to increase following the EU referendum.
The housebuilder Persimmon reports that private sales in the second half of 2016 were up 15% from a year ago.
As a year whole, 15,171 home sales were completed, while revenues rose by 8% to £3.14 billion.
Ian Forrest, investment research analyst at The Share Centre, said:
“While there has been a limited affect from Brexit so far the longer term risk to the UK economy created by the UK’s decision to exit the European Union remains so we continue to regard the shares as higher risk.”
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