After four years of posturing and pontificating, the UK and the EU have agreed a trade deal that will come into effect from Friday, January 1, 2020.
But what exactly is in the deal? And what restrictions will now be placed upon trade and travel? Our Brexit deal checklist has some – if not all – of the answers.
Days after the UK and the EU finally agreed a trade deal, it’s been successfully voted through Parliament by 521 to 73.
This means that the deal – known as the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement – will now head to the House of Lords and needs to become law before the post-Brexit transition ends at midnight on Thursday, December 31, 2021.
But what exactly does the deal mean?
The UK leaves the EU in little over a week, and there are still no trade deals on place with the EU. And given that their are lorries parked up in their hundreds in Kent, with ports shut due to the UK’s coronavirus variant, it appears that so-called Project Fear is playing out just as many feared it would.
If you run a business, there is very little advice on what happens next, let alone what you should do to prepare.
Although the impact Brexit will have on your business depends upon a wide range of variables – not least whether or not you trade directly with other EU countries – it will hit businesses of all sizes, in all sectors.
To help you prepare, here’s a quick guide to running a Brexit assessment on your business.
If you’re planning on getting a new smartphone or tablet this Christmas, or you’ll be giving one as a gift, you’ll want to make sure it lasts at least until the next time you upgrade – not as easy as it sounds, especially over the festive period when an excess of excitement, and no little excess wine, can make it that bit easier to drop your device. And there’s nothing quite like that moment of sheer panic and horror as your smartphone slips from your grasp and tumbles towards the floor.
Sometimes it bounces harmlessly, but other times will see a huge crack appear on the screen, so it’s always handy to consider ways in which you can minimise the risk of breakage. Here are some top tips…
The number of spam emails getting sent has hit a 12-year low, according to security firm Symantec, which said fewer than 50% of emails which it scanned during June were junk – the lowest percentage it had seen in over a decade.
Even so, many of us are still getting loads of emails we don’t want and, to the best of our knowledge, haven’t asked for!
So if you’re getting spam emails, how do you stop them? Read on…
The government has announced that it will be extending the application dates on the financial support packages for businesses affected by coronavirus. This means the furlough scheme will be extended until April 2021, along with the Bounce Back, CBILS and CLBILS loan schemes.
2020 has been a turbulent year for business owners, especially those who have had business insurance claims turned down because their business interruption policies didn’t cover them for the pandemic.
And it looks like 2021 will be just as turbulent, as the pandemic could lead to policy price hikes of as much as 800%.
It’s been more than four years since the referendum result and a full year since Boris Johnson rode to election victory on the promise of an ‘oven-ready deal’, but with two weeks left until the UK leaves the EU, there’s still no deal in sight.
If Brexit is confusing you, our A-Z jargon-buster might help.
There are just two weeks to go until Christmas, which means 14 shopping days left, including Christmas Eve – even fewer if you’re you plan to shop online, as you’ll have to factor in extra time to process and deliver your order. Make sure you don’t miss the last postage dates.
If you’re shopping online, you’ll also have to factor in the added risk – although secure website and payment technology is always improving, hackers and fraudsters are always finding more devious ways to defraud people, and so online fraud is still a massive problem.
So, to help ensure you stay safe as you shop online at Christmas, Sainsbury’s Bank has produced this informative infographic…
It’s something we all knew could happen and probably would happen, but it’s staggering to think that the UK is actually leaving the EU in a matter of weeks and there’s still no clarity on what’s actually going to happen when the transition period ends on January 1st.
One UK business magnate recommends that investors should carefully watch how things unfold – and not concentrate on the endgame – before making any moves in the market.