Brexit bill backlash

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“Limited’ law-breaking

Today, the government will publish the Internal Market Bill, a piece of legislation that sets out a blueprint for a post-Brexit Britain. It will allow all four UK nations to trade freely with each other. But critics say the bill will hamper trade talks with the EU - and the Northern Ireland minister admitted it would “break international law in a very specific and limited way”.

Shared ownership boost

The shared ownership scheme plans to lower the entry requirements to make it easier for first-time buyers with small deposits to get onto the property ladder. Buyers must currently purchase at least 25% of the property upfront, while renting the other share. From April 2021, you'll be able to start with a 10% share. Other changes will make it cheaper and easier for owners to buy extra chunks of equity.

Tech rout

Tesla shares had their worst day in over 6 months yesterday, during a sell-off of US tech stocks. The car maker was denied a place on the S&P 500 index, prompting a 21% fall in its share price. Amazon and Apple also suffered falls. US markets are in the red at the moment over concerns that the economy is struggling to recover from the coronavirus recession.

Data hiring spree

The government wants to train 500 new data scientists by 2021, and will hire more people to work with data for the prime minister’s office. It also proposed more data sharing between public and private sectors, after the pandemic highlighted the importance of sharing data “quickly, efficiently and ethically”.