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The majority of almost 4,000 pieces of retained EU law are now set to stay in the UK’s statute book in a U-turn by the government on its controversial plan to review or scrap all EU-era law by the end of this year.
Only about 800 laws will be removed by the end of 2023, business secretary Kemi Badenoch told Tory Brexiters this week, sparking anger among her governing Conservative party’s Eurosceptics.
Badenoch’s allies did not deny yesterday that the government was preparing to ditch a December 31 “sunset clause” under which EU laws would automatically expire if they had not been revised or retained.
The year-end deadline had alarmed business groups and trade unions, who warned it could lead to huge uncertainty and the possible loss of key protections.
The new approach will be welcomed by business and civil servants, who have been given the huge task of overhauling the statute book, and will be seen as another sign of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s practical approach to EU issues.
Here’s what else I’ll be watching today:
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Economic data: France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the EU have first-quarter flash gross domestic product figures, and France, Germany and Poland publish their consumer price indices for this month.
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EU meeting: Finance ministers and central bank governors arrive in Stockholm for an informal discussion, with Ukraine’s reconstruction on the agenda.
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Results: Aon, Chevron, Colgate-Palmolive, Electrolux, Eni, ExxonMobil, NatWest and Pearson are among the companies reporting today.
Five more top stories
1. Amazon said growth slowed this month in its cloud division, raising investor fears about a main driver of the tech giant’s profits and taking the shine off of an initial rally in its shares after its earnings report. Read more about the concerns at Amazon Web Services.
2. Joe Biden has started wooing Wall Street donors to fill his campaign war chest, planning a two-day event in Washington to bring together wealthy backers. He hopes to beat the $1bn he raised in 2020 ahead of what some pundits say will be the most expensive US presidential race in history.
3. Russia’s stock market has climbed to its highest level in more than a year as domestic retail investors with nowhere else to go snap up dividend-paying stocks that sold off heavily following the invasion of Ukraine. Here’s how much Russian shareholders have gained.
4. US economic growth slowed sharply in the first quarter to 1.1 per cent on an annualised basis despite strong consumer spending, suggesting the Federal Reserve’s year-long battle against inflation is starting to take effect. Read more on yesterday’s figures, which were well below forecasts.
5. First Republic’s advisers are working on a private-sector solution they hope can overcome scepticism in Washington. But the plan has not yet won the backing of White House officials, who will ultimately decide whether the government should seize the troubled bank.
How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.
The Big Read
India’s large, youthful population could accelerate economic growth if the country can harness its skills, giving it the chance to join China among the ranks of economic superpowers. Alternatively, its masses of striving poor could get old before their country gets rich. In what some are predicting will be an “Indian century”, will the world’s most populous country seize its demographic dividend, or squander it?
We’re also reading . . .
Chart of the day
Despite a steady upward trend in the number of new doctors and nurses, vacancies continue to rise. In short, Britain’s national health service has developed a leak, writes chief data reporter John Burn-Murdoch, and it’s not an easy one to fix since it frequently drips into other countries.
Take a break from the news
The new adventure game The Kraken Wakes is the latest beneficiary of Charisma’s revolutionary AI dialogue software. Adapted from the 1953 John Wyndham novel of the same name, The Kraken Wakes gives a view into what happens when games start talking back.
Additional contributions by Emily Goldberg
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