Aurelia Butler

Senior Conservative Eurosceptic MPs have rejected Rishi Sunak’s new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland, saying one of its main pillars was “practically useless” and did not address concerns over EU law remaining in force in the region.The Windsor framework, unveiled by Sunak and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen last month, aims to ease frictions created by the Northern Ireland protocol, the post-Brexit trading arrangements for the region that have soured EU-UK relations and paralysed the region’s politics.On Wednesday, MPs will be able to vote on an element of the deal, the so-called Stormont brake, which allows members of Northern Ireland’s assembly to lodge objections to new EU rules being imposed.The new deal also includes measures to reduce trade friction between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including a “green” lane system for goods not at risk of being sent into the EU.But unionists and Brexiters say the Windsor framework does not go far enough to address the amount of EU law applying in the region.Mark Francois, chair of the European Research Group of backbench Eurosceptic Tory MPs, whose “star chamber” has been scrutinising the deal, on Tuesday signalled that they still had numerous concerns.He refused to confirm how many of its members would vote against and said MPs would convene again within the next 24 hours. “The star chamber’s principal findings are that: EU law will still be supreme in Northern Ireland; the rights of its people under the 1800 Act of Union are not restored; the green lane is not really a green lane at all,” he said. “The Stormont brake is practically useless and the framework itself has no exit, other than through a highly complex legal process.”But Downing Street defended the measure. “The brake addresses the democratic deficit and provides a clear democratic safeguard for the people of Northern Ireland,” the prime minister’s spokesperson said. Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris argued that the framework represented an “important opportunity for a turning point for Northern Ireland”, adding that it was “not perfect” but marked a “massive improvement” for the region.Heaton-Harris also argued that there had been “a lot of speculation” on what the Stormont brake actually did, adding that it was important to implement it “sooner rather than later”.

One government minister anticipated that the ERG, whose influence has diminished since the heated Brexit battles during former prime minister Theresa May’s tenure, was likely to be “split” in its eventual verdict. The ERG’s announcement came after the Democratic Unionist party, Northern Ireland’s biggest pro-UK force, said it would vote against the deal. It has boycotted the region’s assembly and power-sharing executive at Stormont since last May to press for its demands to be met by London.The DUP says Sunak’s deal does not do enough to protect Northern Ireland’s status within the UK or ability to trade with Great Britain.Opposition from the ERG and DUP will not prevent the measure from being passed since the opposition Labour party has pledged to support it. But the DUP’s stance complicates the prospect of a speedy return to Stormont and is a symbolic blow to the prime minister.“This is not about softening or hardening, this about getting it right for the future of Northern Ireland,” said DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, who is seen as a party moderate and committed devolutionist.“Our objective is to restore devolution with a solid foundation so it can ensure stability for the next generation . . . to ignore, rather than address, the concerns of unionists will not help Northern Ireland move forward,” he said.

The 27 EU member states on Tuesday unanimously agreed the principal proposed changes to the protocol. Jessika Roswall, Europe minister of Sweden, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said after the decision that it opened a “new chapter” in relations with the UK. “In a time of crisis . . . it is vital that the EU and UK are able to work together as allies,” she said. A group of 77 business leaders, including Paul Drechsler, chair of the International Chamber of Commerce, released a statement on Wednesday supporting the Windsor framework via the pro-EU campaign group Best for Britain.“The markets have already responded positively to this new pragmatic approach,” Drechsler said, urging the government to open an “international charm offensive to rebuild the UK’s reputation and attractiveness as a commercial trading partner”.Additional reporting by Andy Bounds in Brussels More

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week announced that it would hold a vote on March 22 on whether to adopt a proposal issued last year to require large, private money managers to alert the agency to signs of stress or mounting risk in the assets they handle.However, an SEC spokesperson said on Tuesday that officials had decided the text of the proposal wasn’t quite ready for adoption and so had removed it from the scheduled public meeting’s agenda.”It’s been a busy few weeks, and the Commission decided to take a little more time with the Form PF adoption release,” the spokesperson said.The volume of assets under private management has more than doubled in the decade since the SEC began collecting such data, prompting fears that financial risk could build up undetected. The financial system shuddered last week with the near-collapse of the Swiss lender Credit Suisse, a bank that in 2021 lost billions that had been held by the now-defunct family office Archegos Capital Management.The SEC on Wednesday is still due to consider another proposal concerning the electronic filing of certain forms and data and public disclosures by stock exchanges and broker-dealers. More

The IMF has struck a deal with Ukraine to provide a $15.6bn loan and a long-awaited financial lifeline to Kyiv as it tries to shore up its economy in the face of Russia’s full-blown invasion of the country.The multilateral lender announced the agreement on Tuesday after a series of talks with Ukrainian authorities in Warsaw held this month. It still needs to be approved by the IMF board, which is expected to happen in the coming weeks.Gavin Gray, the IMF official leading the talks, said: “The staff-level agreement reflects the IMF’s continued commitment to support Ukraine and is expected to help mobilise large-scale concessional financing from Ukraine’s international donors and partners over the duration of the programme.” The IMF said the programme would unfold in two stages, with the first 12-18 months devoted to build “fiscal, external, price and financial stability”. This would be focused on “revenue mobilisation” — increasing tax collection — as well as eliminating “monetary financing” and relying on domestic debt markets instead. Ukraine also committed to strengthening its governance and anti-corruption framework, the IMF said.The second phase of the deal, which will last four years, is designed to “entrench macroeconomic stability, support recovery and early reconstruction”, as Kyiv tries to achieve its goal of EU accession. “During the second phase, Ukraine would be expected to revert to prewar policy frameworks, including a flexible exchange rate and inflation-targeting regime,” the IMF said. Janet Yellen, the US Treasury secretary, cheered the deal, which confirms previous reporting by the Financial Times. For months, Ukraine and many of its allies had been pushing for the IMF to offer more financial help to Kyiv. “An ambitious and appropriately conditioned IMF programme is critical to underpin Ukraine’s reform efforts, including to strengthen good governance and address risks of corruption, and provide much-needed financial support,” Yellen said.“It will also bolster the economic assistance that the United States and our partners have provided that is funding essential services like schools, hospitals and first responders, and which is offering vital support to the Ukrainian economy,” she added. More

(Reuters) – A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Jamie McGeever.25, no change, or maybe 50?Every Fed meeting is the most important since the one before, but rarely in recent memory has a decision – and guidance – been more in the balance than Wednesday’s.There are no major economic indicators or policy events in Asia scheduled for Wednesday, meaning markets there will probably take their cue from the ‘risk-on’ tone globally on Tuesday and then go into a pre-Fed holding pattern.The U.S. central bank delivers its interest rate verdict with inflation well above target but declining, the labor market its strongest in years but creaking, the most volatile U.S. fixed income markets in decades and lending set to slow thanks to a banking crisis that erupted barely two weeks ago.Rates traders are putting an 80% probability on a 25 bps rate increase and 20% on a pause. There are still calls for the Fed to make a clear distinction between price and financial stability, and go ahead with an inflation-busting 50 bps hike.The Fed’s decision and latest economic projections come days after coordinated action from U.S. authorities to ring-fence domestic banks, a renewed push for broad-based reform of the banking system and coordinated global action to maintain the global flow of dollars.The fog of uncertainty is understandably thick.What seems clearer is that markets are on a more positive footing than they were only a few days ago, before the UBS-Credit Suisse shotgun marriage, united central bank front on FX dollar swap lines and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s latest remarks on strengthening banks and protecting depositors.U.S., European and Asian stocks all rallied strongly on Tuesday, commodities rose and bonds fell – shares in First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) rose a record 30%, GameStop (NYSE:GME) surged 32% and the two-year Treasury yield had its biggest rise since 2009. Graphic: U.S. 2-year yield – daily change, https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/zjpqjnyrgvx/US2YDaily.png But if we have learned one thing from banking crises past, it is that they are never resolved in a matter of days. This has further to run, and the full economic sand market impact of the credit crunch many think is coming has yet to be felt.Over to you Chair Powell.Here are three key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Tuesday:- UK inflation (February)- Australia composite leading indicator (February)- U.S. Federal Reserve policy decision (By Jamie McGeever; editing by Josie Kao) More