BREXIT - Is This Really Still Rumbling On? 😴
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I have a vague recollection that someone on here said that the City's position was unassailable. Might be mistaken...
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There's more to the City than the LSE. It's also interesting to note the quoted Spectator article blames too much ESG; however, Shein (valued at £50bn) may list in London despite considerable concerns about their ESG.
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TBF, scoring badly on ESG criteria was usually the main consistent feature of firms listing in the UK.
The critics of ESG reporting, who suggest it is a barrier to listing, have it arse about face. ESG reporting only measures what's there - if you're scoring badly on that, you have bigger problems than the reporting.
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ESG reporting is not that simple. It is time consuming and costly and generally drives everyone doing it close to insanity.
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Have you ever been involved in ESG reporting?
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Yeah. Had to produce a report for a potential listing for the firm I work for. In the UK.
Boss pulled it last minute, but the report was still published.
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If you weren't considering your whistleblowing policies, exposure to slavery and impact on rare newts, then I don't think you had the full experience.
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Sure. Did it all. A lot of it is boilerplate stuff. Get a lawyer in to explain some of it. Ours is a very simple business model.
Now, for sure, it's a totally different kettle of fish for investors, absolutely. I speak to ESG leaders all day every day and it is a regular pain in the arse. But like most things reporting, *once the process is in place*, it is actually fairly run-of-the-mill, and you can shunt it into the middle or back office.
Anyway, I maintain, if reporting on your non-financial performance is putting you off listing, I would suggest it is because you have something non-financial that you don't want the public to know about.
Light is the best disinfectant etc.
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Sounds a lot like the planning system. Have you checked for bats? Is there a veteran tree within 200m that may be affected by your operations? What is the biodiversity net gain?.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
It's worse than that, because you have all the planning considerations* that you mention plus all the international elements plus all the governance stuff. For example, if you might import anything from China, then you need a policy on forced labour and how the policy will be enforced, and it is not enough to simply ask your supplier whether they are using forced labour. Most people I know actively avoid it due to the pain.
*Note these don't just need to meet UK law, they need to meet an international standard
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The list above is what we need for a small domestic project <£1m construction budget. Or even in one instance, replacing the roof on a house in a conservation area. For a bigger project the list of documents grows and the content of each increases. They haven't asked for info on modern slavery yet, but I don't think we're more than a couple of well meaning planning committee meetings away from that.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Yes, once it is set up it is easier, but it is still relatively costly to maintain as it requires employing qualified people and usually some expert consultants*. The other issue is that it tends to be a 9-5 job, so takes ages which can threaten timelines. I have not come across anyone with something to hide, and I have also not come across anyone who wants to do ESG reporting.
*Note there aren't that many of them and most are in Europe.
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And people wonder why prices are going up when companies have to spend time and money to comply with this sort of guff and loads more.
We put our published tax strategy next to our Modern Slavery declaration on the Group website as I felt it was somehow appropriate. Tax freedom day is somewhere around now I think.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
Yes it’s almost like I set my practice up specifically to service the talent shortfall.
It’s even more acute when you look at financiers and investors who understand both the financial, commercial AND the ESG side. Firms will pay handsomely for those kinds of people, and will pay people go find them 😬
You can’t demand to know the impact of your investments, let alone demand improvements in the firm’s non-financial behaviour, if you don’t measure it.
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ESG is not for me.
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shows what happens when you elect brexiters
my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny0 -
I dare say she'll get told off for mentioning the B word before the election, but this is how I see the dial shifting, bit by bit, in the right general direction.
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I'm surprised that she's surprised to be honest.
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That's probably her excuse for bringing it up at all... "Gosh, wow, wasn't expecting people to mention it." It is in rather sharp contrast to Rayner's forcefully unequivocal "No, definitely no SM, no CM" in the most recent 'debate'. But I think that still leaves latitude for 'technical improvements' in the 2025 renegotiation. I'd not be surprised to see the B word rehabilitated and 'renegotiated' in the (potential) 2030 election, depending on the implementation and impact of those 'technical improvements'.
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I'm not a fan of the Labour messaging around Brexit to be honest, but it is understandable. I don't think Stella is doing anyone any favours with this.
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My tl;dr is that they are, shall we say, wanting to move in the right direction but not wanting to scare those who voted for Brexit, so are trying to sound as clear as possible but leaving themselves enough latitude in the next parliament to improve the relationship with no actual change of status (so staying true to their manifesto for this election), but would see how the land lies for the next one.
Given that even the Tories are saying that someone born now could find themselves under a Labour government until they are old enough to vote, there's plenty of time for the political ground to shift in successive parliaments.
And in that time, you never know, a miracle might happen, and the Tories rediscover that making trade as easy as possible with your nearest and biggest market isn't such a bad idea after all. Though I'll not hold my breath.
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“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!0 -
"Tear down barriers" seems to be framed in order to bolster Tory claims that Labour will scupper Brexit. Not that I'd mind, but it does seem a bit hyperbolic given the minimal 'improvements' she has suggested.
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I do think, in general, as a party that didn't really nail its colours to the mast on Brexit, Labour will have some flexibility to be practical about what it aligns with the EU with and what it doesn't.
I felt like the Tory party was so committed to the ideology of Brexit they tore a lot of stuff up totally unnecessarily.
As such, they'll have the freedom, if they choose to take it, to make the most of the position Britain has, rather than use it as some ideological demonstration of purity.
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The line seems to be that no one voted for Brexit just so we'd have different [insert sector] rules than Europe
The first sector being chemicals
I've never seen the point of paying for the freedom to change rules you've no interest in changing anyway.
“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!0 -
Frosty explains negotiating
“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!0
