Politics

US financial firms and no-frills airline easyJet have begun activating Brexit contingency plans and fears are growing that the trickle could turn into a flood as most major businesses in Britain are preparing similar arrangements.

Britain's easyJet, Europe's second biggest carrier by passenger numbers, set up a Vienna-based division on Thursday that will allow it to fly across the European Union regardless of the final outcome of talks on the UK exit from the bloc.

The announcement came after a source told AFP that New York investment bank Morgan Stanley had picked Frankfurt as its temporary hub in the EU and would be adding 200 jobs at its offices there.

US asset manager Northern Trust meanwhile has chosen Luxembourg for its base, and US bank giant Citigroup says it will move some operations from London to Frankfurt and expects "over time" to increase its presence in other EU cities.

Survivors of last month's deadly tower block inferno in London packed a tense meeting Wednesday and heckled the new leader of the local authority that has been attacked for its handling of the disaster.

Under tight security prompted by previous confrontations with the angry residents, at least 70 people who lost their homes in the devastating blaze crowded into the Kensington and Chelsea town hall.

The councillors' election at the meeting of Elizabeth Campbell as their new chief was met by boos and shouts of "shame on you", with the heckling a sign of survivors' continued anger at the authorities' handling of the Grenfell Tower disaster.

"I am deeply sorry for the grief and trauma that you are suffering. I am truly sorry that we did not do more to help you when you needed it the most," said Campbell, who at times could not be heard over shouts for her to resign.

Campbell took over after her predecessor Nicholas Paget-Brown who resigned following criticism at his response to the inferno, which spread ferociously through the 24-storey west London block and killed at least 80 people.

Distressed over a rise in acid attacks, some 200 delivery drivers protested in front of the British parliament on Tuesday, demanding the government takes action.

"Most of the time we get attacked or our bikes are stolen. I don't feel safe doing my work. Yesterday I felt threatened because some boys wanted to attack me," Musa, a young UberEATS driver toldAFP.

The protest was organised after five people, including delivery driver Jabed Hussain, were attacked with acid in the space of just 90 minutes on the night of July 13.

London's economy is wobbling from the early effects of Brexit judging from the capital's faltering housing market, fewer European Union citizens seeking work and weaker job creation, according to a report from the Centre for London think tank.

Despite the unemployment rate holding at its lowest in more than 25 years at 5.5 per cent, job creation has slowed and the number of foreign workers seeking payroll tax registrations has dropped by 15 per cent compared with a year earlier.

"While no-one knows how Brexit will play out, this new analysis suggests that London's economy is beginning to wobble," think tank director Ben Rogers said on Tuesday.

Brexit has created uncertainty for both Spanish businesses and citizens, King Felipe VI of Spain said Thursday during his state visit to Britain, calling for a swift resolution.

In a reception in the City of London business district before holding talks with Prime Minister Theresa May, the monarch also said there was a need to "minimise future obstacles.

"We cannot deny that the scenario created by Britain's decision to leave the EU has created uncertainty and doubts for our major companies, and especially for our small and medium enterprises," King Felipe said.

"We must ensure that the negotiations reduce such uncertainty to the minimum. It is vital that the framework of our future relations create the conditions for a closer trading relationship by trying to minimise future obstacles," the monarch said.

Britain is the top destination for Spanish investment in Europe. In sectors such as banking, Spain is the second-biggest investor in Britain behind the United States.

The British government on Thursday (July 13) begins the mammoth task of overhauling its legal system in time for Brexit, also revealing its stance on matters such as nuclear safety after the split.

The "Great Repeal Bill" will pave the way for Britain to adopt, amend or repeal thousands of European Union laws incorporated during its membership of the bloc.

Brexit Minister David Davis said the Bill will ensure Britain will have a "fully functioning legal system" on leaving the EU.

"This Bill means that we will be able to exit the European Union with maximum certainty, continuity and control," he said in a statement.

Seventy firefighters battled a large fire in a building in London's popular Camden Lock Market in the early hours of Monday, the London Fire Brigade said.

The emergency service said it had also sent 10 fire engines to the scene, near a nightclub and a covered market.

There were no reports of any casualties.

"The first, second and third floors, plus the roof, of a building within the market are alight," the London Fire Brigade said on Twitter.

"The Brigade's 999 Control Officers have taken multiple calls to the highly visible blaze and people are asked to avoid the area," it said on Facebook.

The parents of a terminally-ill British baby boy on Sunday delivered a petition of over 350,000 signatures demanding they be allowed to take him to the United States from treatment.

Supporters joined 11-month-old Charlie's parents Connie Yates and Chris Gard outside London's Great Ormond Street hospital (GOSH), calling for him to be released so he can travel to the US for experimental treatment.

The hospital said on Friday it would let the courts re-examine claims that he could be treated, citing "fresh evidence" after US President Donald Trump and Pope Francis drew international attention to the case.

British Prime Minister Theresa May called for plans to put up a statue of "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher outside the British parliament to go ahead despite concerns it could be targeted by vandals.

"I understand there are a number of issues that have been raised around the statue," the Conservative leader told the BBC on Friday (July 7).

"There should be no suggestion that the threat of vandalism should stop a statue of Margaret Thatcher from being put up," said May, who has dismissed parallels with her fearsome predecessor.

The plan is to put up the £300,000 (S$537,000) bronze statue on Parliament Square next to political greats such as wartime prime minister Winston Churchill and Indian independence icon Mahatma Gandhi.

Foreign funding for Islamist extremism in Britain mostly originates from Saudi Arabia, a think-tank report said on Wednesday in claims that were branded as "categorically false" by the Saudi embassy.

"While entities from across the Gulf and Iran have been guilty of advancing extremism, those in Saudi Arabia are undoubtedly at the top of the list," Tom Wilson, a fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, said in a statement.

According to the hawkish London-based foreign policy think-tank, Saudi Arabia has since the 1960s "sponsored a multimillion dollar effort to export Wahhabi Islam across the Islamic world, including Muslim communities in the West".

The ultra-conservative kingdom is the cradle of the austere Sunni doctrine of Wahhabism and is home to Islam's holiest site in Mecca.

Funding from Saudi Arabia has primarily taken the form of endowments to mosques, the report said, which have in turn "played host to extremist preachers and the distribution of extremist literature".