Autumn Statement 2014 drinking game (use Tennant’s, tea or tequila) December 3, 2014 Are you thirsty for tax policies? Comforted by a large cup of hot pension news? Or fizzing over with anticipation for more infrastructure funding? This is the game for you. When you hear the Autumn Statement buzzword – take the correct number of sips. Hard working families 1 sip Long-term economic plan 1 [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: George Osborne scraps stamp duty slabs December 3, 2014 George Osborne's Autumn Statement unveiled a raft of measures in an intensely political statement aimed at luring voters back from Ukip during next year's general election. His centrepiece? A complete overhaul of stamp duty which, he said, will create savings for 98 per cent of home buyers. To cheers from the Tory back benches, Osborne [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: Lord Heseltine calls for minimum wage hike December 3, 2014 Former Tory deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine has called for a hike in minimum wages, saying there is no argument for the government to keep wages low. At an event held by Management Today magazine at Claridge's on the eve of George Osborne's Autumn Statement, Heseltine said the "great thing about being a government adviser, rather [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: Fun for all the family – interactive Osborne bingo December 2, 2014 As George Osborne prepares to deliver his final Autumn Statement before next year’s general election, City A.M. is focusing on the important questions – will this be another one for “hard-working families”? Or is it just “ordinary people” he wants to help this year? We’ve put his favourite phrases into our chancellor-o-matic to create Autumn [...]
London Assembly committee calls on Treasury to hand stamp duty over to Mayor December 10, 2015 The London Assembly's Regeneration Committee has a strong message for the next Mayor: lobby for stamp duty devolution to secure sustainable funding for the city's transportation. With London's population expected to grow to 10 million by 2030, the Committee says that increased transport is key to accommodate the growth. More funding would go toward developing [...]
Nationwide house price index: UK housing supply at its lowest level since 1970s November 27, 2015 Annual house price growth slowed to a five-month low in November – despite the number of available homes on the market falling to a level not seen since the 1970s. Nationwide's house price index showed house prices increased 0.1 per cent in November, meaning the annual growth rate fell from 3.9 per cent a month earlier to 3.7 per cent. [...]
Chancellor warns of few sweeteners in Autumn Statement – London Week Ahead November 30, 2014 THE AUTUMN Statement on Wednesday will be the highlight of the business week, although chancellor George Osborne has already warned the government can not afford sweeteners to potential voters as it is too behind on its deficit target. Osborne told the BBC Andrew Marr show yesterday there would be “no unfunded giveaways.” Manufacturing, construction and [...]
By punishing London’s buy-to-let investors, George Osborne is only hurting private renters December 11, 2015 According to a source at the Bank of England, 15 per cent of loans on their books are buy-to-let mortgages. The Bank has spent the last few years yanking levers for owner-occupiers to make sure they’re happy with its stress testing for interest rate rises. In the absence of such a shock absorber for buy-to-let [...]
Why is cybercrime growing? Ed Vaizey argues business and government need to team up to tackle cyber attacks December 15, 2015 Business and government need to team up if we’re to have any luck tackling the growing threat of cybercrime, according to digital economy minister Ed Vaizey. Major cyber attacks against firms like Carphone Warehouse and TalkTalk have put cybersecurity in the limelight this year. The UK government has classed cybercrime as one of the four [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: Extra charges for non-doms to keep tax privileges December 3, 2014 Wealthy UK residents who are not domiciled in the country will be forced to pay higher charges if they want to keep their tax privileges, the government announced yesterday. Non-doms can choose to be taxed on a “remittance basis”, which means that they are only takes on overseas income and gains that they bring to [...]