Energy supplier switching hits three-year high December 9, 2013 THE NUMBER of people switching energy supplier hit a three-year high last month, according to new data released yesterday. The number of people switching suppliers in November rose above 614,000, almost double the 356,952 figure from November last year, said the research from Electralink, commissioned by industry body Energy UK. 125,000 of the people who [...]
Clegg mulls tax for property owners living outside the UK November 18, 2013 PEOPLE living outside the UK and investing in British property do not pay enough tax, deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said yesterday, hinting at a crack down on overseas cash in next month’s Autumn Statement. House prices in London are rising at around 10 per cent a year. While most buyers across the market are UK-based, [...]
What you need to know before the open – 02/12 December 2, 2013 It's a big week for the UK, with manufacturing, construction and services PMIs for November and, of course, the chancellor's Autumn Statement on Thursday. US markets continue to go from strength to strength, with the S&P 500 hit another record high on Friday. Busyness on the macroeconomic front will be seen more widely, too, [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 6 December 2013 December 5, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Lew urges race to top on bank reform Jack Lew, the US treasury secretary, warned that US financial reforms aimed at ending the problem of banks that are “too big to fail” would fall short unless international regulators held global banks to the same high standards. The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is [...]
Letters to the editor – 06/12 – Tax crackdown, Crossrail Two, Best of Twitter December 5, 2013 Tax crackdown [Re: Autumn Statement: What to watch out for, yesterday] There has been so much talk of tax avoidance that a fear factor has developed, with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) playing the role of chief scaremongerer. We have reached an extremely worrying point where people would prefer to pay too much tax rather than [...]
Britain must do more to accelerate exploitation of its vast shale potential January 13, 2014 TO SUPPORT the development of its huge shale potential, Britain desperately needs the backing of investors, local communities, and local government. The stakes are high – with the slow demise of the North Sea, we face rising import bills, a rapidly declining tax base and, as last year’s dispute at the Grangemouth refinery warned us, [...]
With stunts like this, it’s no wonder we have no faith in politicians December 5, 2013 With the Autumn Statement within the hour, this morning was obviously an ideal time for Ian Duncan Smith to announce that his Universal Credit programme may be late (i.e. not finished by 2017). The pear-shaped project has been lambasted for "alarmingly weak" management, frittering public money (to the sum of £140m) and a disastrous IT [...]
It’s time to end the cruel delusion of cheap money and reckless spending | City A.M. December 4, 2013 GEORGE Osborne will present his Autumn Statement to a country in the grip of a cruel economic delusion, perpetrated against the poor and the aspirational. Welfare states everywhere are spending chronically beyond their means while papering over the cracks with easy money. Budget 2013 forecast spending in excess of receipts of about £9bn a month. [...]
It’s time to end the cruel delusion of cheap money and reckless spending | City A.M. December 4, 2013 GEORGE Osborne will present his Autumn Statement to a country in the grip of a cruel economic delusion, perpetrated against the poor and the aspirational. Welfare states everywhere are spending chronically beyond their means while papering over the cracks with easy money. Budget 2013 forecast spending in excess of receipts of about £9bn a month. [...]
Chancellor considers taxing foreign home owners in bid to curb bubble October 31, 2013 The UK is considering imposing new taxes on foreign property owners in a move to check what many see as an emerging housing bubble in London and the South East, reports Sky News' economics editor, Ed Conway. Chancellor George Osborne is investigating the possibility of enforcing capital gains tax on foreign owners of British properties [...]