Osborne’s Autumn Statement targets higher rate taxpayers December 5, 2012 George Osborne yesterday admitted that the government will miss its own growth and debt reduction targets, forcing him to extend his austerity measures for another year to 2018. Insisting that he would not change his approach, Osborne told the House of Commons that “Britain is on the right track” and “turning back now would be [...]
Osborne set to make benefit rules tougher September 29, 2013 GEORGE Osborne will today announce that the long-term unemployed will have to undertake community work or risk losing their welfare payments. The chancellor will tell the Conservative conference that from next April “no one will get something for nothing”. As a result, tens of thousands of jobseekers will forced to undertake 30 hours of service [...]
Tories need to map out a tax cutting plan to ease the living cost squeeze December 1, 2013 AS THE chancellor’s Autumn Statement beckons, after a run of good economic news, it is time to address Britain’s less flattering fundamentals. Government has too much debt, the country too little to show for the recovery. Public spending at 48.4 per cent of GDP is debilitating, leaving the tax burden at its highest for 24 [...]
Create your grand design inside an Edwardian factory June 5, 2014 PROPERTY brochures are often packed with glossy computer generated images depicting pavement café culture at its peak on a summery afternoon in June. But the promotional material for Loud and Western on the Broughton Road in Fulham is stark and bare. The first four houses went on the market yesterday in what’s known in the [...]
UK Coal receives £10m state loan to close mines April 10, 2014 THE UK government said yesterday that it will give a £10m loan to UK Coal to help finance a managed closure of two of its mines over the next 18 months. “The taxpayer would face significant losses and liabilities in the event of an immediate insolvency of UK Coal, principally relating to redundancy and unpaid [...]
Plan A has worked but it hasn’t avoided disaster December 5, 2013 ACCOMPANYING the Autumn Statement, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) upgraded expected growth for 2013 to 1.4 per cent and for 2014 to 2.4 per cent, while the deficit in 2013-14 has returned to falling for the first time since 2010-11. George Osborne says this showed Plan A worked. Is he right? Yes and no. [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 20 November 2013 November 19, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Investors attack BoA settlement Bank of America’s plan to pay $8.5bn to compensate 22 institutional investors for soured mortgage-backed securities is a “Frankenstein settlement”, and should be rejected, a lawyer for a dissenting group of investors told a New York judge Tuesday. The claim came as lawyers for investors locked in combat over [...]
Yellen says Fed may raise rates by spring 2015 March 19, 2014 THE Federal Reserve will probably end its massive bond-buying programme this coming autumn, and could start to raise interest rates around six months later, Fed chair Janet Yellen said yesterday. US stocks fell after the statement with the Dow closing 0.7 per cent lower at 16,222.17. The Fed had pledged not to raise rates until [...]
Stage set for more austerity as the chancellor gives Autumn Statement December 2, 2012 THE biggest news of the week will come from chancellor George Osborne on Wednesday, when he delivers his Autumn Statement. Osborne has already revealed he will be continuing Britain’s austerity drive, saying in a television interview that to turn back from the policy now would be “a complete disaster for our country”. His half-yearly financial [...]
Tax crackdown on partnerships aims for £7bn December 5, 2013 A PACKAGE of measures to curb tax avoidance were included in yesterday’s Autumn Statement, in a move the chancellor says will raise nearly £7bn. Osborne outlined a two-pronged crackdown on company partnerships used to reduces taxes for hedge fund managers’ salaries and disguise company employees as self-employed partners to avoid income tax. “Most wealthy people [...]