Ed Miliband: David Cameron’s divided party is now a clear and present danger to UK business March 29, 2015 ELECTION COUNTDOWN 38 DAYS TO GO Today the Prime Minister is going to Buckingham Palace. Parliament is dissolved and the General Election is finally underway. This election is not simply a choice between parties and leaders but between different visions of our country, of how we succeed, of the kind of country we [...]
The UK economy according to the OECD in [XX] charts February 24, 2015 Last year Andy Haldane, the Bank of England's chief economist, said that the economy "appears to be writing in both agony and ecstasy. He noted that, although the economy was growing fast than most other big rich economies, real wages were falling and productivity growth or output per hour worked had stalled. Since then, wages [...]
UK mid-market has overtaken Germany’s Mittelstand – but we can do better February 22, 2015 Angel investor and entrepreneur Sherry Coutu CBE recently said that “competitive advantage doesn’t go to the nations that focus on creating companies, it goes to nations that focus on scaling companies.” And scaling up, growing, and exporting abroad are all challenges particularly faced by the UK’s mid-market (businesses with a typical turnover of between £10m [...]
Everything you need to know about non-doms: Who are they, what tax do they pay, why does Labour want to ban them April 8, 2015 Ed Miliband appears to be making the political weather today with his pledge to abolish non-domiciled tax status. However, Ed Balls' warning back in January that abolishing the non-dom status could actually cost Britain money has come back to haunt Labour spinners. Here are the basics of everything you need to know about non-doms and [...]
BDO: What we expect and hope for in today’s Budget March 17, 2015 Our tax policy over the past decade has largely ignored the UK’s mid-market businesses despite this section of the economy being a significant source of tax revenues and widely regarded as the engine room for future economic growth. This fact needs to be acknowledged, with more targeted reliefs and incentives aimed at stimulating this fundamental [...]
General Election 2015: Liberal Democrat manifesto – here’s everything you need to know April 15, 2015 The waiting is over: today Nick Clegg set out the Liberal Democrat manifesto, leading with five "top priorities" which focus on increasing prosperity, balancing the budget, protecting the environment, improving education and "fair taxes". So not unlike his rivals, then… The manifesto hinted at a party which knows it could easily end up with a [...]
In charts: Are UK house prices suffering from pre-election blues? March 25, 2015 The housing market could be facing a case of pre-election blues. The customary January demand-surge just never arrived. But is this cause for concern or just the market stabilising? The figures Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show that the rate of house price growth in the UK slowed to 8.4 per cent in the [...]
General Election 2015: Business leaders speak out: Labour (still) isn’t working – Brand Index March 10, 2015 The General Election is almost upon us and polls show the public believes that if the Tories win, its business policies would be better than Labour’s for the economy. But what about the business community itself? Using YouGov’s Business Omnibus, and interviewing high-profile decision makers, 81 per cent thought Conservative measures would be good for [...]
The final countdown: Should we fear the outcome of the most tightly fought election for a generation? April 23, 2015 The UK is approaching the most unpredictable General Election for a generation. In our increasingly fractured political landscape, there is no clear frontrunner between Labour and the Conservatives, while a surge of support for the UK Independence Party, Scotland’s SNP and the Green Party has complicated the picture further. Many commentators have voiced concerns over [...]
Russia to launch £22bn economy rescue package January 28, 2015 RUSSIA is to commit 2.3 trillion roubles (£22bn) to a plan to support its sanction-hit economy. It comes just days after its debt was downgraded to a “junk” rating by Standard and Poor’s ratings agency. The government also plans to set up a bad bank to take on troublesome loans from the banking sector. The [...]