Small Budget tweaks could give startups big improvements in access to cash March 10, 2020 Britain’s small business funding picture is mixed. The good news is that, while access to traditional bank loans has been limited since the financial crisis, founders have undoubtedly benefited from the rise of alternative finance. Over £2bn is now lent through peer-to-peer lenders and close to 400 equity crowdfunding deals take place in the UK [...]
New lockdown guidance gets widespread approval in Westminster June 23, 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement today that the two metre social distancing will be scrapped in favour of new “one metre-plus” guidance from 4 July was met with widespread approval from Westminster, as the public prepares to revitalise the British economy after months of lockdown. Business Ministers welcomed the new guidance as providing a lifeline [...]
Coronavirus business loans hit £450m but doubts about scheme remain April 8, 2020 UK banks have now lent £453m through the government’s coronavirus business loans scheme as it picks up following an overhaul, although a large number of firms are still struggling to access the cash they need. The Treasury said today that more than 2,500 loans for business had been approved as of yesterday via the coronavirus [...]
Time for the Treasury to get with the programme — Britain can afford to spend February 19, 2020 In the days of the old Soviet Union, so-called Kremlinologists would pore over every utterance of the Politburo, every sentence in Pravda, to try to work out what was really going on. Sajid Javid’s defenestration from the Treasury has led to an upsurge in similar types of intellectual effort here. What was it really all [...]
A high-speed economy needs more than just a few extra trains February 18, 2020 History will show that productivity, not Brexit, was the economic issue of our age. And the new government has made a high-speed start. The focus on “levelling up” the UK economy — and a resultant focus on regional productivity — is completely right. The story of this country’s regional productivity is sometimes characterised solely as [...]
Can the chancellor protect the UK economy from coronavirus? March 10, 2020 You have to feel sympathy for Rishi Sunak. Suddenly appointed as chancellor after the unexpected resignation of Sajid Javid, he found himself with just weeks to put together the first Budget of the Boris Johnson era. Any chance he could simply copy Javid’s homework was then dashed when the former chancellor gave the Times chapter [...]
Coronavirus: US stocks lift on stimulus measures despite Europe turmoil March 20, 2020 US stocks lifted slightly on the open this afternoon as traders reacted to massive amounts of government stimulus aimed at containing the coronavirus crisis. The S&P 500 dipped 0.5 per cent before rising just 0.1 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.3 per cent. The Dow Jones posted a 0.5 per cent rise shortly [...]
Competition watchdog risks ‘killing’ British tech firms, startups warn March 3, 2020 The UK competition watchdog risks “killing” rising British tech companies by launching lengthy investigations while global rivals are free to pull ahead, startups have warned. In a letter to chancellor Rishi Sunak, seen by City A.M., industry body the Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec) said the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) “eleventh-hour interventions” risked [...]
General Election 2019: Tories to up stamp duty for non-UK residents November 22, 2019 Foreign residents will be slapped with a higher rate of stamp duty than UK home-owners under a Conservative government, as part of efforts to tackle the country’s housing crisis. A three per cent surcharge will be levied on companies as well as individuals buying property who are not UK tax residents, the Tories will announce [...]
Now Mark Carney sees a silver lining to Brexit February 14, 2020 Mark Carney has said there may be a silver lining to Brexit for the UK economy. Speaking to Reuters, the outgoing Bank of England governor said there are some potential upsides for the economy from Brexit, in marked contrast to some of his previous comments on the decision to leave the EU. “In an environment [...]