Autumn Statement 2015: George Osborne promises £450m extra for Government Digital Services to improve public services online November 25, 2015 George Osborne has promised an additional £450m for spending on government digital services to make it easier for the public to do things online. The additional funding comes amid wider cuts to the core spending of the Cabinet Office of 25 per cent. Digitising services, such as filing tax returns, has already saved as much as £1.7bn [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: Chancellor George Osborne will get his surplus – but his long-term plan isn’t credible November 25, 2015 Yesterday George Osborne delivered what was effectively his fourth budget in under a year. Little wonder that his hour-long presentations from the despatch box are increasingly filled with tiny tweaks to policy and a lot of rhetoric and padding. The chancellor could have got across the important points of his statement in about three [...]
London houses now cost 14 times average earnings November 25, 2016 The house price to earnings ratio in London is now over 14 times. According to figures from Hometrack, the widening gap between supply and demand in the capital has pushed house prices up by 86 per cent since 2009. Read more: People are pretty confident house prices rose this month This means the ratio between [...]
13 events that will change the world in 2017: Article 50, Snapchat’s IPO, more Libor trials and a vote on Heathrow January 3, 2017 2017 looks like it's going to be a busy one: we're looking ahead to some of the key business and political events already pencilled in for this year's calendar. 1. Supreme court to rule on Article 50 The Supreme Court is due to deliver its ruling on Gina Miller's case this month (Source: Getty) The Supreme [...]
Autumn Statement and Comprehensive Spending Review 2015: Housing set to dominate – as well as what time it starts, how to watch it and what will be in it November 25, 2015 Later today George Osborne will take to the despatch box to give his combined Autumn Statement and Comprehensive Spending Review. George Osborne has already tweeted the front cover of the document, saying it will "deliver economic and national security – the foundations of everything we do". Today's Spending Review will deliver economic and national security – the [...]
London’s house prices had the UK’s lowest rate of annual growth last month December 12, 2016 Back in March, London was leading the UK's annual house price inflation, but the recent drop in prices and transactions in prime central property has led to annual change of just 0.1 per cent, meaning London's house prices had the lowest rate of annual growth in the country last month. For England and Wales as a whole, average [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: George Osborne boosts spending on housing, but can the government really build 400,000 more homes? November 25, 2015 Britain’s housing supply crisis isn’t a new problem – but today George Osborne made another government pledge to increase the stock. Osborne’s plans include selling off prisons and offering more capital to affordable housing. To top it off, there is to be a new help-to-buy scheme for London, to give residents a leg up onto [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: George Osborne’s speech transcript in full including stamp duty, business rates and corporation tax announcements November 25, 2015 Mr Speaker, this Spending Review delivers on the commitment we made to the British people that we would put security first. To protect our economic security, by taking the difficult decisions to live within our means and bring down our debt. To protect our national security, by defending our country’s interests abroad and keeping our [...]
Travel website Skyscanner bought by Chinese firm Ctrip in £1.4bn deal November 24, 2016 The UK travel comparison site Skyscanner has been bought up by Ctrip, China's largest online travel business. The deal values Skyscanner at around £1.4bn. The travel website, which is based in Edinburgh, said it would keep the same management team and would be run independently within the Ctrip group. What does this mean for UK [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: George Osborne’s Help-to-Buy and other housing budget announcements are little more than empty rhetoric November 25, 2015 George Osborne’s big news today was the announcement that the government “chooses to build” and will double the housing budget to £2bn, reforming the housing system and pumping £7bn into building 400,000 more affordable homes. Described as "the biggest affordable housebuilding programme since the 1970s", it's great news for those in desperate need of affordable housing. However [...]