Philip Hammond chooses to splash the cash in his Budget rather than pay down the deficit October 29, 2018 Chancellor Philip Hammond declared “austerity is coming to an end” as he unveiled a raft of spending increases and tax cuts on Monday. Hammond used better-than-expected tax revenues of £12bn to pour extra cash into the NHS and bring forward by a year an increase in the 40p tax threshold to £50,000. The new level will [...]
Property in the Budget: First-time buyers to benefit from shared ownership stamp duty relief as Help to Buy extended October 29, 2018 The Chancellor unveiled a raft of new property measures today, including a further £500m for the housing infrastructure fund and stamp duty relief for first-time buyers that is extended to shared ownership homes worth up to £500,000. The government will also extend a revised version of its Help to Buy scheme until 2023, but for first-time [...]
Philip Hammond should be unashamed to show he is a true blue in the Budget October 25, 2018 With extra funding for the NHS and an end to austerity already announced, Philip Hammond must be wondering if it is him or John McDonnell delivering next week's Budget. While the cash boost for the health service is welcome, and the narrative of ending austerity popular with certain commentators, Hammond must use the Budget to [...]
Calls for a second referendum are unwise, undemocratic, and playing with dynamite October 25, 2018 “I want to be absolutely clear, this government will never accept a second referendum.” This statement from the Prime Minister in September should have been the end of the matter. Alas, it wasn’t. The so-called “people’s vote” scenario runs something like this. Enough Conservative MPs vote with Labour against any final EU agreement, defeating it [...]
Theresa May does little to reassure her Brexit critics at crunch backbenchers meeting October 24, 2018 Theresa May faced down her fractious party this evening but offered no new reassurances to the many critics of her beleaguered Brexit policy. The Prime Minister spoke to a meeting of backbench Conservative MPs – known as the 1922 committee – for just under an hour in a bid to win support for her negotiating stance with the [...]
Sterling could certainly tank, but it won’t be due to Brexit October 23, 2018 Surely here’s only one way the British pound can trade in the coming months. Currency experts are anxiously fixated on what the final details for Brexit will look like. But it seems simple to me: if it’s good, it’s good – and if it’s bad, the country will soon make it better. What does this [...]
The power of choice: Why May must back flexible right to buy October 23, 2018 He may not be well-known now, but former MP Noel Skelton probably had one of the most profound impacts on the guiding philosophy of the Conservative party. His series of pamphlets in the aftermath of the First World War explained clearly how the expansion of education and political rights, without the same expansion of economic [...]
Theresa May ‘drinking in last chance saloon’ as MPs demand she appears in front of influential 1922 committee October 21, 2018 Theresa May is facing a fight for her leadership as she was warned she is "drinking in the last chance saloon" and MPs lashed out at the the Prime Minister over her Brexit negotiations. Conservative MPs have demanded May appears before the 1922 committee on Wednesday night to be grilled on Brexit and the state of the Government, according to [...]
Britain should only allow extended Brexit transition to prevent Irish backstop, says Brexit secretary Dominic Raab October 21, 2018 Brexit minister Dominic Raab has said the UK should reject an extended transition period unless the EU abandons its demand for an Irish backstop. Theresa May's suggestion that the UK could remain attached to the European Union after December 2020 could only be an "alternative" to the backstop suggestion, Raab wrote in the Telegraph. Read [...]
UK ready to agree Irish backstop deal to speed Brexit talks October 20, 2018 UK Prime Minister Theresa May is reportedly prepared to agree a backstop deal for the border between the UK and Ireland which does not have a time limit. Bloomberg reported yesterday that May is willing to make the move to help speed Brexit talks. Read more: Varadkar says even with Brexit transition extension Irish ‘backstop’ [...]