Liam Fox: Tories should freeze all spending except defence and health March 19, 2015 George Osborne should freeze all non-discretionary spending in the next parliament and "share the proceeds of growth" between tax cuts and deficit reduction. So said the former defence secretary and backbench Tory MP Liam Fox this morning. The former Conservative leadership contender flipped the phrase once used by David Cameron to argue that tax revenue [...]
European markets rise as Fed loses patience March 19, 2015 European markets rose this morning, despite last night's indication from the US Federal Reserve that it could begin to raise interest rates over the coming months. In a statement following a meeting of the Federal Open Markets Committee last night, Fed chief Janet Yellen dropped the word "patience" from the wording of her statement, indicating [...]
Budget 2015: Renton Osborne goes Toryspotting March 19, 2015 Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose the Tories. That was George “Renton” Osborne’s message to electorate, as he used the final Budget of this coalition to go Toryspotting. “We choose the future,” the chancellor said, in a sequence reminiscent of the opening of Ewan Macgregor’s 1996 film. ”We choose [...]
Budget 2015: A quick guide to all the key measures March 18, 2015 Chancellor delivers good news for savers and first-time buyers as he turns up heat on banks in play for votes ahead of election. UK ECONOMIC OUTLOOK ● The UK was the fastest growing economy in the G7 last year. However, the economy grew by just 0.5 per cent in the final three months of 2014, [...]
Budget 2015: Young first-time home buyers given a helping hand with Help to Buy Isa March 18, 2015 With fewer young people able to afford to buy a home, the Budget aims to help them out. Tim Wallace asks: Will it work? Can you imagine paying £22,000 for a flat? It sounds like a joke now, but it was the average price of a first-time buyer’s home in Britain in 1984. It was [...]
Recovery takes UK employment to all-time high with 30.94m people in work March 18, 2015 A record proportion of Britons are in work, providing a timely boost to chancellor George Osborne ahead of May’s General Election. There were 30.94m people in work in the three months ending January – 617,000 more than the same period last year, according to figures released yesterday by the Office for National Statistics. The employment [...]
Graduates urged to choose bank jobs over consultancies to earn more long-term March 18, 2015 Consultancies and investment banks might look the same at graduate recruitment fairs, but the long-term pay prospects are better at the banks, salary data firm Emolument.com said yesterday. The average new recruit at a consultancy will receive £49,000, just under the £54,000 that a new M&A banker will be paid. But top consultancies in fact [...]
UK set to be the second-fastest growing economy in the G7 March 18, 2015 The UK economy will be the second fastest growing in the G7 group of nations, an international economic group said yesterday. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is predicting growth of 2.6 per cent this year. While the US is predicted to grow 3.1 per cent and the UK’s forecast marking a downgrade [...]
Budget 2015: Banks bear brunt of pre-election tax increases March 18, 2015 Britain’s banks were targeted yet again for a tax raid yesterday, as the chancellor hit them with the biggest tax hike of any sector. George Osborne increased the bank levy for the ninth time since it was introduced in 2011, in a move which will raise an extra £4.4bn in five years. The tax, which [...]
Budget 2015: Britain’s savers rewarded with new tax breaks March 18, 2015 Savers are to be rewarded with a new personal savers allowance, which the Treasury said would take 95 per cent of taxpayers out of savings tax altogether. In a nod to the difficulties imposed on savers by unimpressive interest rates, the chancellor has introduced an allowance of £1,000 of interest earned on savings. Those whose [...]