I’m a priest who works in finance. Here is my take September 29, 2011 WHILE being interviewed during the Liberal Democrat Conference, the great pious voice of our collective conscious, also known as Vince Cable, solemnly stated that the reduction of the uncompetitive taxes on the “rich” would have to wait. His reasoning was that a reduction in tax on the lowest paid would result in greater overall spending. [...]
Lazy politicians should be universally admired September 29, 2011 IT’S conference season, and the airwaves are full and the newspaper pages thick with a barrage of policy ideas. Every would-be chancellor and tyro PM wants to make their mark on the nation with their energy, their zeal to do something that will make life better. They’re all wrong. Half the trouble of the world, [...]
RAPID RESPONSES September 29, 2011 EMBRACING EFTA Regarding Neil Bentley’s article in yesterday’s paper on the plans for a Tobin tax, I would like to add that Norway and Switzerland would also not be affected by such a tax because they are in the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The European Economic Area’s (EEA) free movement of goods, services, capital [...]
The European Commission’s plans for a Tobin Tax would threaten the UK’s recovery September 28, 2011 THE call from President Jose Manuel Barroso and the European Commission to set up a European Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) is misguided, not only because it is unlikely to work, but because if it does, it would have a chilling effect on growth and would damage the UK’s competitiveness. It is clear that Europe needs [...]
Businesses can help transform our communities September 28, 2011 AS LONDON and the world gears up for London 2012, there has never been a greater opportunity for the business world to create a lasting social and economic legacy. As politicians search for answers to stimulate growth, enterprise comes up time and time again as a solution. Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy [...]
Saving the euro could prove costly to the UK September 28, 2011 WITH a stop and a start, a rolling crisis and neverending summits, the Eurozone is edging towards fiscal union to shore up its struggling monetary union. In the sweep of history, this is no surprise – eurosceptics and europhiles alike had forecast that merging currencies would lead to the merging of tax and spending. The [...]
RAPID RESPONSES September 28, 2011 Miliband DebatEd Thanks to Luke Johnson for voicing what everyone is thinking in @cityamforum this morning! Christopher Lomas Conference is about appealing to your base. To suggest Labour will clobber private business is disinformation. Miliband may be useless, but the lurch to the Left is not likely, otherwise Labour can forget power for a generation [...]
EC proposals to reform the audit market are seriously flawed, says PWC chairman September 27, 2011 LEAKED European Commission proposals for regulatory changes to the audit market hit the front page yesterday. They represent a significant market intervention and while they have not changed substantially from a Green Paper published last year, if implemented they would risk undermining quality and confidence in the audit market. Of course, this is an important [...]
Miliband shows why Labour are not fit for office September 27, 2011 ED MILIBAND has just demonstrated why he is unfit to lead this country. Yesterday, he delivered a speech which showed he doesn’t really understand business, and probably doesn’t even believe in capitalism. It was an oration full of vague phrases and void of specifics, but the sentiment was clear. He is suspicious of big business, [...]
Ministerial favouritism isn’t business-friendly September 27, 2011 VINCE Cable’s Department for Business announced a plan last week to give the UK’s 50 largest firms ministerial “business buddies”. For example, Nissan will make friends with enterprise minister Mark Prisk, Vodafone will get chummy with culture secretary Jeremy Hunt and British Gas will have Cable himself as a ministerial pal. What will government ministers [...]