Regulation threatens the City’s dominance October 2, 2011 CELEBRATIONS were understandably muted across the Square Mile last week when London once again topped the latest Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI). Muted, because the seriousness of the global economic situation means that all other issues are overshadowed. And muted, because clearly London’s competitiveness and primacy are under increasing threat. According to the GFCI, London [...]
RAPID RESPONSES October 2, 2011 Great expectation While I appreciate the argument – in Mark Speeks’s article on Friday – that the poor don’t fuel the economy, I think the piece underestimates the benefits of reducing their tax burden. It is short-sighted to think any additional income for the poor will be spent on groceries. Like all of us, the [...]
Things will only get worse for Labour until they discuss voters’ inflation concerns September 29, 2011 AS LABOUR gathered in Liverpool for its party conference this week, one of their top priorities was to fashion a message on the dominant issue in British politics today: the economy. They failed. FISCAL FAILURE On the fiscal side, the shadow chancellor Ed Balls, unveiled an economic recovery package that seemed like it had been [...]
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 [...]