Over-40s to pay more tax under plans to solve social care crisis July 27, 2020 Over-40s will be forced to pay more tax or national insurance under radical new plans being considered by ministers to solve the social care crisis, according to reports. Under fresh government plans, everyone under the age of 40 will have to start contributing towards the cost of care in later life, or be compelled to [...]
Johnson bans buy one get one free offers amid war on obesity July 27, 2020 Boris Johnson has banned buy one get one free offers and introduced a 9pm watershed on junk food advertising as the Prime Minister wages war on obesity amid the coronavirus crisis. GPs will prescribe Weight Watchers diet plans to overweight patients, as the government attempts to get every overweight Brit to lose 5 lbs. Johnson [...]
Lib Dem candidate Siobhan Benita quits race to become London mayor July 27, 2020 Siobhan Benita, the Liberal Democrats’ candidate for next year’s London mayor election, has stepped down after coronavirus delayed the vote until May 2021. Benita announced her decision today, saying the unpaid role was “very difficult to combine with other work”. Originally Londoners were set to vote on a new mayor in May 2020. However, the [...]
Want a recovery that works for everyone? Fix the injustices in the tax system July 27, 2020 The lockdown shone a spotlight onto a two-speed, two-nation Britain, where better-paid white-collar professionals worked from home, while less well-off key workers had to keep travelling to work, often on crowded public transport, to do riskier jobs. Even worse, it turned out that those less well-off key workers were paying much higher tax rates than [...]
A grown-up Japan marshals the world’s anti-China coalition July 27, 2020 Intellectual coherence has its advantages. While much of the western world has recently taken a holiday from history — as the US is weighed down by the melodrama of Donald Trump, the EU by the sleep-deprivation soap operas of its summit meetings, and the UK by profound confusions about how to respond to coronavirus — [...]
Labour at risk of bankruptcy from antisemitism legal cases July 26, 2020 Labour is preparing for a new round of legal cases concerning antisemitism complaints, which could plunge the party into serious financial difficulties. Lawyers from 3D Solicitors will next week set out the legal claims, from nine current and former Labour members, relating to potential data protection and privacy breaches. Labour’s shadow cabinet has reportedly been [...]
Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak to make Treasury ‘new radicals’ in spending shake up July 26, 2020 Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are set to transform the Treasury’s approach to public spending by prioritising high-risk, high-growth projects. Chief secretary to the Treasury Steve Barclay will give a speech next week that outlines plans to operate the Treasury like a Silicon Valley firm by choosing projects that “move quickly, start small and fail [...]
Dominic Raab defends decision to scrap Spain travel corridor July 26, 2020 Dominic Raab has defended the government’s decision to scrap its travel corridor with Spain at short notice, saying that “we took the decision as swiftly as we could”. The Department for Transport announced yesterday that all travellers coming back from Spain to the UK from today would have to quarantine for 14 days. Spain recorded [...]
PM Johnson: ‘Open questions’ on whether lockdown was too late July 24, 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said there are “open questions” on whether lockdown measures were implemented too late in the UK, as coronavirus remained a mystery to scientists at the time. Asked whether lockdown came too late, Johnson said: “When you listen to the scientists, the questions that you’ve just asked are actually very open [...]
Don’t believe the Scottish independence hype — I’d bet on Johnson’s tortoise to beat Sturgeon’s hare July 24, 2020 For his first significant political event outside the Westminster bubble, timed for his one-year anniversary of becoming Prime Minister, Boris Johnson chose to go to Scotland. The significance of that choice cannot be overestimated. Politics is as unpredictable as ever, and despite chancellor Rishi Sunak hosing Scotland with the billions confected by the Bank of [...]