Budget 2020: UK regions to get their own trade envoys March 11, 2020 New trade envoys representing the UK’s individual regions will be posted to embassies around the world. Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled a swathe of measures to “level up” less well-off regions outside of London in his inaugural Budget speech yesterday. Included among them was a pledge to create “dedicated trade envoys representing the North, the Midlands, [...]
2020 Budget live: City reacts to Rishi Sunak’s spending plans March 11, 2020 Welcome to City A.M.’s 2020 Budget Day live blog. Please refresh your browser for live updates. Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to address fears over the economic impact of coronavirus, and announce waves of new infrastructure spending and changes on taxation in his 2020 Budget. It comes after Bank of England governor Mark Carney earlier [...]
EXCLUSIVE: London mayor hopeful Rory Stewart pledges to fund Hammersmith Bridge repairs March 11, 2020 Rory Stewart will guarantee funding for the £95m Hammersmith Bridge repairs if elected mayor. The independent candidate today pledged to underwrite the cost of repairing the bridge in his first week in office from Transport for London’s (TfL) capital account. A bid for government funding has been lodged with the Department for Transport (DfT). However, [...]
World Health Organisation says coronavirus outbreak is a pandemic March 11, 2020 The World Health Organisation (Who) today declared that the worldwide outbreak of coronavirus is a pandemic. “We have…made the assessment that Covid-19 can be characterised as a pandemic,” Who director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press briefing today. “In the past two weeks, the number of cases of Covid-19 outside China has increased 13-fold [...]
Budget 2020: Government to move 22,000 civil servants from London March 11, 2020 The government will move 22,000 civil servant jobs away from London in a major Whitehall shakeup. Chancellor Rishi Sunak made the announcement in his Budget speech today, confirming that 750 staff from the Treasury and departments of business, international trade and local government would move to an “economic campus” in the North. The announcement was [...]
Budget 2020: Government will raise living wage and lift floor for National Insurance March 11, 2020 The chancellor Rishi Sunak said today that the government will raise the national living wage to £10.50 by 2024 and will raise the minimum threshold for National Insurance. In his budget speech Sunak announced a goal of raising the national living wage to two thirds of median earnings by 2024 – which would be equivalent [...]
Mayoral candidate Rory Stewart accused of ‘sensationalising’ coronavirus March 11, 2020 Mayoral candidate Rory Stewart has been accused of sensationalising the UK’s coronavirus outbreak. Conservative MP Steve Baker lashed out at Stewart, a former Tory cabinet secretary, on Twitter today for his calls to immediately shut all schools and limit public gatherings. The UK’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty has said these measures are not necessary. [...]
Budget 2020: Chancellor raises threshold for pensions tax relief to £200,000 March 11, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak said today that the tapered allowance threshold for pensions tax relief will increase to £200,000. The pensions annual allowance is the maximum amount of tax-relieved pension savings that can be accrued in a year Sunak increased the two tapered thresholds for pension tax relief by £90,000 today. This means that from 2020-21 [...]
Budget 2020: Sunak confirms £600bn in capital investment for UK transport and industry March 11, 2020 The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has pledged £600bn in investment over the next five years for infrastructure and industry in today’s Budget. The announcement will mean that public investment will hit its highest levels since 1955, and will see capital budgets rise over £110m in 2024 and 2025. Part of the deal will [...]
Budget 2020: Business rates cut for more small leisure and retail firms March 11, 2020 Small retail, leisure and hospitality businesses will be exempt from paying business rates for one year as part of an emergency budget to protect the economy from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. All retail, leisure and hospitality businesses with a rateable value of less than £51,000 will be exempt from paying business rates over [...]