Budget 2017: London Mayor Sadiq Khan “disappointed” there was no Budget backing for Crossrail 2 March 8, 2017 London mayor Sadiq Khan said he was "disappointed" that the government didn't back Crossrail 2 in today's Budget. While the mayor said he was pleased to see progress on devolution, other areas were notably missing from Philip Hammond's announcements. “London did not get everything we needed today," said Khan. "I am disappointed that the government [...]
Budget 2017: Government provides updates on sales of Green Investment Bank, Lloyds and RBS March 8, 2017 The government remained largely quiet on its various privatisation processes in the Budget today. The Treasury announced no new sell-offs, and confirmed the sale of the Green Investment Bank and £12bn of student loans are ongoing. The Green Investment Bank sale process has come under intense scrutiny in recent months, with several MPs raising concerns about [...]
Chancellor Philip Hammond cracks jokes at the expense of the Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn and himself during Budget 2017 March 8, 2017 Breaking: Philip Hammond aka 'Spreadsheet Phil' has a personality. The chancellor, who has been dubbed as boring accounting type, set the scene for the Budget today making a spring budget joke. 1. On Norman Lamont also abolishing the spring Budget "Ten weeks later, he was sacked! So wish me luck!" And that wasn't the only joke [...]
Budget 2017: The full text of chancellor Philip Hammond’s speech March 8, 2017 Philip Hammond has delivered his first – and last – Spring Budget. Headline announcements included more cash for social care and punishing new rules for the self-employed – plus some vague comments on business rates. Read more: City A.M.'s TL;DR version of the Spring 2017 Budget Here's what he said: Mr Deputy Speaker, I report [...]
Spring Budget 2017 at-a-glance guide: All of chancellor Philip Hammond’s big announcements you need to know March 8, 2017 Chancellor Philip Hammond has delivered his first (and last, thanks to a shift around in dates) spring Budget speech. But, as not everybody has the time to go back and listen to his words of wisdom in full, here's an at-a-glance breakdown of the biggest announcements you need to know: Economics, public spending and politics [...]
Budget 2017 UK: “T-Levels” shake-up for young people’s technical training promised by Philip Hammond March 8, 2017 The government is promising to invest fresh cash in preparing young people for the new global economy with investment in technical training. Chancellor Philip Hammond confirmed the new £500m plans he called "game-changing" in his Spring Budget on Wednesday. The radical overhaul of post-16 education will see a dizzying array of 13,000 different qualifications whittled down [...]
Budget 2017: Local authorities encouraged to tackle city congestion in £690m competition March 8, 2017 In the battle to tackle urban congestion, Philip Hammond will create a £690m competition for local authorities to address the issue and get local transport networks up and moving. He also repeated the £220m announced in the Autumn Statement that will be invested to tackle pinch points on national road networks – this includes £90m to the [...]
Budget 2017: £5m in returnship funding pledged to help people coming back from career breaks March 8, 2017 The focus on helping women back into work following a career break has been given a boost with the announcement £5m will go towards extending return to work schemes to all levels of management. The funding will also go into industries where women are underrepresented, chancellor Philip Hammond said today in his Budget. The chancellor said [...]
Marine Le Pen could win the French election: Markets need to expect the unexpected March 8, 2017 If there's one thing markets have had to come to terms with in recent years, it’s that assumption breeds complacency. Such is the case with the upcoming elections in France: investors should have hawk eyes focused eyes on The Republic. With the yield spread between French and German 10-year government bonds touching their highest level [...]
Iceland will be the first country to make its firms obtain certification to prove they offer equal pay March 8, 2017 Iceland has become the first country to make companies obtain certification to prove they offer equal pay, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexuality and nationality. The Equal Pay Standard, on which the certification requirements are based, assesses a firm's pay policies, classification of jobs according to equal value and wage research on the basis of classification, as [...]