LIVE: Budget 2017 – reaction to chancellor Philip Hammond’s speech March 8, 2017 Live coverage of Philip Hammond's first (and last) Spring Budget, with measures expected on Stamp Duty, T-levels, business rates, national insurance and fuel duty.
Sacked government industrial strategy adviser Lord Heseltine says he never met Prime Minister Theresa May March 8, 2017 Tory big beast Lord Heseltine has revealed that he never met Prime Minister Theresa May, despite holding five different roles as an adviser to her government. Heseltine, who was sacked late last night after joining the Brexit rebellion in the House of Lords, had worked on areas including May's flagship industrial strategy, and had been due [...]
Budget 2017 UK: When does Philip Hammond’s Spring Budget speech start and where can I watch it? March 8, 2017 How much more will you be paying for a pint? We'll soon find out as chancellor Philip Hammond will unveil new spending powers this week. What is the Spring Budget? This will be Hammond's first and last Spring Budget, as the annual Budget announcement is set to move to a new schedule focused on the [...]
Lord Heseltine is sacked by the government after leading Lords rebellion on Brexit March 8, 2017 Conservative stalwart Lord Heseltine has been sacked by as a government adviser after yesterday rebelling in the House of Lords vote on Brexit. Heseltine, a long time Europhile, backed the House of Lords' motion that legislation dictates parliament should have a vote on the final Brexit deal. He was relieved of five government advisory roles [...]
Business teaches you how to negotiate: Here’s the Brexit advice I would give Theresa if I was at Number 10 March 8, 2017 As an entrepreneur, I’m naturally optimistic. I’ve always seen the upside in the UK becoming an independent nation, which is why I supported Vote Leave during the referendum campaign. My business career has also taught me some valuable lessons on how to negotiate successfully. If the government is given space to negotiate our exit from [...]
A forecast for a bounce in the UK’s GDP has put a spring in Philip Hammond’s step ahead of his first Budget March 8, 2017 Chancellor Philip Hammond will today give an upbeat assessment on the future of the British economy in his debut Budget, as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) becomes the latest body to upgrade its UK growth forecasts. The influential Paris-based OECD yesterday said UK GDP growth will reach 1.6 per cent this year, up [...]
Why we should cheer on chancellor Philip Hammond -aka Spreadsheet Phil – during today’s Spring Budget March 8, 2017 Cast your minds back to November 2015, when George Osborne was still chancellor of the exchequer and Brexit was merely a twinkle in Boris Johnson’s artful eyes. Osborne was under pressure to scrap his proposed cuts to tax credits following an intense political storm. Fortunately for David Cameron’s right hand man, the government’s fiscal watchdog presented [...]
Christopher Steele, the man behind the Trump dossier, heads back to work, and breaks his silence to thank people for their support March 7, 2017 The ex-MI6 agent behind the controversial dossier claiming to prove a link between President Donald Trump and the Russian government has returned to work today, stopping to have a quick word with reporters on his way through the door. Christopher Steele, now director of London-based Orbis Business Intelligence, compiled the dossier which was published by Buzzfeed in January. [...]
The House of Lords just handed Theresa May her second parliamentary defeat on Brexit March 7, 2017 The House of Lords has inflicted a second Brexit defeat on Prime Minister Theresa May, amending her Article 50 Bill in a bid to force the government to offer a “meaningful” vote on quitting the EU. After three hours of occasionally fractious debate, peers voted 366 to 268 in favour of the change. A handful of Conservative peers [...]
Spring Budget 2017: What should chancellor Philip Hammond’s headline promise be tomorrow? March 7, 2017 Sam Dumitriu, head of projects at the Adam Smith Institute, says scrap a tax: Not all taxes are created equal, but almost all deter productive activity. Philip Hammond should look to Lord Lawson’s stint where he abolished at least one tax every Budget and took an axe to top marginal rates. So where should he [...]