May drops mandatory workers on boards plan, as she recruits private equity grandee Buffini for long-term capital review November 21, 2016 Theresa May has confirmed that the government will not force firms to put workers on boards, as she announced that former private equity grandee Sir Damon Buffini has been recruited to a review on barriers to long-term investment. Ministers have been hinting that plans to put workers on boards were being watered down, and today May told an audience that the [...]
Now Stephen Crabb has joined the backlash against the “triple lock” on state pensions November 21, 2016 Former work and pensions secretary Stephen Crabb has joined the growing calls for the government to drop its policy to uprate state pension payments. Under plans first introduced under the Tory Lib Dem coalition, the government currently links payments to average earnings, the consumer price index or 2.5 per cent, with payments increasing by whichever [...]
Theresa May vows UK will offer lowest corporation tax in the G20 November 21, 2016 Prime Minister Theresa May will today commit her government to charging the lowest rate of corporation tax in any of the world's 20 largest economies. The government has already promised to commit the charge from 20 per cent to 17 per cent by 2020, but will go further in her speech at the CBI later [...]
We asked economists what they want from Philip Hammond’s first Autumn Statement November 21, 2016 During the rapid post-Brexit shuffle at the top of UK politics many a word was spoken in haste, and perhaps none more so than confident predictions that Philip Hammond would put paid to George Osborne’s austerity politics with a bold return to Keynesian government investment. That might have been a bit rash, but it demonstrates [...]
McDonnell’s profligacy will clash with reality November 21, 2016 Philip Hammond will treat us all to his first fiscal event on Wednesday, as he stands up to deliver a hotly anticipated Autumn Statement. Actually, that may be overdoing it. Let's just call it anticipated. After all, Hammond is no George Osborne. The latter was famed for using such set-piece occasions as an exercise in power-building, [...]
Lady Barbara Judge: More education is needed for trustees to fix pension black holes November 21, 2016 Pension black holes have a history of weighing heavily on big corporations as amply illustrated by former retail darling BHS. The retailer may have disappeared from the high street but its unwieldy £570m pension deficit has yet to be resolved. While the public glare over the BHS fiasco focused on the dealings of Sir Phillip [...]
The UK’s high earners have seen some of the steepest tax increases over the last 20 years November 21, 2016 High earners in the UK have faced some of the world's steepest increases in income taxes over 20 years, according to new figures. Sums from accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young show the average rate paid by those earning more than $1m (£810,000) has climbed four per cent since 1996 to 43 per cent. By contrast, the [...]
Theresa May is preparing the ground for retreat over her landmark plans to get workers on boards November 21, 2016 Downing Street looks set to pull back on landmark plans to install workers on boards, with both Theresa May and her chancellor Philip Hammond seeming to downplay the reforms. Forcing firms to hand a seat to workers was one of the first proposals put forward by May following her rise to power over the summer. [...]
Tech-tastic: May pledges billions to support tech champions as she fleshes out industrial strategy November 21, 2016 Prime Minister Theresa May will reveal details of her government’s flagship industrial strategy at a conference of business leaders today, promising billions in extra funding and potential tax breaks for a range of sectors. While insisting her plan is “not about picking winners”, she will identify several technology-related areas in the UK that the government [...]
Top industry groups hit out at proposed changes to business rates November 21, 2016 A group of industry lobby groups has hit out at Treasury proposals to prevent small firms from appealing against business rates up to a certain level. Research by Daniel Watney LLP and Blackstock Consulting, using official government data, found the changes could cost small firms in England more than £700m over the next five years. [...]