Cameron tells MPs “we cannot stand aside” as he seeks approval to extend airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria November 26, 2015 David Cameron has told the Foreign Affairs Committee that the UK should extend its military campaign against Islamic State into Syria. Setting out his "comprehensive strategy" for how the UK will seek to tackle Islamic State, Cameron told the MPs more action was needed to tackle the group, which has claimed responsibility for attacks in Paris [...]
George Osborne has missed every target he’s set himself, says Labour MP Helen Goodman November 26, 2015 "The fact is the chancellor has missed every target that he’s set himself,” according to Labour MP Helen Goodman on George Osborne’s Autumn Statement. “He can’t keep banging on about what happened eight years ago because he’s been in charge now for nearly six years – it’s his fault he hasn’t met his targets,” Goodman, who [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: George Osborne bails himself out with a u-turn on tax credit cuts November 25, 2015 George Osborne rowed back on controversial and unpopular cuts to tax credits – but admitted that the U-turn will be offset by an £11.6bn raid on British businesses. The chancellor also avoided potential pitfalls such as having to make cuts to the police force, after an unexpected £53.2bn jump in expected tax receipts over the course of [...]
Business secretary Sajid Javid: Job cuts at Deutsche Bank are a “tragedy” November 25, 2015 Business secretary Sajid Javid has enthusiastically endorsed the Square Mile , saying the rest of the country could “learn a lot from the City” and calling recently-announced job cuts in the banking sector a “tragedy”. Speaking at the City A.M. awards dinner tonight, Javid said that while financial services has become an “easy target” for politicians, the [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: Why the Government Digital Services needs a boost from George Osborne November 25, 2015 Pity the bureaucrats this morning. Civil servants across Whitehall have been asked to impose more major cuts to departmental spending. BIS faces a cut of 17 per cent by 2020, while Transport will lose 37 per cent. Others, however, have been spared – some quite unexpectedly. The Arts Council’s budget will be increased, in spite [...]
New European Union rules to prevent market rigging November 25, 2015 New rules have been laid out by the European Union to prevent market benchmarks, like Libor and Euribor, being rigged by banks. Benchmarks will now be supervised to varying degrees depending on their size, a statement from EU president Luxembourg said. When applied, the new rules will strengthen confidence in financial markets "preventing new manipulation [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: Osborne hits out at SNP, says falling oil prices would have forced independent Holyrood into catastrophic cuts November 25, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne used this afternoon's Autumn Statement to make a dig at the Scottish nationalists, issuing a stark warning about what might have been had they had succeeded in securing independence. Citing the severe drop-off in global oil prices since the Scottish referendum in September 2014, Osborne said the knock-on effects on government revenues would have [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: George Osborne delivers some relief to embattled UK steel industry November 25, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne has cut costs for energy intensive industries, such as the embattled steel sector, in a bid to give them long-term certainty. Osborne, who was addressing parliament with his Autumn Statement today, said: "We're going to permanently exempt our energy intensive industries … from the cost of environmental tariffs, so we keep their bills down, keep them [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: Changes to bring in £5bn a year from tax avoidance November 25, 2015 The government is aiming to bring in £5bn more a year through tackling tax avoidance by 2019-20. In the Autumn Statement chancellor George Osborne confirmed £800m more would be spent on tackling evasion and non-compliance through to 2020. The government is also set to build a digital tax system to help fight avoidance and to [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: Treasury documents reveal new details about planned RBS, Lloyds, Northern Rock sales November 25, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne may not have mentioned returning British banks to private ownership in his statement to parliament this afternoon, but buried in the Treasury's official Spending Review and Autumn Statement documents are new details about plans for selling off the government's stake in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds. Noting that the government is "committed to [...]