Greek referendum: “What they are doing to Greece is terrorism” says Yanis Varoufakis July 4, 2015 Yanis Varoufakis has injected some more colour into the rhetoric surrounding the Greek referendum tomorrow, labelling the country’s creditors as “terrorists”. Speaking to Spain’s centre-right El Mundo newspaper, Greece’s finance minister was blunt: "What they’re doing with Greece has a name: terrorism." When pushed on whether he would stand by this definition, he continued: It’s [...]
July Budget 2015: Chancellor George Osborne plans to crack down on non-doms July 3, 2015 George Osborne wants to clamp down on non-doms in his July Budget, a move which could raise £5bn by cutting tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance. Read more: Non-doms pay £6bn in income tax and Labour's ban could damage the UK's ability to attract entrepreneurs In a political statement suggesting the rich will shoulder some of [...]
Cambridge head Sir Leszek Borysiewicz slams UK immigration policy July 3, 2015 The head of Cambridge University has slammed the government's inclusion of overseas students in the UK migration target as "ludicrous" and "crazy". "One of the biggest threats currently facing UK universities is the issue of international movement and controls on immigration," Sir Leszek Borysiewicz wrote in a pamphlet entitled A Story of Immigration, Students and Targets. "It is [...]
Ukip leader Nigel Farage gets tough on Brexit: “David Cameron’s attempts at renegotiation are embarrassing” July 3, 2015 “By all accounts, Cameron got to say something at the renegotiation summit when the coffee was served. And as soon as he started to speak, Hollande went out for a pee, which shows you how seriously it was taken,” scoffs Ukip leader Nigel Farage. The renegotiation summit to which Farage refers took place last week [...]
US caught spying on senior German officials a week after espionage against France uncovered July 2, 2015 A list of German phone numbers that showed the US National Security Agency eavesdropping on senior German officials, beyond Angela Merkel, has been released by WikiLeaks. Angela Merkel’s chief of staff has summoned the US ambassador for a meeting to discuss the latest reports of alleged spying. Two years ago reports came out that the [...]
Airports Commission report: Five things you can get for the same price as Sir Howard Davies’ report cost July 1, 2015 The long-awaited, much-delayed Airports Commission report is finally here. It's been a three-year slog, it's cost millions – and, well, it hasn't resolved very much at all yet. Sir Howard Davies and his team settled on Heathrow as the frontrunner, but that doesn't mean a new runway is going to happen. The final cost of [...]
Airports Commission report: We’ll decide on Heathrow third runway by the end of the year, says David Cameron July 1, 2015 The government will decide whether to accept a recommendation by the Airports Commission, led by Sir Howard Davies, to increase capacity at Heathrow airport by building a third runway "by the end of the year", the Prime Minister said today. Read more: Here's what the third runway will actually look like Although David Cameron ducked [...]
Heathrow third runway expansion: Boris Johnson says “it’s not going to happen” July 1, 2015 "It's not going to happen" Boris Johnson has said of the Airport Commission's decision to back expansion at Heathrow airport. The London mayor whose own proposals for a new airport on the Thames estuary dubbed "Boris Island" were sunk last year, called the Heathrow plans "disastrous". He accused Sir Howard Davies who led the commission [...]
Labour will stop pushing for 50p tax rate says shadow chancellor June 30, 2015 Labour is letting go of the 50p tax rate, the shadow chancellor has indicated. In the last government, former Labour leader Ed Miliband proposed raising the top rate of tax to 50p for people earning more than £150,000 per year. But in a speech in Canary Wharf yesterday, shadow chancellor Chris Leslie said that the party [...]
John Vickers says ringfencing rules are still necessary June 30, 2015 Despite some bankers calling for an end to ringfencing, John Vickers says the case for separating the retail banking and investment banking arms of banks is still necessary. The architect behind ringfencing plans has said British banks still need to protect domestic retail customers from riskier parts of their operations, and the case for this [...]