Autumn Statement 2015: When it comes to tax credits, it’s heartening to see George Osborne perform a u-turn, even at the cost of looking weak November 25, 2015 In the run-up to the Autumn Statement and Spending Review, the biggest question was what George Osborne was going to do about tax credits. He couldn't u-turn fully, because there was nowhere else to find his £12bn of welfare cuts needed to generate a £10bn surplus by 2020—or so ran the conventional line. Therefore people [...]
Black Friday UK 2015: Tesco reveals deals on Digihome TVs, Acer laptops, Samsung tablets, Beats headphones and hundreds more ahead of launch on 27 November November 25, 2015 Tesco has just revealed some of the huge deals that will be on offer on Black Friday, with online bargains going on sale from midnight on 27 November while stores will open at 5am on the day. Top deals include the Digihome 49” large screen LED TV with Freeview, available for £199, saving £150, Beats Solo 2 On-Ear [...]
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: Transport for London loses billions in Spending Review as subsidies cut by Department of Transport November 25, 2015 Transport for London will lose out on billions of pounds of funding after the government announced it will cut its subsidy in the Spending Review. The Department for Transport will phase out TfL's resource grant which makes up around six per cent of its annual budget, amounting to £2.8bn by 2019. The move comes as part of efforts by [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: London’s public servants have nothing to fear from departmental cuts November 25, 2015 Spending cuts mean job cuts, hundreds of thousands of them. 450,000 people have lost their job since the public sector workforce peaked at 5.7 million back in 2009. George Osborne’s spending plans suggest a similar number will go by 2020. So it’s perfectly understandable for London’s public servants to feel a little nervous about the [...]
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: Stamp duty changes are a kick in the teeth and may be the final straw for some landlords November 25, 2015 Today's big headlines may be about the tax-credits u-turn, but one of the most significant of the chancellor's announcements was the new additional rate of stamp duty on buy-to-let properties and second homes. This additional three per cent will come as a kick in the teeth for landlords who've already had to cope with the loss [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: George Osborne’s Help-to-Buy and other housing budget announcements are little more than empty rhetoric November 25, 2015 George Osborne’s big news today was the announcement that the government “chooses to build” and will double the housing budget to £2bn, reforming the housing system and pumping £7bn into building 400,000 more affordable homes. Described as "the biggest affordable housebuilding programme since the 1970s", it's great news for those in desperate need of affordable housing. However [...]
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 [...]
Autumn statement 2015: Osborne declares war on potholes with new £1bn pledge. How many potholes are there in your area? November 25, 2015 George Osborne has launched a bid to rid Britain's roads of potholes, with a promise to spend £1bn more on the scourge over the course of this parliament. The UK has 18m potholes on its roads, according to the Department for Transport (DfT), already enough to warrant a fund of £4.7bn, to be spent between now [...]