Labour brand under Miliband leadership has become toxic in City February 20, 2012 ED Miliband is the most anti-business of all mainstream politicians, according to the City A.M. / PoliticsHome Voice of the City Panel. Eight out of 10 respondents said the Labour leader was anti-business, while fewer than one in 10 said he was pro-business, giving him a net score of -70 per cent – the lowest [...]
Lib Dems call on Osborne to soak the rich February 20, 2012 SENIOR Liberal Democrats are lobbying George Osborne to fund tax cuts for low earners by clobbering the rich in his Budget next month. David Laws, the influential former chief secretary to the Treasury, is expected to use an interview on BBC Newsnight tonight to call on the chancellor to raise the threshold at which people [...]
Balls: cut VAT to get growth February 20, 2012 SHADOW chancellor Ed Balls has said that a temporary cut in VAT would be the best way to stimulate growth but has not said how he would pay for the measure. He said: “The VAT cut is the fastest and fairest way to do a temporary boost to demand, to get confidence moving.” Balls said [...]
MoD officials in bonus bonanza February 20, 2012 THE Ministry of Defence has handed out £40m in bonuses to civil servants while thousands of military staff are facing a pay freeze or being made redundant. The pay awards – including a £85,831 bonus for one senior civil servant – also come at a time when the MoD has been heavily criticised for “continuous [...]
Tax refunds up as losses mount February 20, 2012 CORPORATION tax refunds rocketed 91 per cent in the five years to March 2010 as businesses offset losses against previous profits, according to research out today from accountancy firms UHY Hacker Young. Refunds hit £9bn in the year, up from £8.7bn in the previous year and £4.7bn in the year to March 2005. The average [...]
Payment via mobile moves a step closer February 20, 2012 THE UK’s largest telecoms companies are making headway in bringing cashless payment via mobile phone to the masses, as the cluster intends to file an application with the European Commission (EC) soon. Orange and T-Mobile (under umbrella group Everything Everywhere) joined forces with Vodafone and O2 parent Telefonica last year with the aim of creating a [...]
Google chairman Schmidt to sell quarter of his stake February 20, 2012 GOOGLE bigwig Eric Schmidt could cash in as much as $1.5bn (£950m) from the sale of a quarter of his stock less than a year after he stepped down as chief executive. Schmidt, now executive chairman of Google, plans to sell 2.4m shares over the next year, shrinking his stake from 2.8 to 2.1 per [...]
Ruling to waive Vodafone’s tax bill is appealed February 20, 2012 VODAFONE’s Indian tax case has reared its head from the coffin it was laid in last month as the country’s income tax department has lodged an appeal against the waiver of a $2.2bn (£1.4bn) tax bill. India’s Supreme Court ruled last month that Vodafone was not required to pay tax on its $11bn acquisition in [...]
SAS AUTHOR FIXES CITY ROLES FOR MILITARY February 20, 2012 THRILLER writer Andy McNab is juggling more than one deadline. When the former SAS hardman is not working on his latest novel – a Channel Tunnel thriller starring his new character Tom Buckingham – McNab is fixing jobs in the City for service leavers as a director of military recruitment agency ForceSelect. McNab, who has [...]
Finances still tight despite inflation dip February 20, 2012 BRITONS’ spending power has continued to fall at the start of 2012, according to a fresh survey, despite a slowdown in inflation. Spending power was 0.9 per cent lower in January than a year earlier, in real terms, research by Lloyds TSB has revealed this morning. This is the equivalent of £100 less to spend [...]