Buyers return to UK housing market as lockdown lifts July 9, 2020 Buyers returned to the UK’s housing market last month as it reopened after months of standstill during the coronavirus lockdown, however activity remained low, the latest research showed. The latest survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors found that a net balance of 61 per cent of its members reported a rise in new [...]
Page Group profit halves amid coronavirus lockdown July 9, 2020 Page Group’s profit almost halved as countries around the world entered lockdowns to curb the spread of coronavirus, the recruiter said today. Gross profit sank 47.6 per cent overall, with the UK one of the worst performers, where income sank 61.5 per cent year-on-year in the three months to 30 June. France plunged 52 per [...]
Small business advisers, your country needs you July 9, 2020 Like a rallying cry in 1940s war-time Britain, thousands of the UK’s business advisers have been called up to do their bit for Britain’s small businesses as part of a timely initiative we are launching today. The national effort is asking accredited advisers to sign up and lend their expertise for an hour a month [...]
DEBATE: Is Rishi Sunak’s stamp duty holiday the right move? July 9, 2020 Is Rishi Sunak’s stamp duty holiday the right move? Clive Docwra, managing director of property and construction consultancy McBains, says YES. Raising the level where stamp duty tax kicks in to £500,000 is great news for the London property market. With the average cost of a home in the capital standing at close to £600,000, [...]
Tax less, spend more: the Chancellor’s Summer Statement July 8, 2020 | City Talk The Chancellor delivered an Economic Statement that may not have been heralded as a Budget, but nonetheless delivered some significant changes to the country’s taxation and spending regime. In what was clearly a ‘Tax Less, Spend More’ statement, Rishi Sunak delivered not just a VAT cut for the few, but spending grants for the many. [...]
EU strikes deals with Roche and Merck for potential Covid-19 drugs July 8, 2020 The European Commission has reportedly struck deals with drugmakers Roche and Merck to secure supplies of potential Covid-19 drugs. A Commission source told Reuters that the deal covers two drugs seen as potential coronavirus therapies – Roche’s arthritis drug RoActemra and Merck’s multiple sclerosis drug Rebif. The deal reportedly secures the supply for any of [...]
Top civil servant Sir Mark Sedwill hits out at ‘sniping’ from inside government July 8, 2020 Britain’s outgoing top civil servant Sir Mark Sedwill has hit out against the culture of off-record media attacks in Westminster that saw him recently sustain a barrage of public criticism. Sedwill had been the victim of numerous off-record briefings to the media about his role in the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. It has [...]
VAT rate cut: implementation for businesses will be more complicated than it appears July 8, 2020 | City Talk The Chancellor’s announcement is a welcome and targeted measure for the hospitality and leisure sector which has been impacted by COVID-19 and this VAT reduction from 20% to 5% is designed to help stimulate spending. Prior to the announcement, there had been speculation that there would be a general rate cut – which we have recently [...]
Rishi Sunak Summer Statement: All the Chancellor’s spending pledges July 8, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak today announced a raft of measures in his Summer Statement in a bid to help the UK economy recover from the worst effects of coronavirus. The Treasury boss revealed massive public spending to bolster the UK economy in what people are calling his mini-Budget. While he did not extend the government’s furlough [...]
Booze misses out on VAT cut, but pubs say glass is half-full July 8, 2020 Britain’s largest pub body has shaken off Rishi Sunak’s decision to not cut VAT on alcohol in his economic summer statement and instead largely praised the mini-Budget. The British Beer and Pub Association (BPPA) said the exemption would provide little help for “those pubs where revenue is more drinks led”, but that most of its [...]