Budget 2015: George Osborne’s fiscal tricks are as bad as Gordon Brown’s: We need an umpire March 19, 2015 No New Zealander likes to be reminded of the infamous “underarm incident”. Cricketer Brian McKechnie, facing the final ball of a hard-fought series, needed six runs to clinch it for New Zealand. The Australian bowler walked in and rolled the ball – underarm – down the pitch to McKechnie. Even the Australian Prime Minister was [...]
Most consumers aren’t feeling the benefits of Osborne’s recovery March 19, 2015 George Osborne used yesterday's Budget to trumpet the government's economic record. With a dramatic fall in unemployment, respectable economic growth and low inflation, the Conservatives believe they have strong record to run on. Osborne labelled Britain the "comeback country" and said the government had brought the UK back from the brink. But how many consumers [...]
Jeremy Browne: George Osborne has given up making the case for a smaller state March 19, 2015 George Osborne has given up making the case for a smaller state and conceded ground to the Labour party, according to a former government minister. Speaking at a post-Budget briefing hosted by the Taxpayers' Alliance and the Institute of Economic Affairs, ex-home and foreign office minister Jeremy Browne said Osborne was failing to make the [...]
Liam Fox: Tories should freeze all spending except defence and health March 19, 2015 George Osborne should freeze all non-discretionary spending in the next parliament and "share the proceeds of growth" between tax cuts and deficit reduction. So said the former defence secretary and backbench Tory MP Liam Fox this morning. The former Conservative leadership contender flipped the phrase once used by David Cameron to argue that tax revenue [...]
Budget 2015: Renton Osborne goes Toryspotting March 19, 2015 Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose the Tories. That was George “Renton” Osborne’s message to electorate, as he used the final Budget of this coalition to go Toryspotting. “We choose the future,” the chancellor said, in a sequence reminiscent of the opening of Ewan Macgregor’s 1996 film. ”We choose [...]
Budget 2015: George Osborne’s election gift for young and old alike March 18, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne used the final Budget of this government to give sweeteners to both younger and older voters yesterday. In an unexpected move, he introduced a new Help-To-Buy ISA, giving first-time buyers up to £3,000. “For every £200 [first-time buyers] save for their deposit, the government will top it up with £50 more,” Osborne [...]
Budget 2015: A quick guide to all the key measures March 18, 2015 Chancellor delivers good news for savers and first-time buyers as he turns up heat on banks in play for votes ahead of election. UK ECONOMIC OUTLOOK ● The UK was the fastest growing economy in the G7 last year. However, the economy grew by just 0.5 per cent in the final three months of 2014, [...]
Budget 2015: Young first-time home buyers given a helping hand with Help to Buy Isa March 18, 2015 With fewer young people able to afford to buy a home, the Budget aims to help them out. Tim Wallace asks: Will it work? Can you imagine paying £22,000 for a flat? It sounds like a joke now, but it was the average price of a first-time buyer’s home in Britain in 1984. It was [...]
On life, taxes and Osborne’s chance to beat a £20bn target March 18, 2015 If taxes are one of life’s few certainties, then taxes on banks are becoming just as predictable. Just when HSBC thought its lot could not get any tougher, up pops George Osborne with his bi-annual hike to the rate of the charge on lenders’ balance sheets. The chancellor’s final pre-General Election Budget included a commitment [...]
Budget 2015: Banks bear brunt of pre-election tax increases March 18, 2015 Britain’s banks were targeted yet again for a tax raid yesterday, as the chancellor hit them with the biggest tax hike of any sector. George Osborne increased the bank levy for the ninth time since it was introduced in 2011, in a move which will raise an extra £4.4bn in five years. The tax, which [...]