HSBC boss Stuart Gulliver warns George Osborne or Ed Balls tax hikes could drive bank from UK May 5, 2015 HSBC’S chief executive warned yesterday that the Conservative and Labour parties both risk driving the bank out of the country with tax hikes. The giant lender is looking at moving its headquarters out of the UK after more than 20 years in London, as its global business may be harmed by regulation and taxes. George [...]
Have UK government borrowing figures just given Osborne a pre-election boost? April 23, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne just received a pre-election boost after official figures released today showed he met his target for lowering the country's budget deficit in the 2014/15 financial year. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public sector net borrowing, which fills the hole between spending and revenues, fell to £7.4bn in March, down 5.6 percent [...]
George Osborne finds magic money machine at Metro Bank April 8, 2015 George Osborne may have solved the British government’s huge annual deficit problem. He’s found a magic money machine! The chancellor was in Kingston yesterday, visiting a branch of Metro Bank in order to hail news that the challenger bank will employ 3,300 new staff, and aim to have a total of 150 branches by 2020. [...]
Ken Livingstone lashes out at George Osborne at City University Q&A April 7, 2015 He could have gone for a Tommy Cooper classic or some variant on the knock, knock formula – but that just wouldn’t be Ken, would it? Students at City University have been chuckling away in recent days over a bizarre recording of former London mayor Ken Livingstone being asked to name his favourite joke. [...]
General Election 2015: George Osborne says Labour raised taxes by £2,000 as tax row escalates April 7, 2015 Goerge Osborne will today claim that New Labour hiked taxes on earnings for an average household by £1,895 a year in real-terms, as the row between the parties over tax escalates. The new figures come from the House of Commons library. The Tories say they hint at what Labour would do if it wins the [...]
General Election 2015: Osborne promises to get 2.4m first-time buyers onto housing ladder with property “revolution” April 5, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne has pledged to bring about a “property revolution” in the UK, helping 2.4m more first-time buyers to get on the property ladder. In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, he said he intended to double the number of first time buyers to 500,000 a year over the next five years, should the [...]
Boris Johnson beats May and Osborne as public’s favourite for next Tory leader March 27, 2015 Boris Johnson is by leaps and bounds the public's choice to replace David Cameron as Tory leader, should he step down part way through a second term. Earlier this week, Cameron ruled out standing for a third term as Prime Minister, leading many commentators to write that he had effectively fired the starting gun on [...]
Bank levy here to stay forever, says Osborne March 24, 2015 BRITAIN’S lenders face having to pay the bank levy forever, as the chancellor yesterday revealed that the crisis-era tax was here to stay. The levy was initially presented as a way to make banks pay for the crash, and to encourage them to shrink back down to a manageable size. But even when the deficit [...]
French minister Ségolène Royal rebukes George Osborne’s “spiteful” mockery of Hollande’s economy March 24, 2015 During last week's Budget, George Osborne's jokes at France's expense played well in the chamber of the House of Commons – at least among Tory MPs. The chancellor mocked the opposition for wanting to emulate the French economic model in operation under Francois Hollande. France is beset with high unemployment and low growth and has struggled [...]
Startup-friendly? What George Osborne’s Budget means for entrepreneurs March 22, 2015 Small businesses favour certainty over circus tricks, and the announcements made in last week’s Budget have received a generally positive response from entrepreneurs that I have spoken to – especially in the context of a growing economy. FOR THE ENTREPRENEUR Many will be happy that Entrepreneur’s Relief remained largely unchanged, providing a 10 per cent [...]