London City Airport expansion plans stay grounded following Mayor Boris Johnson’s U-turn August 20, 2015 The battle for London City Airport is heating up. Less than a month has passed since its owners Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and Oaktree Capital put the site to the east of the capital up for sale with a price tag of around £2bn. But already two heavyweight bidders have emerged, including one of the [...]
Jeremy Corbyn’s latest wheeze: Labour leadership front-runner calls for a national maximum wage August 19, 2015 Labour leadership front-runner Jeremy Corbyn has made a radical call for a national maximum wage. “There ought to be a level of a maximum,” Corbyn told The Herald newspaper in Scotland. “Why is it that bankers on massive salaries require bonuses to work while street-cleaners require threats to make them work? “It’s a kind of [...]
As building societies pile on the pressure, Andrew Tyrie warns George Osborne against new bank surcharge August 19, 2015 The chairman of an influential parliamentary committee has urged chancellor George Osborne to make sure that a new tax on banks does not reduce competition in the market. Read more: Osborne facing pressure from building societies over "perverse" bank surcharge Andrew Tyrie, who chairs the Treasury Select Committee, said today that there was a danger of "unintended consequences" [...]
Britain’s “making” revolution could solve our productivity puzzle August 19, 2015 It is now indisputable that the UK’s, and in particular London’s, economic recovery are well underway. But as Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, has rightly pointed out, challenges remain, and the most important of these is productivity. Contrary to popular assertions, productivity in the UK economy remains quite high in comparison [...]
Punters cash in on Corbyn win three weeks before ballots close August 19, 2015 The bookies are so convinced Jeremy Corbyn will win the Labour leadership contest, at least one oddsmaker has already made payments to punters. Paddy Power said yesterday it was paying out £100,000 on Corbyn – more than three weeks before ballots are due. A winner in the Labour leadership race is set to be announced [...]
Corbyn’s face on bankers’ golf ball gift August 19, 2015 USUALLY if you don’t like someone, the cliched approach is to stick their photo on a dartboard and aim for the face. Not content with such a working-class show of vehemence, golfing experts Your Golf Travel made some gifts for their 20 biggest clients. Execs from Coutts, Lloyds and M&S all received golf balls with [...]
Jeremy Corbyn slams rail fare rise as “rip off” August 19, 2015 Regulated rail fares may be set to rise by just one per cent next year, but Labour leadership front-runner Jeremy Corbyn has called them a “rip off”, insisting only his plan to renationalise the railways will deliver savings for consumers. Speaking at a rally at Kings Cross Station yesterday, Corbyn said that “extricating the [...]
George Osborne facing pressure from UK building societies over ‘perverse’ bank surcharge August 19, 2015 The Treasury is under fire from Britain’s building societies, who say that a new tax will cost them at least £630m over the next five years – and choke off £20bn worth of lending. Mortgage lenders want the government to think again. “As you would expect the sector is positively engaging with HM Treasury,” Building [...]
EU referendum: Would the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party make Brexit more likely? August 18, 2015 Robert Oxley, campaign director of Business for Britain, says Yes You don’t have to support Jeremy Corbyn, nor agree with his views on a range of subjects, to recognise his election would make Brexit more likely. His proposal for Labour to hold a special conference to decide its response to the EU referendum is a [...]
Sadiq Khan gains backing of Neil Kinnock to be Labour’s candidate for Mayor of London August 18, 2015 Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock has pledged his support to Sadiq Khan to become the Labour candidate for London mayor. Writing for the Mirror, Kinnock said: “Labour must recapture City Hall, and our best chance of doing that is with Sadiq Khan as our candidate for London mayor in 2016.” Read more: Meet London mayor [...]