Tony Blair warns the Labour Party of moving left after Jeremy Corbyn leads in poll July 22, 2015 Tony Blair’s opinions still count in the Labour Party, and he’s turned his gaze towards the future prospects of the party under the leadership Jeremy Corbyn, after he said Labour has “rediscovered losing.” His comments came after a YouGov poll for The Times found in the final round of voting, Corbyn would garner 53 per [...]
Government spending review: How George Osborne’s 40 per cent cuts would shrink each department July 22, 2015 George Osborne’s spending review will have struck fear into many a government department. The chancellor has committed to cutting £20bn from the public purse and, as well as kicking off a major land-grab of from public property in an attempt to address Britain's housing supply crisis, he's tasked each department to come up with projections for [...]
George Osborne’s train named Northern Powerhouse breaks down three times in four months July 21, 2015 Is the Northern Powerhouse running out of steam already? Back in March chancellor George Osborne renamed a refurbished Class 319 electric train operated by Northern Rail, the 'Northern Powerhouse' – supposedly as a symbol of the transformation he is pushing for northern England with his multi-billion Northern Powerhouse project. But the train has broken down [...]
Chancellor George Osborne defends bank surcharge at Treasury Select Committee grilling July 21, 2015 MPs of the Treasury Select Committee have grilled chancellor George Osborne, questioning him on a variety of issues, including the new bank tax. Led by Mark Garnier, the chancellor was asked to explain his justification for replacing the bank levy with a new surcharge. At the committee hearing, Garnier said: I welcome the change of [...]
Red tape officers must allow banks to take risks: There’s no business without it July 21, 2015 It's clear there is still a major gap in understanding how growth can be maintained and stimulated by effective risk management, rather than restricted by focusing purely on compliance control as this recent report on soaring pay for so-called red tape officers shows. Some still blame excessive regulation for a stalling in financial firms’ [...]
Chancellor George Osborne told to “sit down man” by speaker John Bercow July 21, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne was already looking at a fairly stressful day, given he's being grilled by the Treasury Select Committee about the Budget and the spending review he announced earlier in the day. Read more: Chancellor George Osborne defends bank surcharge as he faces Treasury Select Committee What he probably didn't expect was to be [...]
Government spending review: More public land to be sold off for homes as George Osborne seeks £20bn in savings July 21, 2015 Remember, remember 25 November: that's when the government will publish its spending review, setting out exactly how it will cut £20bn to eradicate the country's deficit over the next five years. And it looks like that a pretty major literal land-grab will be taking place. The chief secretary to the Treasury Greg Hands [...]
Treasury to cut Bank of England monetary policy committee meetings from 12 to eight July 21, 2015 If you've been getting fed up with months of MPC updates with no change – and let's face it, after six years of the same update, who isn't – then there's some good news. The number of monetary policy committee meetings is about to be reduced to just eight per year, down from 12. This [...]
George Osborne set for a grilling over new bank tax July 20, 2015 George Osborne is expected to face a grilling from MPs today over the new bank surcharge – set to be introduced next year – when he appears before a Treasury select committee for the first time since the Budget. Mark Garnier, a Conservative minister on the Treasury select committee, told City A.M. that while [...]
The Bank of England could – and should– have raised UK interest rates much sooner July 20, 2015 Heartening as it was to hear the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, dropping hints last week about the raising of Bank Rate, serious doubts remain over the effectiveness of the low interest rate regime in reviving the economy. Moreover, the impression continues to be given that the delay in raising rates carries [...]