DEBATE: As we head towards a cashless society, is there any point to a commemorative Brexit coin? October 30, 2018 As we head towards a cashless society, is there any point to a commemorative Brexit coin? Callum Price, events manager at the Centre for Policy Studies, says YES. There is no doubt that we are heading towards an increasingly cashless society, but we are far away from the point at which we will no longer [...]
This Budget balancing act was Hammond’s mission impossible October 30, 2018 As he stood up to deliver his Autumn Budget yesterday, the chancellor was to fulfil two promises which the Prime Minister had made at the Conservative party conference earlier this month: end austerity, while still reducing public debt as a share of GDP. Fulfilling these pledges will take time, and more details will be unveiled [...]
Hammond shows how to ease austerity the Conservative way October 30, 2018 The Philip Hammond of a few years ago would have seen a few billion pounds courtesy of an unexpected windfall and promptly locked it away, like the chairman of the bank in Mary Poppins. But something has changed. Yesterday, Hammond was more Tigger than Eeyore. He announced a whopping £30bn of extra public spending by [...]
Fiscal Phil brings MPs sunshine, but only if they back him on Brexit October 29, 2018 Philip Hammond is a man more comfortable poring over spreadsheets than performing stand-up. He prefers an abacus to a microphone and an audience. But at times like these, when the staff need a morale boost, even the most bookish company finance director must come down to the shop floor to remind the workers just what [...]
Philip Hammond chooses to splash the cash in his Budget rather than pay down the deficit October 29, 2018 Chancellor Philip Hammond declared “austerity is coming to an end” as he unveiled a raft of spending increases and tax cuts on Monday. Hammond used better-than-expected tax revenues of £12bn to pour extra cash into the NHS and bring forward by a year an increase in the 40p tax threshold to £50,000. The new level will [...]
National living wage to rise almost five per cent next year October 29, 2018 The national living wage is set to rise nearly five per cent from £7.83 to £8.21 per hour, chancellor Philip Hammond revealed in today's Budget. To be implemented in April next year, the government estimated that this will increase the annual pay of a person in full-time employment by £690 per year. Additionally, Hammond said the [...]
‘End of austerity’ fails to lift sterling out of Brexit slump as Hammond sets aside £2bn for hard Brexit October 29, 2018 Philip Hammond’s Budget announcements failed to lift sterling, which continued to slide this afternoon as the chancellor announced the government’s spending plans to the House of Commons. With the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) lifting its growth forecast from 1.3 per cent to 1.6 per cent for 2019, and predicting a lower deficit of just [...]
No-deal Brexit funding ramped up to £2bn in Budget 2018 October 29, 2018 Funding to prepare the UK government for a no-deal scenario as it exits the European Union next year has been given an additional £500m, taking the total allocated to aid departments with the planning to over £4m. Chancellor Philip Hammond had already allocated £2.2bn to departments for Brexit preparations in last year's Autumn Statement, with a [...]
Online betting company duty to increase by six per cent October 29, 2018 The levy applied to online betting companies will increase to 21 per cent as fixed odd betting machine stakes are reduced to £2. The remote gaming duty applied to "online games of chance" will be upped by six per cent from October next year, Chancellor Philip Hammond confirmed in the Autumn Budget today. "From remote [...]
Innovation game: £1.6bn promised for the UK’s modern industrial strategy as entrepreneurs get a boost October 29, 2018 The chancellor today promised £1.6bn of new investment into the government's modern industrial strategy, in a bid to ramp up the UK's digital infrastructure and power the country's startups. It will also be followed by an additional £150m in funding for fellowships to foster the UK's burgeoning skills pool with both homegrown and international talent, and £115m for [...]