Rishi Sunak promises to protect the City from Brussels’ financial services bid June 8, 2021 Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, promised that the City will remain “competitive and dynamic” even in the face of Brussels’ bid to unseat it from its crown, in a private call with banks. Sunak described the financial services industry as a “crown jewel” and, according to reports, said the country will fight to protect it. The [...]
Sunak ‘confident’ of tech tax progress ahead of G7 finance meeting June 4, 2021 Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said he is “confident” of making “concrete progress” towards a global deal for taxing digital giants when the G7 finance ministers meet over the weekend. Taxing firms such as Amazon and Facebook has become an area of disagreement between the US and a number of other countries. Earlier this week the [...]
US slaps tariffs on UK goods in push for global tax deal June 3, 2021 The US has slapped new trade tariffs on six nations including the UK as President Joe Biden seeks to corral fellow economies into backing his proposals for a global tax deal. After announcing tariffs worth 25 per cent against $2bn worth of goods from the UK, Italy, Spain, Turkey, India and Austria, the White House [...]
BoE eyes a climate-conscious corporate bond purchase scheme May 21, 2021 The Bank of England (BoE) has tabled plans to make its £20bn of corporate bonds better aligned with government net zero targets today. Set to begin later this year, the bank will not immediately sell off bonds issued by businesses that have high carbon emissions, such as energy and oil firms. “Divestment is a powerful [...]
Britain is sitting on a mountain of debt – but there is a way to climb down May 5, 2021 The UK’s public finances – a source of perennial debate amongst politicians, think tanks, economists and investors – are in focus like never before. Covid-19 has ushered in a period of unprecedented public spending, funded in the main by large amounts of debt. Government borrowing – money it needs to borrow to pay for spending [...]
Rishi Sunak: Wealthy will be spared from post-pandemic tax raid May 5, 2021 Wealthy families will escape a post-pandemic tax raid earmarked to boost the economy, Rishi Sunak has suggested, as the chancellor praised Britain’s already “very progressive tax system”. Sunak said yesterday that he is “cautiously optimistic” about an upswing in economic growth, as Brits prepare to spare pent-up cash alongside the relaxing of lockdown restrictions. Speaking [...]
Government leaking Covid economic policy erodes public trust, think tank warns April 23, 2021 Treasury’s leaking of Covid-19 recovery policies to some media outlets weeks in advance, while keeping tight lipped on important details, risks eroding public trust, a leading economic think tank has warned. A new report by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr) said the current method has led to serious fiscal failures and [...]
Hand it over: David Cameron ordered to show lobbying text messages April 21, 2021 Former prime minister David Cameron has been given two weeks to pass on the details of his text messages in which he attempted to lobby the chancellor on behalf of failed finance firm Greensill. In a letter to Cameron, the chairman of the Treasury select committee urged the former prime minister to release details of [...]
Number 10 defends taxpayer-funded vaccine film April 14, 2021 Number 10 has defended the production of a taxpayer-funded film documenting the UK’s “extraordinary” vaccine rollout, insisting it was produced in-house and within departmental budgets. The trailer for A Beacon Of Hope: The UK Vaccine Story was released more than four weeks ago, with the full version billed as “coming soon”. The 30-minute film was originally [...]
The fight for the City: Can Labour challenge the orthodoxy of a pro-business Conservative Party March 26, 2021 Free market purists dismiss it as “woke capitalism”. But could a thriving concern in the City for the health of the planet and for social justice pose an opportunity for the Labour Party? The Square Mile is traditionally caricatured as Tory territory – never an entirely accurate assumption, given its young, multicultural workforce with a [...]