HMRC forced to delete 5m voice recordings after breaching privacy rules May 3, 2019 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been forced into deleting the voice records of five million taxpayers after it was revealed that they were collected without proper consent and in breach of privacy rules. The government body had signed people up to its voice ID system for telephone enquiries in a bid to speed up [...]
Margaret Thatcher voted top Prime Minister on 40th anniversary of her first election win May 3, 2019 Margaret Thatcher has been ranked as the UK’s greatest post-war Prime Minister in a survey marking the 40th anniversary of her first election victory. Read more: CBI expresses 'deep concern' at prospect of Prime Minister Boris Johnson A Yougov poll placed Thatcher top of the pile, with 21 per cent of respondents saying she was [...]
Apollo Global Management scraps partnership status to become a corporation May 2, 2019 Apollo Global Management has announced that it is scrapping its partnership status to become a corporation, following similar moves by private equity rivals Blackstone and KKR. The conversion, which is expected to become effective in the third quarter of this year, will see the investment company paying more corporate tax under a simplified structure, which [...]
DEBATE: Should we be concerned about our freedoms as the UK is placed fourth in the Nanny State Index? May 1, 2019 Should we be concerned about our freedoms as the UK is placed fourth in the Nanny State Index? Alex Deane, a Conservative commentator, says YES. The Institute of Economic Affairs is right to criticise the UK by ranking it as one of the least free countries in terms of excessive regulation of alcohol, food, and tobacco. [...]
Your guide to US results season Q1 2019 April 30, 2019 | City Talk By Jemma Jackson from interactive investor. Home or away? interactive investor comment as US earnings season kicks off ahead of expectations So far, the news has been generally positive, with banks having noted an improvement in Net Interest Margins (the difference between the rate at which they borrow and lend). Industrials have also provided a [...]
Labour policies will represent ‘revolution’ for UK economy says John McDonnell April 29, 2019 Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said Labour will unleash an economic “revolution” if it wins power. The Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington, who has previously named Soviet revolutionaries Lenin and Trotsky as key intellectual influences, told the BBC he saw parallels with 1979 when Margaret Thatcher swept to power. "Things aren't working for people, so they're [...]
A new book about austerity has put Keynesian economists on the defensive April 29, 2019 Notoriously, economists quarrel about almost everything in their subject. But since the publication of John Maynard Keynes’ General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money in 1936, they are supposed to agree on one point: that increases in government spending boost demand and output, and reductions in government spending depress them. Indeed, according to the theory, a [...]
HMRC ramping up spending on private debt collectors, new analysis shows April 29, 2019 HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has spent £90m on private debt collectors in the last three years, compared to £34m in the three years before that, according to new analysis. Read more: Public will be able to make digital HMRC complaints from August The UK tax agency spent £26m on private debt collectors in 2018 [...]
Nearly three-fifths of firms think the UK tax regime is unfair to businesses like theirs April 23, 2019 Nearly three-fifths of businesses think they are unfairly penalised by the tax system, a new survey published today shows. The survey of over 1,000 businesses by the British Chamber of Commerce uncovered widespread concerned at the way HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) applies tax rules to different types of firms. More than two-thirds (67 per [...]
Bottoms up: English and Welsh sparkling wine sales jumped six per cent last year with 4m bottles sold April 23, 2019 UK sales of English and Welsh sparkling wine rose six per cent last year with 4m bottles sold. UK consumers bought more British sparkling wine than they did sparkling wines from Australia, the US and Germany combined in 2018. Italy was the top exporter of sparkling wine to the UK last year with 117m bottles [...]