Chancellor Philip Hammond’s Autumn Budget contained tricks and treats for your personal finances October 31, 2018 The move of this year’s Autumn Budget to Monday this week rather than its traditional Wednesday slot was ostensibly to give MPs more time to debate the chancellor’s proposals before the House of Commons rises for recess on 6 November. But presumably Philip Hammond also hoped to avoid some Halloween-themed headlines, which he himself alluded to [...]
Hammond’s digital services tax puts UK competitiveness at risk October 31, 2018 The government has long been scratching its head for ways to address the current tax treatment of global tech platforms. Our tax code – all 10m words of it – has been struggling to keep up and adapt to a new economy that is being driven by technology, innovation, and digitalisation. On Monday, Philip Hammond [...]
This Budget was a masterclass in dishonesty and manipulation October 31, 2018 So what was it? A cautious Budget? An astute Budget? A get-me-through-the-day Budget? Did you feel the earth move – or the need to change your financial affairs, for better or worse? Was there more than a zzzzz from the markets? It certainly was not the tax reform Budget that our economy desperately needs to put [...]
Hammond has taken the first tentative steps towards fixing the housing crisis October 31, 2018 How do you solve the housing crisis in a single Budget? You can’t, of course – not with Brexit looming and a Prime Minister demanding that you both signal the end of austerity and reduce the UK’s national debt at the same time. But housing policy is the one single issue that personally and radically [...]
John McDonnell under fire from Labour MPs for backing the Budget’s tax cuts October 30, 2018 Labour’s shadow chancellor has been forced to defend his surprise support for Conservative plans to cut taxes for higher earners. John McDonnell said on Tuesday he would not reverse moves to raise the 40p income tax threshold to wages over £50,000 from April 2019 if he was in government. The policy, announced by chancellor Philip Hammond [...]
Prime Minister rules out another general election after ‘giveaway’ Budget October 30, 2018 Prime Minister Theresa May and chancellor Philip Hammond today ruled out another UK general election a day after revealing what has been dubbed a "giveaway" Budget. May told a press conference in Oslo: "No. We are not preparing for another general election. That would not be in the national interest." Being interviewed on Good Morning [...]
Long-term economic growth is a prize both parties should be fighting for October 30, 2018 Ah yes, post-Budget week. That time when a modest tax change here or a spending announcement there generates reams of analysis about who’s been made “better off” or “worse off” at the stroke of the chancellor’s pen. When, for a second, the decision to try to implement VAT on warm takeaway foods or announce a [...]
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 [...]
It’s time to get serious about closing London’s disability employment gap October 30, 2018 It is widely acknowledged that the employment opportunities on offer in London are unmatched by any other major city in the UK. Yet for disabled people, this buoyant jobs market is all too often entirely inaccessible. The disability employment gap – the difference in the employment rate between non-disabled people and disabled people of working [...]
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 [...]