Defiant Greek PM Alexis Tsipras cosies up to Russian President Vladimir Putin April 8, 2015 Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras risked straining relations with his Eurozone partners even further yesterday after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to boost ties between the two countries. Dismissing European officials who questioned his intentions for the trip, Tsipras said: “Greece is a sovereign state – it has its undisputed right to a [...]
Ed Balls: I have not U-turned over non-dom rules April 8, 2015 Labour’s shadow chancellor Ed Balls hit back at the Tory party yesterday after being accused of contradicting himself over a new plan to end non-doms’ tax status. Balls, along with party leader Ed Miliband, said that a Labour government would scrap the non-domicile rule that allows people to reduce the amount of tax paid on earnings [...]
Non-dom crackdown: What impact will taxing the global rich have on the UK? April 8, 2015 Tight finances and pressure to break the deadlock in the election campaign combined yesterday in a very focused new round of tax – on the foreign earnings of over 5,000 rich British residents. Labour first introduced a levy on long-term non-domiciled residents back in 2008, and the coalition has hiked it since. In December, chancellor [...]
George Osborne finds magic money machine at Metro Bank April 8, 2015 George Osborne may have solved the British government’s huge annual deficit problem. He’s found a magic money machine! The chancellor was in Kingston yesterday, visiting a branch of Metro Bank in order to hail news that the challenger bank will employ 3,300 new staff, and aim to have a total of 150 branches by 2020. [...]
General Election 2015: Is the Green Party’s boyband video the most bonkers election broadcast ever? Here are five of the best April 8, 2015 The Green party has launched its new Party Election Broadcast. It has David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg, and Nigel Farage depicted as a rather bizarre boy band, singing a power ballad about austerity. No. Really…. Incredibly, the Green video may not actually be the most bonkers election broadcast a party has ever [...]
Lord Ashcroft marginals poll: Ukip vote share drops 10 points in Conservative held seats April 8, 2015 Tory peer Lord Ashcroft's latest poll from the marginal constituencies shows a mixed picture for the two main parties and heralds bad news for Ukip. This week, all 10 results come from Conservative held seats where Labour is the principle opponent. According to the poll, which is a snapshot of public opinion not a prediction, [...]
Election fatigue or just plain bored? Schoolgirl face-desks as David Cameron campaigns April 8, 2015 We've all been there. The guy next to you starts banging on about politics and suddenly you feel an overwhelming urge to rest your eyes, just for a second… and before you know it, you're being rudely waken up after the snores got that little bit too loud. And let's face it, who here [...]
General Election 2015: Green Party ad features singing coalition quartet and mocks lack of diversity April 8, 2015 The Green Party has released what can only charitably be described as a different kind of party political broadcast. Rather than use the story of an individual family like or a well-known and popular actor to make their case the Greens opted to present a singing quartet of Nigel Farage, Ed Miliband, Nick Clegg and [...]
NHS letter “orchestrated by Labour”, say Tories April 8, 2015 The Conservative Party has accused Labour of "orchestrating" a letter claiming the government has dealt a serious blow to the NHS. However, speaking to the BBC, the Tories pointed out some of the 140 doctors who had signed the letter were public Labour supporters and advisers. Published in The Guardian, the letter claimed the last [...]
General Election 2015: How will the FTSE 100 be affected by political uncertainty as we head to the polls? April 8, 2015 Elections are times of great volatility for the markets, and 2015's edition looks like it could hold a roller-coaster 60 days in store. Looking back to 1992 and 2010 – the two most close and dramatic elections in recent years – it's clear that markets don't like the uncertainty and respond with plenty of jitters [...]