Sarkozy: EU is in charge of City of London December 1, 2009 FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday gloated over the nomination of a French EU Internal Market Commissioner, saying it would help European economic ideals prevail over Britain’s current system. Hailing the appointment of Michel Barnier, a former agriculture minister in his government, Sarkozy blamed the Anglo-Saxon model for the global economic downturn and crowed: “Do you [...]
MPC member moots a housing bubble tax December 1, 2009 BANK of England policymaker Adam Posen yesterday called for taxes on British homeowners like capital gains tax and stamp duty to be hiked in line with house price inflation, in a bid to prevent another housing bubble. Interest rates are too blunt an instrument to prevent boom and bust in the housing market, Posen said. [...]
Treasury must find extra 15bn, says the Item Club December 1, 2009 CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling will have to find another £15bn of spending cuts or tax hikes if the Treasury is to meet the projections for public borrowing set out in the 2009 Budget, an Ernst & Young Item Club report will say today. The report comes ahead of next week’s pre-budget report, in which Darling is [...]
West End rent is the highest in the world December 1, 2009 LONDON’S West End has regained its title as the most expensive place in the world to rent an office, overtaking Tokyo in the past six months as the recovery in demand for space begins to take hold. Despite recording an annual tumble in rents of nearly 18 per cent, banking and finance companies are increasing [...]
Tories vow an end to UK’s health and safety culture December 1, 2009 CONSERVATIVE leader David Cameron yesterday promised to reform Britain’s “over-the-top” health and safety culture, saying it had become a straitjacket on personal initiative and responsibility. A Tory government would bring back “common sense, discretion and personal responsibility,” he told the Policy Exchange think-tank. The Trades Union Congress accused Cameron of distortion and urged politicians not [...]
ISA sales soar as the over-50s use allowances December 1, 2009 SALES of ISAs soared last month, boosted by the over-50s taking up their increased £10,200 tax-free allowance. Figures from the Investment Managers Association revealed gross ISA sales hit £965m in October. This was the highest recorded figure in any month since ISAs were launched in April 1999. Net new investments in equity ISAs reached £301.1m, [...]
BT may hike rivals’ bills to cut its pension deficit December 1, 2009 THE telecoms regulator may allow BT to charge its rivals more for using its broadband and telephone lines to help it cut its £9.4bn pension deficit. Ofcom said it would consult on whether to take into account BT’s payments to cut its deficit when setting prices for its wholesale arm Openreach. Charges to firms such [...]
HOW WILL BT’S COMPETITORS REACT TO THIS PROPOSAL? December 1, 2009 TOM GIDLEY-KITCHIN CHARLES STANLEYRivals to BT have been wholly against this right from the start. Why should people like Carphone Warehouse be penalised because BT cannot manage its pension? I think a compromise will be the end result of all this and I don’t think it will be massively negative for BT’s competitors.ROBIN BIENENSTOCK BERNSTEINA [...]
Global factory output mixed December 1, 2009 GLOBAL manufacturing data yesterday revealed a mixed set of results with US and UK surveys indicating a slowdown in the pace of growth in November, while the eurozone saw output accelerate and China continued to expand industrial output at an astonishing pace. In Britain, the CIPS/Markit purchasing managers’ index (PMI) came in at 51.8 compared [...]
Australian central bank hikes rates for third month in a row December 1, 2009 AUSTRALIA’S central bank yesterday hiked interest rates for the third consecutive month by 25 basis points to 3.75 per cent, citing strong employment growth, improving business confidence, and solid export demand from Asia. The country was the only major Western economy that has managed to escape recession – it experienced just one quarter of contracting [...]
