Labour’s war on landlords April 30, 2014 LABOUR leader Ed Miliband will today announce his party’s controversial plans for a sweeping reform of the private rented sector, as he tries to win the votes of generation rent. The plans have been accused of defying economic logic by think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, and will see Labour propose a national rent [...]
Fed ignores US growth freeze and tapers on April 30, 2014 THE FEDERAL Reserve will keep on winding down its quantitative easing (QE) programme in May, as it turns a blind eye to severe winter weather’s dramatic impact on GDP figures released yesterday. The major slowdown in the US economy in the first three months of the year was much worse than expected, with GDP growth [...]
Vince Cable reveals golden ticket Royal Mail investors April 30, 2014 BUSINESS secretary Vince Cable yesterday revealed the 16 priority investors who were given preferential treatment in the Royal Mail sell-off and allocated £728m in shares. When the Royal Mail share price unexpectedly soared by 38 per cent on the first day of trading, it wildly exceeded asset managers’ targets. Almost half of the priority investors’ [...]
Labour market flexibility has saved the UK – so don’t bash it April 30, 2014 IT’S all in the name. What would you prefer, a zero hours contract, or a flexible arrangement with a company that means that you will be asked to work as and when you are needed, with hours variable? An unscientific focus group confirms the obvious: the first option sounds nasty and pointless (suggesting no work [...]
Boris slams transactions tax as a threat to the City April 30, 2014 A NEW tax on financial transactions (FTT) will drive business out of London, Boris Johnson warned yesterday, as the European Court of Justice kicked out a British challenge to the tax. Countries like France and Germany want to tax each trade of shares issued in their countries, wherever in the world they are traded. Bonds and derivatives [...]
Miliband’s swipe at landlords is no comfort for UK renters April 30, 2014 THE UK’s housing crisis is no secret, and political solutions are offered two a penny. Unfortunately, Ed Miliband’s plan to limit rents is perhaps the one thing that can be relied upon to make the situation worse for Britain’s renters. Like any price ceiling, Labour’s pledge will reduce available supply, as rents are capped below [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 01 May 2014 April 30, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Credit Suisse execs clashed on probeThe former head of Credit Suisse’s private bank for the Americas told government investigators he had clashed with superiors about the bank’s disclosures to a tax evasion probe, said people with direct knowledge of the situation. The claim suggests there was disagreement at senior levels of Credit Suisse [...]
Co-op is told it must reform or it will fail again April 30, 2014 A SWEEPING investigation into the Co-op Group and Co-op Bank yesterday found years of bad decision making and poor leadership led to the enormous losses at the group and the near-failure of the bank last year. The report, by Sir Christopher Kelly, found directors and executives failed to take risk management seriously, and that only serious reforms to [...]
Serco seeks emergency cash as finance chief makes exit April 30, 2014 SERVICES giant Serco announced its intention to raise around £170m yesterday, as Andrew Jenner bows out as the group’s chief financial officer (CFO). The group will place nearly 50m more shares to raise the cash, just shy of 10 per of the firm’s existing share capital. Jenner has been the group’s CFO for 12 years, and [...]
Reckitt steps down from Merck sale discussions after two days April 30, 2014 RECKITT Benckiser announced yesterday that it has given up on talks with pharmaceutical giant Merck about purchasing the firm’s $14bn (£11.5bn) consumer healthcare arm. Reckitt was rumoured to be the most likely buyer earlier this month, but did not admit until a statement on Monday that the two groups were in active discussions over the [...]
