Costly air passenger tax is losing UK tourism £1bn a year November 23, 2011 THE UK is losing £1bn in tourism revenue every year as a result of air passenger duty, the Tourism Alliance will reveal today. The finding comes a week after competing airlines formed a rare united front to lobby Westminster to scrap the tax. Passengers have to pay between £24 and £170 in the duty, considerably [...]
Output fall in EU and China November 23, 2011 FACTORY activity across both the Eurozone and China declined in November, according to Markit’s purchasing managers’ indices (PMI) published yesterday. Gloomy figures suggest the Eurozone will suffer a recession across the year-end. Manufacturing PMI was reported at 46.4, down from 47.1 last month, and services activity came in at 47.8, a slightly slower rate of [...]
Even Germany is feeling the pressure November 23, 2011 WHO will bail-out the bail-outers? That is the grim, almost philosophical, question facing the Eurozone this morning. Germany and its long-suffering taxpayers were meant to be the last chance for the Eurozone, the milch cow that would eventually be forced to step in, cheque book in hand, to prevent a calamitous collapse triggered by the [...]
50p tax will lose UK cash November 23, 2011 THE TOP rate of tax drives high earners to leave the UK or use innovative accounting techniques, reducing tax revenues over the coming years and damaging the economy’s performance, a new report from the Centre for economics and business studies (Cebr) warned yesterday. The government will gain around £2.5bn from the 50 per cent tax [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 23, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES BOSTOCK IN TALKS TO QUIT M&S FOR ASOS Kate Bostock, the head of Marks and Spencer’s clothing and homewares business, is in advanced talks to take up a senior role at Asos. People familiar with the situation said Bostock was talking to the online fashion retailer about becoming its managing director. Losing Bostock, [...]
Poor airports could be fined November 23, 2011 Britain’s aviation authority will soon have the power to fine airports that let down their passengers, if a new law put forward by transport secretary Justine Greening is accepted. The proposed law to “put passengers first” would give the Civil Aviation Authority power to impose penalties of up to 10 per cent of an airport’s [...]
Clegg: bank lending is racist November 23, 2011 Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg will today suggest that banks are racially discriminating against certain ethnic minorities in their lending decisions and will demand an inquiry into the matter. In a lecture to be give later today, Clegg will claim: “Firms owned by individuals of black African origin have been four times more likely than [...]
Lloyds gets rid of half its holding in Thomas Cook November 23, 2011 THOMAS COOK’S largest stakeholder has ditched almost half of its shares, a day after the crisis-hit tour operator asked its bank lenders to come to its rescue for the second time in five weeks. Lloyds Banking Group sold around £4m worth of shares, shrinking its stake in the company from 8.96 to 4.67 per cent, [...]
Tata names Mistry as its new chairman November 23, 2011 LONDON-educated Cyrus Mistry has been named as the new boss of Tata Sons, the Indian owners of Jaguar Landrover. The 43-year-old construction tycoon will become chairman of the Indian conglomerate when Ratan Tata retires next December. His appointment is likely to cheer Tata’s 50,000 UK workers – in firms including Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Steel [...]
Dexia rescue fears spark stocks slump November 23, 2011 EUROPEAN banking stocks were spooked yesterday over fears the €90bn (£77bn) deal to rescue Franco-Belgian bank Dexia could be about to unravel. Financial stocks fell in Britain, France and Belgium after a report that Paris and Brussels were at loggerheads over short-term funding guarantees designed to allow Dexia’s “bad bank” to come off emergency liquidity [...]
