Government backs Heseltine’s plans for local authority power December 5, 2012 LOCAL authorities are set to get a say over billions of pounds of funding, after the chancellor endorsed Lord Heseltine’s recent report on stimulating growth. The 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) across the country will become responsible for pitching spending ideas to a central funding pot from 2015, according to the Autumn Statement yesterday. LEPs, [...]
Ultra-long gilt plan shelved December 5, 2012 THE government yesterday scaled back its plans to issue super-long 100 year perpetual gilts and instead settled on issuing securities with up to 60 years maturity. The announcement comes on the back of a consultation by the Debt Management Office on the appetite for ultra-long gilts. The maturity cap is currently set at 50 years [...]
New superfast internet plans December 5, 2012 TWELVE cities will share a £50m pot created to boost businesses’ access to ultrafast broadband, the chancellor announced yesterday. The money will be split up between Brighton and Hove, Cambridge, Coventry, Derby, Oxford, Portsmouth, Salford, York, Newport, Aberdeen, Perth and Derry. It will go to authorities in those areas as part of a “super-connected cities” [...]
Reits granted tax incentive December 5, 2012 THE GOVERNMENT has confirmed it is to introduce new legislation allowing real estate investment trusts (Reits) to invest tax-efficiently in each other. The announcement, made alongside the Autumn Statement yesterday, was welcomed by the industry who said giving Reits the same tax freedom as investing in physical buildings would boost investment into the property sector. [...]
Osborne blocks Lib Dem hopes for mansion tax on £2m homes December 5, 2012 MANY London homeowners breathed a sigh of relief yesterday as George Osborne ruled out a mansion tax on expensive properties, something his Liberal Democrat colleagues had been pushing for. The tax — an annual levy on homes worth more than £2m— has long been a cherished Lib Dem policy, which the Tory party have repeatedly refused [...]
Autumn statement December 5, 2012 THE BUSINESS CONFEDERATION’S VIEW DIRECTOR GENERAL JOHN CRIDLAND The CBI is the UK’s top business lobbying organisation. It aims to influence government policy on a wide range of business matters. “£5bn on near-term infrastructure, like the tube to Battersea, half a billion a year tax relief for small firms, and £1.5bn extra export support should [...]
What did you make of the measures announced in the Chancellor’s Autumn statement? December 5, 2012 JOEL BRYANT LIGHTSOURCE The fuel duty cut was an obvious and easy one to do, I think Osborne’s done it because he’s had a lot of hassle from the back benches. I don’t think the corporation tax changes will make much of a difference, there needed to be a bolder clampdown on tax avoidance. I’d [...]
A business as usual Statement puts Osborne at the mercy of calamities December 5, 2012 IN MAJOR fiscal consolidations, what gets done in the first two years is what gets done – unless or until there is another crisis. More than two years into the coalition’s deficit reduction programme, George Osborne now finds himself unable to change his strategy through additional tax rises or spending cuts. He spent those first [...]
The chancellor has a plan for growth – despite disappointment for banks December 5, 2012 HE HAS been criticised for taking too long to find the button marked “growth”, but yesterday George Osborne finally pushed it. Hard. With other business groups, the banks had been writing “Dear chancellor” letters, demanding measures to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and this year’s Autumn Statement was his answer. This isn’t pure altruism [...]
Osborne revealed small measures to rebuild confidence December 5, 2012 THE background to George Osborne’s Autumn Statement was not encouraging. Growth has been very weak this year, and it comes in the aftermath of 2011’s inflation squeeze on consumers and reflects the ongoing euro crisis. The Office for Budget Responsibility has marked down its growth forecasts significantly. Taking this year together with the next three, [...]
