Chancellor Philip Hammond picks a self-employed pocket or two in his first (and last) Spring Budget March 9, 2017 Chancellor Philip Hammond stands accused of breaking a key Conservative manifesto pledge after announcing a double-raid on Britain’s self-employed workers during yesterday’s Budget. Delivering the first of two Budgets this year, Hammond said he would raise the main rate of Class 4 National Insurance contributions (NICs) for the self-employed by one percentage point to 10 [...]
Councils will be offered £2bn to help fight off a crisis in the UK’s social care provision March 8, 2017 Local authorities will be offered up to £2bn over the next three years to help meet the cost of social care. The funding was announced by chancellor Philip Hammond earlier today with £1bn of cash set to arrive in 2017-18. Local Government Association chairman Lord Porter welcomed the announcement, saying the funding represented “a significant [...]
Self-employed workers could be offered new options for parental leave March 8, 2017 Self-employed workers could be offered new options for parental leave under plans due to face consultation later this year. The government will this summer explore whether plans for the self-employed to pay higher National Insurance contributions should allow for state-funded paternal and maternal leave for new parents. Chancellor Philip Hammond announced the consultation today, citing in [...]
The Department for Education is going to pilot new lifelong learning schemes March 8, 2017 Ministers will spend £40m on plans to “test the effectiveness of different approaches to lifelong learning”. The effort comes as part of a focus on later life training, and chancellor Philip Hammond said the plan would “help the next generation learn and train throughout their lives.” Confederation of British Industry director general Carolyn Fairbarn said: [...]
The Treasury is plotting an £820m tax avoidance crackdown March 8, 2017 The Treasury is hoping to raise more than £800m from new anti- tax avoidance measures, including penalties for financial advisers. New penalties will come into force from July for tax experts like advisers, if they are found to have enabled the use of avoidance schemes later defeated by HM Revenue and Customs in the courts. The [...]
Budget 2017: Philip Hammond’s national insurance hike prompts accusations Tories reneged on manifesto pledge March 8, 2017 Philip Hammond unleashed a set of measures aimed at closing the gap between the employed and the self-employed in today's Budget. The chancellor said he would raise the main rate of class 4 national insurance contributions (NICs) for the self-employed by one per cent to 10 per cent from April next year, with a further [...]
Sacked government industrial strategy adviser Lord Heseltine says he never met Prime Minister Theresa May March 8, 2017 Tory big beast Lord Heseltine has revealed that he never met Prime Minister Theresa May, despite holding five different roles as an adviser to her government. Heseltine, who was sacked late last night after joining the Brexit rebellion in the House of Lords, had worked on areas including May's flagship industrial strategy, and had been due [...]
A forecast for a bounce in the UK’s GDP has put a spring in Philip Hammond’s step ahead of his first Budget March 8, 2017 Chancellor Philip Hammond will today give an upbeat assessment on the future of the British economy in his debut Budget, as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) becomes the latest body to upgrade its UK growth forecasts. The influential Paris-based OECD yesterday said UK GDP growth will reach 1.6 per cent this year, up [...]
The House of Lords just handed Theresa May her second parliamentary defeat on Brexit March 7, 2017 The House of Lords has inflicted a second Brexit defeat on Prime Minister Theresa May, amending her Article 50 Bill in a bid to force the government to offer a “meaningful” vote on quitting the EU. After three hours of occasionally fractious debate, peers voted 366 to 268 in favour of the change. A handful of Conservative peers [...]
Former Tory leader William Hague is calling for an early general election – and Theresa May says no March 7, 2017 Surprise, surprise: Downing Street has shot down attempts by former Conservative leader Lord Hague to persuade Theresa May to call a snap general election. A Downing Street source said May had been "clear and consistent in her position: she doesn't think there should be one". Writing in the Daily Telegraph, William Hague said the move “would strengthen [...]
