Boris Johnson must resist the urge to build, build, build back the same July 9, 2020 My (increasingly bushy) eyebrows raised somewhat last week when Boris Johnson stood in front of his podium with his latest three worder “build, build, build” and his promise to cut red tape around infrastructure – and raised even further when the chancellor promised to cut stamp duty during his economic statement delivered yesterday. It is [...]
Now’s not the time to worry about £500bn of borrowing, says IFS July 9, 2020 The UK’s budget deficit could balloon to £350bn this year and £150bn the next, but tax rises or spending cuts to tackle the public debt should not be implemented “any time soon,” the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has said. However, IFS boss Paul Johnson warned that the chancellor was spending huge amounts and that [...]
We can’t rebuild an economy on half-priced meals — we need a productivity revolution July 9, 2020 If Joe Wicks or Couch To 5K have helped you shed a few pounds during lockdown, chancellor Rishi Sunak may have just undone all your hard work, tipping the scale in favour of eating out a lot more in August. For every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the Eat Out to Help Out scheme will entitle [...]
Page Group profit halves amid coronavirus lockdown July 9, 2020 Page Group’s profit almost halved as countries around the world entered lockdowns to curb the spread of coronavirus, the recruiter said today. Gross profit sank 47.6 per cent overall, with the UK one of the worst performers, where income sank 61.5 per cent year-on-year in the three months to 30 June. France plunged 52 per [...]
DEBATE: Is Rishi Sunak’s stamp duty holiday the right move? July 9, 2020 Is Rishi Sunak’s stamp duty holiday the right move? Clive Docwra, managing director of property and construction consultancy McBains, says YES. Raising the level where stamp duty tax kicks in to £500,000 is great news for the London property market. With the average cost of a home in the capital standing at close to £600,000, [...]
Tax less, spend more: the Chancellor’s Summer Statement July 8, 2020 The Chancellor delivered an Economic Statement that may not have been heralded as a Budget, but nonetheless delivered some significant changes to the country’s taxation and spending regime. In what was clearly a ‘Tax Less, Spend More’ statement, Rishi Sunak delivered not just a VAT cut for the few, but spending grants for the many. [...]
Budget deficit to surge past £300bn after Sunak stimulus, says IFS July 8, 2020 The UK’s budget deficit is set to rise further past the unprecedented £300bn mark after chancellor Rishi Sunak’s £30bn spending package of VAT cuts and job support programmes, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank has said. It said such a high pile of debt meant future statements from the chancellor “are likely to [...]
Rishi Sunak Summer Statement: All the Chancellor’s spending pledges July 8, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak today announced a raft of measures in his Summer Statement in a bid to help the UK economy recover from the worst effects of coronavirus. The Treasury boss revealed massive public spending to bolster the UK economy in what people are calling his mini-Budget. While he did not extend the government’s furlough [...]
New job retention bonus at heart of Rishi Sunak’s £30bn spending spree July 8, 2020 UK chancellor Rishi Sunak today put a new “job retention bonus” programme to encourage companies to bring back furloughed workers at the centre of a £30bn package aimed at kickstarting the economy. In his summer statement, Sunak said employers who take back furloughed workers until the end of January will receive a £1,000 payment for [...]
Retail industry calls for VAT cut to be extended to struggling sector July 8, 2020 Retail industry experts have expressed shock and disappointment that the chancellor’s decision to cut VAT for hospitality firms did not extend to the struggling sector. Rishi Sunak today announced plans to slash VAT for hospitality and tourism businesses from 20 per cent to five per cent. The retail sector welcomed the support announced for employment [...]