Furlough worth £70bn but unemployment fears mount as scheme ends on Thursday September 27, 2021 The furlough scheme cost the government £70bn and has been successful at preventing unemployment from skyrocketing, but concerns are sharpening about the jobs market’s ability to stand on its own two feet as the scheme ends this week. The initiative cost roughly the equivalent of 18 months’ of funding for UK schools, according to research [...]
Sunak must nurture British business with fair taxes and smart reforms September 27, 2021 London’s famous vibrancy has returned. City streets once again teem with activity, pent up for so long but now unleashed. Yet it would be a mistake to assume the journey ahead is an easy one. London – like the rest of the UK – stands at a crossroads. And the path we choose will decide [...]
Editorial: Tax-hiking ministers aren’t entitled to demand pay rises, too September 27, 2021 To listen to Government ministers at the moment, one could be forgiven for thinking we were in the middle of an economic boom. Amid an entirely predictable collapse in haulier numbers and knock-on shortages, the response so far has been on the one hand an underwhelming visa scheme and on the other a demand for [...]
Labour vows to scrap business rates if elected in tax shakeup September 26, 2021 Major UK business groups have thrown their weight behind new Labour plans to cut and then entirely scrap business rates in what is being billed as “the biggest overhaul of business taxation in a generation”. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves will tell the Labour party conference in Brighton tomorrow that a Labour government would replace business [...]
MPs speak out as Morrisons bidder plans to run grocer from Cayman Islands September 26, 2021 The private equity eyeing supermarket Morrisons has lined up an entity in the tax haven Grand Cayman to run the supermarket giant, bid documents have revealed. Cross-party MPs have urged Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) to assure it will pay UK corporate tax rates on Morrisons’ turnover, the Sunday Times reported. CD&R revealed full details [...]
Brits’ energy bills to swell more than £300 with poorest hit hardest – CityAM : CityAM September 26, 2021 Brits’ household bills are set to swell over the next year, with the poorest households being hit hardest by the energy crisis, according to new research. Energy bills will rise by more than £300 over the next year, highlighting the scale of the impact the crisis will have on Brits’ finances, shows research by the [...]
Keir Starmer U-turns on Labour policy to nationalise energy sector September 26, 2021 Sir Keir Starmer has today said a Labour government will not nationalise the country’s energy sector, overturning a key pledge from the last election and a promise he made in the party’s leadership contest. Starmer also wouldn’t rule out income tax rises, noting that “nothing is off the table”. The Labour leader said today that [...]
Slap £1.7bn in taxes on private schools to pay for state education, says Keir Starmer September 26, 2021 A Keir Starmer government would slap a £1.7bn tax burden on private schools in order to pay for state education, the Labour Leader has said. The opposition leader told the Sunday Mirror he wanted to see a “rethink” on education and said the pandemic has increased the gap between children of wealthy and poor families. [...]
Sadiq Khan: London battles ‘potential existential threat’ post-restrictions September 25, 2021 London has been “hollowed out” amid the pandemic, which has pushed people away from city centres faster than ever before, London mayor Sadiq Khan has said. Covid-19 restrictions and economic uncertainty has made penny pinching Brits more reluctant to make use of the capital’s bars, restaurants and theatres, he added. “It’s been hollowed out because [...]
Takeaways threatened: Customers may pay extra £2bn after tax hike September 24, 2021 Consumers could end up paying an extra £2bn for takeaways, ahead of rises in VAT, the British Takeaway Campaign has warned. VAT for hospitality is to rise to 12.5 per cent next month, ahead of another hike up to 20 per cent in March next year, to the frustration of beleaguered food bosses. Takeaway operators [...]