Stealth taxes on insurance are driving up costs for businesses and motorists: Don’t make it any worse, chancellor March 1, 2016 The rise in the rate of Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) from 6 to 9.5 per cent, announced in last year’s Budget, did not grab the headlines. But it has had a very real impact. It has led to a further financial squeeze on millions of responsible businesses and households who have done the right thing [...]
Budget 2016: The AA pleads with chancellor George Osborne not to hit motorists by hiking insurance premium tax or fuel duty February 29, 2016 Motoring insurer and breakdown cover provider AA has today revealed that it has written to chancellor George Osborne to ask him not to hike insurance premium tax or fuel duty in next month's Budget. The company is concerned that the chancellor might be considering raising one or both as a quick win to boost the [...]
Britain should vote to leave the EU to take back control of our laws February 22, 2016 At a recent panel discussion at Lincoln’s Inn on whether Britain should stay in or leave the EU, Kate Hoey MP told the audience, “lawyers always have so many different opinions”. She is right: lawyers are also debating EU membership. We have formed a group, Lawyers for Britain, led by Martin Howe QC, for lawyers [...]
Ladies who don’t lunch: Maike Currie talks to financial services entrepreneur Joanne Smith about dry January and why compliance is the “new rock ‘n roll” February 18, 2016 My lunch date with Joanne Smith, financial services veteran turned entrepreneur, is long overdue. I have been using stalling tactics and to be honest it’s due to her area of expertise: compliance. (Read: boring box-ticker.) But it’s a New Year and, cloaked in noble resolutions, I finally make the time to meet her at a [...]
ABI warns chancellor George Osborne against further hikes to Insurance Premium Tax in Budget 2016 February 16, 2016 Any further rise in Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) would “hit millions of people doing the right thing”, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has said. IPT affects 50m car, home, pet and private medical insurance policies. The insurance body has said the tax rise from six per cent to 9.5 per cent announced in the chancellor’s 2015 Summer Budget has [...]
Let the good times roll: EY Item Club forecasts strong growth for UK financial services February 15, 2016 The financial services industry can expect decent growth over the next few years, a group of forecasters have said today. Mortgage lending, business borrowing and consumer credit are all set to grow at healthy rates over the coming years, as the UK economy shrugs off recent severe stock market declines. However, the EY Item Club said [...]
Human drivers will be obsolete by 2050 as driverless technology takes over, say researchers Moshe Vardi and Bart Selman February 14, 2016 Cars driven by humans will become obsolete with the rise of driverless car technology, leading researchers have predicted, and it could happen as soon as 2050. "You cannot ride a horse in downtown Houston anymore. If you like horse riding, you have to go to horse ranches. The same is likely to happen with cars," said Moshe Vardi, [...]
Driverless cars could prevent 95 per cent of road accidents February 11, 2016 Making all cars driverless could prevent 95 per cent of car accidents and add £51bn a year to the UK economy, a new report has claimed. The report, by the Institution of Management Engineers (IME), said 95 per cent of crashes happen due to driver error. "The benefits of this sort of technology are huge," [...]
This is how addicted we are to our smartphones: One in three millennials have walked into something while looking at their phone February 2, 2016 Ever walked headfirst into a lamp post because you were focusing less on your surroundings than on following an unfolding Twitter debate on your phone? If you’re under 30 years old, chances are your answer is yes, according to a new study on millennials’ smartphone habits which reveals the (terrifying) full extent of our phone [...]
Falling oil prices are an opportunity for the City to help the Gulf States diversify February 1, 2016 I returned last week from an eight-day business visit to the Gulf, during which I moved between Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Every lord mayor in recent memory has made a point of visiting the Gulf, not just because of its economic importance but because the City can support the region’s countries in [...]