Autumn Statement 2014: George Osborne scraps stamp duty slabs December 3, 2014 George Osborne's Autumn Statement unveiled a raft of measures in an intensely political statement aimed at luring voters back from Ukip during next year's general election. His centrepiece? A complete overhaul of stamp duty which, he said, will create savings for 98 per cent of home buyers. To cheers from the Tory back benches, Osborne [...]
These charts sum up everything you need to know about the 2014 Autumn Statement December 3, 2014 It’s Autumn Statement day and George Osborne’s speech will likely focus on the UK having a fast growing economy and falling unemployment rate. Coming from the other side of the Commons will be assertions that there is a cost of living crisis and that expenditure is still too high. What is the truth? Here are [...]
Autumn Statement 2014 drinking game (use Tennant’s, tea or tequila) December 3, 2014 Are you thirsty for tax policies? Comforted by a large cup of hot pension news? Or fizzing over with anticipation for more infrastructure funding? This is the game for you. When you hear the Autumn Statement buzzword – take the correct number of sips. Hard working families 1 sip Long-term economic plan 1 [...]
Ed Miliband sets sights on water industry to tackle cost of living crisis November 26, 2014 Labour leader Ed Miliband has set his sights on water companies, claiming they make vast profits for shareholders, but do not provide customers with value for money. The move follows a high-profile attack on energy companies last year. In a bid to tackle the so-called cost of living crisis, Labour’s environment minister Maria Eagle will [...]
UK high-earners mapped: Where do the UK’s richest people live and how much do people earn in your area? November 21, 2014 Where do the UK’s richest people live? And how rich is your local area? New data from the Office of National Statistics has revealed the areas where Britain’s wealthiest reside. Predictably, not one of is outside the south east of England. According to the ONS, median gross annual earnings increased between 2013 and 2014 by [...]
EU beats UK in bonus cap legal battle November 20, 2014 Britain’s standing in the EU is lower than ever, and the UK yesterday admitted defeat in the latest spat. Should Britain ever have challenged the bonus cap? The Bank of England thinks the bank bonus cap does more harm than good. British institutions such as Barclays took a pummeling in the US when they cut bonuses, losing [...]
Selling public land is just the start: Three steps to solve London’s housing crisis November 19, 2014 WE HAVE got to the stage that, if you don’t know there’s a serious housing shortage in London, I’d assume you must be living in a cave. This shortage comes with increasingly obvious social and economic ramifications. London First recently published research showing that more than half of workers (56 per cent) have difficulties paying [...]
It’s maddening that investment charges are still so complicated November 18, 2014 THIS week, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has come under pressure to implement more stringent measures on the way investments are managed, particularly when it comes to communicating fees to customers and improving the overall transparency of charges. But this is all backward. It should be companies leading the charge for transparency, because that’s what [...]
“Big four” banks’ small business lending placed under official investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority November 6, 2014 Britain’s biggest banks are to be thrust under the microscope by a watchdog launching an in-depth investigation into personal current accounts and small business lending. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) believes the UK retail banking sector is failing its customers through a "crippling lack of competition and transparency". HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking [...]
Bank of England deputy governor Minouche Shafik: Finance is stronger now October 27, 2014 Huge fines and revelations about some bankers’ bad behaviour in years gone by is obscuring recent progress made in cleaning up the industry, Bank of England deputy governor Minouche Shafik said last night. Shafik has launched a nine-month review into fixed income, currency and commodities markets, looking at every aspect from the way securities are [...]