The six points on which Britain launches its challenge to EU bank bonus cap September 25, 2013 Britain has launched a legal challenge against the European Union's cap on bankers' bonuses. The chancellor George Osborne has warned that the new rules could "undermine responsibility in the banking system rather than promote it". The cap on bonuses is planned to take effect from 2014 onwards, limiting bonuses to match salaries, unless shareholders vote [...]
Shares for rights could lure talent to smaller firms September 1, 2013 AS NEW rules came into force yesterday allowing employees to waive certain workers’ rights in exchange for shares in their employer, lawyers have said the legislation could drive top talent towards the UK’s smaller companies. Under the new scheme, first proposed by chancellor George Osborne last year, employees can exchange certain rights – including statutory [...]
Exclusive: Ecclestone lawyers hit back at bribery charge July 17, 2013 LAWYERS for Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone believe that lack of evidence of a crucial meeting could undermine a bribery case against him by German authorities. German prosecutors yesterday charged Ecclestone, 82, with bribery in connection with F1’s $1.7bn (£1.2bn) sale to its current owner, private equity firm CVC, in 2006. Ecclestone is accused of [...]
The Treasury will gain nothing from property tax hikes June 25, 2013 A S THEY consider a “back-door” mansion tax and another increase in stamp duty in today’s Autumn Statement, George Osborne and Vince Cable should take a quick look at a dramatic drop in tax receipts after the last Budget. In March, stamp duty was hiked to 7 per cent for people buying property over £2m [...]
Simplify planning laws and Garden Cities could solve our housing crisis June 19, 2013 BRITAIN’s planning regulations are a lawyers’ banquet. A tangled web of 118 Acts of Parliament govern them and, while the legal profession and a new breed of lobbyists known as “planning consultants” may prosper from this quagmire, the economy suffers. This is the theme of a new policy report on Britain’s antiquated planning regime I [...]
Forget the Old Etonian chumocracy: The Tories are at their least aristocratic ever June 16, 2013 DAVID Cameron’s government is the least patrician, least wealthy and least public school-educated Conservative-led government Britain has ever seen. Fewer Tory MPs were born into wealth and privilege than ever before. More are reliant solely on parliamentary salaries, and fewer have significant outside earnings compared to Tory MPs from previous parliaments. This is not the [...]
Back-to-work scheme ruled illegal by court February 12, 2013 THE GOVERNMENT’S back-to-work programme was thrown into disarray yesterday after a judge ruled that many schemes that make the unemployed work for free are unlawful. Graduate Cait Reilly, 24, claimed victory after the Court of Appeal ruled that a programme she took part in – which required her to undertake work experience at Poundland or risk [...]
City jobs rising as legal hiring counters bank staff bloodbath January 22, 2013 LEGAL services jobs in the City increased rapidly last year, outweighing even the dramatic fall in bank employment and pushing total headcount in the square mile up through 2012, new figures revealed yesterday. A total of 117,800 people are now employed in legal services, TheCityUK found, an increase of 2.5 per cent on the year. [...]
Justification for tax evasion crackdown has worrying shades of Brown January 22, 2013 KEIR Starmer, the director of public prosecutions, has vowed to “ramp up” the number of prosecutions against tax evasion five-fold in two years. He plans to target middle-class earners, citing as examples “lawyers, tax consultants and plumbers” – an intriguing perspective on the British class system. Or perhaps we are all middle-class now. It is, [...]
City Moves for 10 January 2013 | Who’s switching jobs January 9, 2013 RBS Guy Wylie has been appointed head of primary markets, Asia Pacific at RBS. He has over 20 years’ experience in banking, and most recently worked at UBS as head of Asian debt capital markets and leveraged finance. Wylie previously joined RBS in 2005, after spending several years with JP Morgan and Arthur Andersen in [...]