UK economy improving but far from cured December 5, 2013 THERE can be no doubt that this Winter Budget – as it should really have been called – was a great win for George Osborne. For the first time since around 2007, Britain is moving in the right, rather than the wrong, direction. Growth has bounced back, the deficit is falling, employment is surging, unemployment [...]
Timid new policies do little to address the risks behind Osborne’s good news December 5, 2013 FOR THE first time since before the financial crisis, the chancellor of the Exchequer was able to stand up and announce some good news at the Autumn Statement yesterday: the deficit, the labour market, and growth are all better than expected. Alistair Darling started by predicting a “trampoline” recovery when the recession first hit, with [...]
Letters to the editor – 06/12 – Tax crackdown, Crossrail Two, Best of Twitter December 5, 2013 Tax crackdown [Re: Autumn Statement: What to watch out for, yesterday] There has been so much talk of tax avoidance that a fear factor has developed, with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) playing the role of chief scaremongerer. We have reached an extremely worrying point where people would prefer to pay too much tax rather than [...]
More cash for apprenticeships and cap on university places is lifted December 5, 2013 A RAFT of measures on education were announced as part of the Autumn Statement yesterday. The chancellor focused on policies to encourage more apprenticeships and additional university places to cater for increased demand. On apprenticeships, Osborne announced that money will now go direct to providers from HMRC. An extra £40m will be invested over two [...]
Everything revealed in the Autumn Statement December 5, 2013 New cringeworthy slogans "Responsible recovery" and "fixing the roof while the sun is shining" have become popular with chancellor George Osborne's speechwriters. "Hardworking families" also got a mention. OBR growth estimates are up 2013: 1.4 per cent, up from 0.6 per cent in March2014: 2.4 per cent, up from 1.8 per cent in March2015: 2.2 [...]
Departmental budgets cut by an extra £1bn a year December 4, 2013 THE CHANCELLOR will also announce cuts to government spending today, with an extra £1bn a year being shaved off departmental budgets over the next two years. There will be no cuts to health, education, international development, HMRC, local government or security services coffers, the Treasury confirmed last night. The Ministry of Defence will also be [...]
George Osborne may have just rediscovered the Laffer curve December 4, 2013 THERE has long been a debilitating tension at the heart of this government’s thinking on the economy. It has embraced supply-side economics in a limited number of areas, slashing corporation tax and the top rate of income tax to boost incentives, effort and investment, in the knowledge that the faster economic growth generated would mean [...]
City A.M.’s bumper Autumn Statement preview December 3, 2013 As chancellor George Osborne gets set to unveil this year's Autumn statement on Thursday, we've pulled together all the expected announcements, and what others are hoping for. Ladbrokes have 11/5 odds on the speech to run for 45 to 50 minutes (it's scheduled to start at 11.15am). You'll get 6/4 odds on the speech running [...]
City Moves for 28 November 2013 | Who’s switching jobs November 27, 2013 Harrington Cooper The fund distribution firm has appointed Henry Foster as sales manager in its discretionary sales team. He joins from Neptune Investment Management. Foster has also held roles at Citigroup Asset Management and Western Asset Management. MassMutual Gary Smith has been appointed head of sovereign wealth funds and official institutions for MassMutual’s asset management [...]
Number of tax plans drops to record low level November 24, 2013 THE TREASURY’S crackdown on tax planning schemes appears to be paying off, with the number of new plans falling to the lowest level since records began nearly a decade ago. Fewer tax planning schemes were reported to HMRC in the year to September 2013 than in any other year since 2004, when the tax authority [...]