Angry Lord Agnew says Boris Johnson ‘failed spectacularly as fraud in government is rampant’ at £30bn a year January 25, 2022 The Tory minister who quit yesterday in what has been described as “one of the most dramatic moments ever seen” in the House of Lords has claimed that fraud is rampant in the Government. Lord Agnew of Oulton had been the minister for efficiency and transformation before announcing his resignation at the despatch box and [...]
Treasury minister quits over government’s ‘lamentable’ Covid fraud record January 24, 2022 A Treasury minister resigned today over the government’s “lamentable” record on Covid fraud, after billions were stolen from Covid support schemes. Lord Theodore Agnew – previously responsible for government efficiency – said oversight of the Covid loan schemes by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) and the British Business Bank had been [...]
Brexit: Finland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Greece are exploiting Brexit as UK exporters are being ‘replaced’ January 23, 2022 Smaller EU countries are benefitting from Britain’s departure from the European Union. This is largely because they fill up the Brexit exporters’ spots. In fact, this situation could reduce the UK’s exports to the EU by -7.73 per cent by 2025, according to new analysis shared with City A.M. this week. The top three countries [...]
December home transactions show ‘strong end to frenzied year’ as markets expected to slow January 21, 2022 According to HMRC data, the provisional seasonally adjusted estimate of UK residential transactions in December 2021 was 100,110. This marks a 20 per cent dip on December 2020 but a 7.6 per cent spike on the prior month. Last year also saw a record level of home transactions of almost 1.5m, the highest since 2007, [...]
UK home to around 80 ‘Isa’ millionaires who sit on an average pot of £2m-plus January 21, 2022 New HM Revenue and Customs figures show that the UK has around 2,000 “Isa millionaires”, sitting on pots worth an average £1,412,000. And about 80 pots were valued at £2m-plus. Within the total, around 60 investors hold pots amounting to more than £3 million, according to the data obtained by InvestingReviews.co.uk. InvestingReviews.co.uk released the figures [...]
Furlough fraud exposes the shortcomings of doling out endless amounts of cash January 20, 2022 Outrage has erupted over the news that £5.8bn has been “criminally siphoned off” the emergency Covid-19 schemes that propped up millions of workers and paid for us to eat on the cheap. The very same folk who complained ministers weren’t acting fast enough to provide support, rejecting warnings that furlough was excessively generous, are now [...]
Labour calls on Treasury to do more to recover £5.8bn lost in Covid fraud January 18, 2022 Labour has called on the government to launch an investigation into how £5.8bn was stolen by fraudsters through Covid support schemes and for the Treasury do more to recover these funds. Shadow chief secretary the Treasury Pat McFadden told MPs that the government’s target of recovering a quarter of the stolen founds was tantamount to [...]
The future of tax in the UK, an expert view January 18, 2022 This article first appeared in ICAS’ CA magazine. Young businesses have the potential to drive post-pandemic recovery – but is the UK’s ageing tax system a help or a hindrance to entrepreneurs? Fraser Allen asks four experts to share their thoughts Earlier this year, the Institute for Fiscal Studies published a blunt assessment of the way [...]
Exclusive: Professional services partnerships start to come forward to HMRC over wrongly claimed furlough cash January 12, 2022 Professional services partnerships have begun to come forward over wrongly claimed coronavirus support, according to new data shared exclusively with City A.M. today. Around 25 professional services partnerships have admitted to overclaiming furlough with the amount totalling £309,588, averaging £12,384 per firm, law firm Pinsent Masons found. The numbers are likely to increase further as [...]
Bulb Energy unable to hedge against rising wholesale prices due to credit issues, says administrator report January 11, 2022 Bulb Energy dropped into administration because it was unable to hedge effectively against surging wholesale energy prices.