Philip Hammond has axed his Budget plan to hike National Insurance contributions March 15, 2017 Exactly a week after it was first announced, chancellor Philip Hammond has said he will scrap a Budget plan to increase National Insurance contributions for the self-employed. Hammond only announced the plan last Wednesday, but has been forced into a U-turn by widespread criticism of the decision. Tory MPs have complained of the added burden on small businesses, while others have pointed to a [...]
The Supreme Court has sided with charities in their battle against a disinherited daughter who was written out of her mother’s will March 15, 2017 The Supreme Court today ruled in favour of three animal charities, arguing a lower court had been wrong in reassigning money left to them to the deceased's disinherited daughter. The Court of Appeal decided in 2015 Heather Ilott should be handed over £163,000 of her late mother's wealth, despite the two having been estranged for over two decades and [...]
Don’t panic – but remember Brexit will be a tough political process March 15, 2017 Everyone benefits from free trade. For years now the UK has had a persistently large trade deficit with the EU, which by rights should make Europe more amenable to doing a “business as usual” Brexit deal with us. If only life were so logical our Brexit negotiations would run smoothly and full future access would [...]
Need a reason to cut public sector pay and pensions? Look at Jeremy Corbyn March 15, 2017 The shambles over the treatment of National Insurance has dominated the media’s reporting of the recent Budget. But only the previous week, Jeremy Corbyn made a complete horlicks of his tax return for the second year running. The Bearded One makes a saintly fuss over making his tax affairs transparent. In 2016, he forgot to [...]
LV= mulls merger or disposals as its profit takes a hit from capital rules March 14, 2017 One of the largest financial services mutuals in the UK has held secret talks over a potential merger with Royal London. LV=, which has nearly 6m UK customers across insurance, pensions and income protection products, has now called off the talks as the firms couldn’t agree on the structure of a deal, reported Mark Kleinman, [...]
Storm Stella: Dozens of British Airways and Virgin Atlantic flights from London to New York cancelled as snow envelops the US March 14, 2017 Dozens of London flights to and from the US have been cancelled after Storm Stella caused travel chaos in the north east of America. The US' National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for parts of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. According to live flight tracker FlightAware, 6,022 flights [...]
Pension deficits spike £46bn in February with experts warning of more volatility during Brexit negotiations March 14, 2017 The ability of Britain's firm's to manage spiralling pension liabilities is being hampered by the UK's exit from the EU, experts have warned. Pensions lifeboat, the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) today revealed the aggregate deficit of UK companies had grown at a rate of more than £1.6bn per day during February. Although deficits have retreated from all-time [...]
Donor Arron Banks cuts ties with Ukip to focus on his own political plans March 14, 2017 One of Ukip's largest donors has announced that he will sever his links with the party to focus on his own political movement. Insurance boss Arron Banks has been locked in disputes with the party's sole MP, Douglas Carswell, over a potential honour for former Ukip leader Nigel Farage. Banks, a close ally of Farage, has [...]
Now fintech startup Revolut is getting into loans March 14, 2017 Fintech startup Revolut has partnered with a peer-to-peer lender to offer loans to users, its newest product in addition to a current account and money transfers. With Lending Works, it will offer loans of up to £5,000 at a rate of 9.9 per cent APR over 12 months. The credit facility is instant, if approved, with [...]