Johnson eyes measures to help families deal with rising energy bills January 31, 2022 Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are set to agree upon a package of measures this week designed to ease the burden of incoming energy bill hikes next month for low-income households. The pair are expected to only target support for millions of low-wage workers, pensioners and unemployed people, with three existing schemes to be extended [...]
Opinion-in-brief: A day in the life of Nadine Dorries Twitter January 31, 2022 Clearly, Nadine Dorries is jealous of Rishi Sunak’s social media stardom. The Culture Secretary, famed for telling a reporter she would nail his testicles to the wall, has decided to do what every jilted lover has considered doing, and posting passive aggressive, vaguely amusing jokes on twitter. After the discovery of the “pork pie plot” [...]
Typical British household pays over £1m in taxes in their lifetime… before national insurance hike January 31, 2022 The average household in the UK pays over £1m in taxes in their lifetime even before the national insurance hike comes into effect, reveals a fresh study released today. The new research underlines the heavy tax burden Brits are already shouldering even before the 1.25 percentage point national insurance hike takes effect in April. According [...]
Editorial: These “tax-cutting Conservatives” seem very keen on hiking taxes January 30, 2022 If it quacks like a high-tax duck and talks like a high-tax duck, it is difficult to believe that it is fact anything but a high-tax duck. So it is with Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, who professed this weekend to be “tax-cutting Conservatives” in a column confirming they were dead set on hiking national [...]
National Insurance rise to hit City of London small businesses the hardest in UK January 30, 2022 Small businesses in the City of London will be the worst hit in the UK by the coming rise in National Insurance, according to new research shared with City A.M. Figures from the House of Commons library, and collated by the Liberal Democrats, show small businesses in the Cities of London and Westminster constituency will [...]
‘Tax-cutting Conservatives’ Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak confirm tax rise is going ahead January 30, 2022 The Prime Minister and Chancellor have doubled down on a controversial planned tax hike to boost health funding, after it was reported that Boris Johnson was “wobbling” on the policy. The PM is under pressure from some Conservative MPs to scrap or at least delay the national insurance increase to win back support as he [...]
Fraud minister who resigned this week opens up: ‘I didn’t want to blow my top, but I was very angry’ January 29, 2022 The government minister who quit this week over the “schoolboy” handling of fraudulent Covid-19 business loans said of his resignation during a speech at the despatch box in the House of Lords: “I didn’t want to blow my top, but I was very angry.” Lord Agnew of Oulton, who was the Tories’ anti-fraud minister, says [...]
Exclusive: Brexit financial services regulation bonfire set to be in next Queen’s Speech January 28, 2022 An overhaul of the UK’s financial services regulation is set to be included in the next Queen’s Speech as the government speeds up its push to make the City more competitive post-Brexit. Chancellor Rishi Sunak gave an update to the cabinet on Tuesday about the UK’s plans to shed EU rules for financial services, with [...]
Opinion-in-brief: A nuclear future gets lifted off the ground January 28, 2022 On Tuesday, Rolls-Royce invited bids from English and Welsh regions to host the site of a small nuclear reactors’ factory. Yesterday, fresh news of £100m of government money invested in the Sizewell nuclear site made the headlines. Sizewell C could generate enough electricity to cover 7 per cent of what the country needs, providing around [...]
Treasury Committee chair joins chorus of MPs urging government to ditch national insurance hike January 27, 2022 The chair of an influential group of cross-party MPs that scrutinise the government’s spending plans has joined the chorus of policy makers calling for the national insurance hike to be scrapped. Tory MP Mel Stride, who chairs the Treasury Committee, urged the government to cancel the looming 1.25 percentage point national insurance rise to ease [...]