City of London lobby urges EU to grant UK financial services firms widespread access to its markets February 2, 2021 The City of London’s most influential lobby group has urged Brussels to grant Britain’s finance sector wide-ranging post-Brexit access as talks between the UK and EU on financial services continue. The CityUK today called for the EU to grant regulatory equivalence to the sector, while also calling for the UK government to provide more clarity [...]
House prices fall for first time in six months in January February 2, 2021 House prices fell for the first time in six months in January as the end of the stamp duty holiday approached. Nationwide’s annual house price index showed that prices fell 0.3 per cent last month, the first time they have dropped since June. That means the average price for a house, not adjusted for the [...]
Rishi Sunak set to maintain triple tax lock despite Covid-19 deficit February 2, 2021 Chancellor Rishi Sunak is said to have agreed to maintain the Tories’ so-called triple tax lock at next month’s Budget, preventing him from raising income, national insurance or value added tax. The chancellor had come under pressure from Treasury officials to shun the commitment made in the Conservative Party’s 2019 manifesto not to increase rates [...]
The City’s Big Bang 2.0 might well be green-powered February 2, 2021 In the Chancellor’s recent interview with City AM, Sunak said he was confident that Brexit could lead to a new wave of innovation in the City of London and the UK seeing a ‘Big Bang 2.0’. Unfortunately, most of the commentary on business and Brexit has been around the traditional tropes of cutting red tape. [...]
UK mortgage approvals reach highest level since 2007 February 1, 2021 The number of mortgage approvals reached their highest level since 2007 last year as buyers took advantage of the stamp duty holiday. The housing market remained resilient in the face of volatility and essential closure of the market during the first lockdown. There were 818,500 mortgage approvals over 2020, up from 789,100 the previous year, [...]
Rishi Sunak set to release Covid recovery plan this month February 1, 2021 Rishi Sunak will release a plan for the UK’s post-Covid economic recovery this month alongside Boris Johnson’s roadmap of how the country will ease the current lockdown. The plan will reportedly include a medium-term strategy for how the UK will boost investment and skills as the economy starts its recovery, and will be released before [...]
Government should rethink rates holiday as economy kicks back into life February 1, 2021 John Webber is Head of Business Rates at Colliers International News that John Lewis is under pressure to hand back millions of pounds in business rates relief received in this year’s retail rates holiday shows that the Government must re-think the way it uses the rates system to hand out support to businesses.. Last year [...]
Government set to write off estimated £31bn of pandemic loans January 29, 2021 An estimate of £31bn of government loans handed out during the pandemic will have to be written off, according to the UK’s spending watchdog. In its latest Covid-19 Cost Tracker, the National Audit Office (NAO) forecast that the total cost of the pandemic for Britain will balloon to £271bn, of which £116bn has been spent [...]
Billionaire Coates family of Bet365 stump up half a billion in tax January 29, 2021 Gambling family Denise, John and Peter Coates of Bet365 have paid more than half a billion pounds (£573m) in tax this year, making them the top taxpayers in the UK. Denise Coates founded Bet365 in 2000, and the tax paid by the family and the business is equal to the price of paying for 62,725 [...]
Taxing time for Ed Sheeran as singer pays £28m to HMRC January 29, 2021 Singer Ed Sheeran paid a whopping £28m in taxes this year, making him one of the UK’s biggest taxpayers. Ed Sheeran was named along with 49 others as part of the Sunday Times Tax List, which lists the taxes paid by the wealthiest in the country. Sheeran was by far the most high-profile new entry [...]