What the other papers say this morning – 13 March 2014
FINANCIAL TIMES
HS2 chairman finds £1.5bn savings
The new head of HS2 has identified at least £1.5bn in potential cost savings in London alone from the project’s £50bn budget but will warn MPs that the best way to save money on the line is to build it faster than planned. Sir David Higgins took over in January as chairman of the high-speed rail project, which is intended to link London to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. He is set to outline on Monday his recommendations for building the line more cheaply.The report was commissioned at the behest of David Cameron in November when the Prime Minister was forced into defending a scheme that has seen its budget balloon.
Higher-rate taxpayers bear burden
The threshold for the 40p tax rate has risen only half as fast as wages over the past 36 years, pulling six times as many people into the higher tax band as in 1978. Someone earning £75,700 today would still be a basic rate-taxpayer if the threshold had kept pace with wage growth.
Google grants security powers to UK
Google has given British security officials special access to its YouTube video site, allowing them to have content instantly screened if they think it threatens national security. The new “super flagger” powers underline growing concern among governments that are scrambling to contain the proliferation of jihadist material prompted by the war in Syria, but they are likely to stir concern among civil liberties campaigners.
THE TIMES
Investors demand Sunderland scalp
Investors who control hundreds of millions of pounds of Barclays shares are poised to vote to oust Sir John Sunderland, head of the board’s remuneration committee. 60 council pension funds in the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum are advised to vote against the re-election, and the pay report at Barclays’ annual meeting.
Copper price slump for China
A spectacular slump in the price of copper has sparked concerns that China has experienced its “Lehman Brothers moment”. Global commodity prices were shaken in recent days after China’s first corporate bond default, with the red metal suffering the brunt of the selling spree.
The Daily Telegraph
Scrapping 40p rate could be iconic
The Conservatives should consider scrapping the 40p higher rate of income tax as an “iconic” pledge to help win voters, a number 10 policy adviser has said. Nadhim Zahawi, a member of the number 10 policy board, said that the time has come for the Conservative Party to have a “serious debate” about its income tax policy.
China pushed to solve its debt crisis
China’s debts are the country’s biggest economic concern and need to be tackled, former Treasury minister and chairman of the China-Britain Business Council Lord Sassoon has said. Sassoon told The Telegraph that Chinese debt is a more pressing worry than the recent growth figures.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Renzi makes tax cut plan
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi unveiled plans to make €10 billion (£8.37bn) in cuts to payroll taxes and a further €2.4 billion in business-tax cuts, his first effort to deliver on promises to overhaul Italy’s sclerotic economy.
Three dead in New York explosion
Three people died and at least two dozen were injured—including several children—in a likely gas explosion that leveled two buildings in East Harlem yesterday, officials said. There are at least nine people unaccounted for. New York City mayor Bill de Blasio cautioned that some of the missing may be “going about their normal business” and weren’t in the building.