The UK Coalition Government have today proposed a number of initiatives designed to reduce the burden of bureaucracy and red tape for business. Proposals from the Department for Business include the re-publicising of the Your Freedom website, a “beefing up” of the Regulatory Policy Committee’s role and the provision of greater detail on the nature [...]
On 30th July 1930 Uruguay won the inaugural soccer World Cup by beating Argentina 4-2 in the final, which was held, like all the matches, in Montevideo. On 30th July 1966 England beat West Germany in that year’s World Cup Final held at Wembley Stadium in London. In 1928 FIFA (the football world governing body) [...]
The streets of London were packed with some 600,000 people eager to catch a glimpse of Prince Charles, heir to the throne of the United Kingdom, and Lady Diana Spencer daughter of one of England’s premier Peers, Earl Spencer, on their wedding day. The couple were married by the Archbishop of Canterbury at St Paul’s [...]
Following the unseemly debacle surrounding Kraft’s takeover of Cadbury (and some of us remember similar issues many years ago in the Guinness/Distillers takeover) the Takeover Panel have launched a review into certain aspects of the regulations concerning takeovers and have invited comments. Here are mine. Any changes to the Takeover Code must ensure that the [...]
Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills, has today launched the coalition government’s consultation paper A Strategy for Sustainable Growth. In doing so he stated: “This government has put decisive action on the fiscal deficit at the centre of its agenda. Business in the UK cannot prosper while the risk of a [...]
University tuition fees could be replaced by a new “graduate tax” under new proposals put forward by business and skills secretary Vince Cable. He proposed that the government would pay fees directly to universities instead of lending money to students to cover the cost and then having them pay these loans back by an extra [...]
Despite all his tough talk when he was in opposition as the Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, since becoming Business Secretary in the Coalition Government Vince Cable has been singularly unable to get banks and building societies to open their wallets and start lending to businesses or individuals. There is no doubt that Dr Cable is [...]
In the latest edition of Pulse – UK Economic Outlook, the IoD forecasts Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of only 0.9 per cent in 2010 and 1.8 per cent in 2011. The IoD describes this as “one L of a recovery”. The L shaped cycle does not mean there will be continued zero quarter-on-quarter growth [...]
One of the constant complaints of British businesses and individuals is the huge amount of outdated laws and irritating regulations they face. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg today issued a call to arms against pointless regulation and unnecessary bureaucracy, and is inviting the public to have their say about how they want the Government to [...]
As criticism of Tony Hayward grows and with President Obama throwing his toys out of the pram with increasing regularity, many people are wondering what this shows us about the leadership qualities – or lack thereof – of both men. But who is to blame for this disaster? This post has grown from several comments [...]
The Institute of Directors has today called on George Osborne to consider and adopt seven “keys to success” which they say will need to be delivered by the Chancellor in the forthcoming emergency Budget. By adopting the 7 keys to success the IoD say that the Chancellor would help accelerate economic recovery. However failure to [...]
Now that George Osborne has finally made it to 11 Downing Street and is planning his “Emergency Budget”, I hope he look seriously at reducing the headline rate of Corporation Tax in order to attract international businesses to the UK as well as stemming the flow of UK companies moving their tax residence elsewhere. The [...]
The new Conservative/Lib Dem coalition government has just published the text of the Coalition Agreement made between the parties. Should you wish you may view this via the link below. The agreement states that it is the intention of the new government to increase the rate of Capital Gains Tax (“CGT”) for “non business assets”. [...]
Before the recent election all the three main parties were saying that they “had no plans to increase or extend VAT”. In fact the Labour Party actually ruled it out, but then they knew full well that the chance of them being in power, even with Lib Dem support, was fairly negligible. So it proved. [...]
Just over a year ago I wrote about the visit to the Isle of Man undertaken by Vince Cable, then Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor who today was appointed Secretary of State for Business and Banking in the new Conservative – Liberal cabinet. Despite having been a stern critic of the island, calling it a tax [...]
As everyone must now know, Gordon Brown has finally set the date for the General Election for 6th May 2010. After recent months of a “phony war” the electorate finally has its chance to vote on the record of the Labour government in general and of Gordon Brown in particular. But not everyone realises that [...]
We now have official confirmation of what we have all known for months, if not years, the UK General Election will be held on Thursday 6th May. Since he bottled out of an early election following his unopposed “coronation” as Labour leader and thus also Prime Minister, it was clear that Gordon Brown was going [...]
History was made on this day when the London Stock Exchange (LSE) finally, after 200 years, allowed women to enter its premises as employees. One of the ten women in this first intake commented that the Exchange was the “last bastion of misogyny” and that business at the Exchange seemed to be carried out “at [...]
One thing that can be clearly seen amid all the arguments over the status of Lord Ashcroft is that neither the press nor the politicians really understand the difference between someone being resident in the UK or being domiciled in the UK. It is rather painful to listen to the claim and counterclaim of so [...]
This is the shocking verdict which the authors of a new report, published by the Institute of Economic Affairs, have come to following an in depth study into tax related compliance and administration costs which fall on UK businesses. The report also reveals that the average Finance Act in the 2000s has been three times [...]
