Are Osborne’s reforms to stamp duty welcome news for the UK? December 3, 2014 Rory Meakin, research fellow at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, says Yes. Finally! Yesterday, the chancellor at last ditched the awful “slab” rate structure for stamp duty on homes. Higher rates now only apply to the amount over the tax’s thresholds, instead of the whole purchase price. Stamp duty starts at £125,000. If you bought a home [...]
Which London borough will pay most stamp duty under Osborne’s new rules? December 3, 2014 Buyers moving to Kensington and Chelsea will contribute more stamp duty than any other London borough under new plans revealed by George Osborne in his Autumn Statement today. More than 12,500 homes in the borough will be subject to a higher rate of stamp duty after the changes come into effect. New Westminster residents would [...]
Boris Johnson and the Malaysia Airlines mile-high “head butt incident” with drunk passenger December 3, 2014 London Mayor Boris Johnson may be used to a political dust up, but he was faced with what sounds like a rather more physical session on his flight home last night. Johnson, who has been in Malaysia as part of a tour of Asia, was flying from Kuala Lumpur when a fellow passenger started to [...]
What colour was George Osborne’s tie? Ladbrokes pays out on green, grey and black odds December 3, 2014 George Osborne confounded consensus in his Autumn Statement today, choosing to wear a magical colour-changing tie. The odds were naturally on Tory blue neckwear in the lead-up to the general election, but Osborne this year took inspiration from a magical Mr Benn (the cartoon character, not Tony), digging deep in the back of the wardrobe [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: What does George Osborne’s stamp duty reform actually mean? December 3, 2014 In an Autumn Statement firmly aimed at courting the popular vote, George Osborne today announced a complete overhaul of the stamp duty system – the elephant in the residential market for a decade. Estate agents said the old system wasn't progressive enough, and unfairly taxed home buyers. The cherry on Osborne's stamp duty cake was [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: George Osborne scraps stamp duty slabs December 3, 2014 George Osborne's Autumn Statement unveiled a raft of measures in an intensely political statement aimed at luring voters back from Ukip during next year's general election. His centrepiece? A complete overhaul of stamp duty which, he said, will create savings for 98 per cent of home buyers. To cheers from the Tory back benches, Osborne [...]
Russell Brand wins award for making no sense while Boris Johnson snatches first place for clarity December 3, 2014 Poor Russell Brand can't seem to catch a break these days, with opinion polls showing him to be more unpopular than Jeremy Clarkson and column inches being devoted to his poor reaction to tough questions. If things weren't bad enough for the self-styled revolutionary, he's just been named the winner of the Plain English Campaign's [...]
Osborne gets last minute economic boost: UK service sector growth surges again while Europe hits 11-month low in latest PMI December 3, 2014 The UK’s service sector surged ahead of expectations in November as growth hit an 11-month low in the Eurozone, telling two very different stories of economic activity. The latest Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) came in at 58.6 for November, ahead of the 56.5 expected and 56.2 in October, in another boost for the UK economy [...]
Nigel Farage’s confusion on sex education is just the latest in a series of Ukip policy flip-flops December 3, 2014 Ukip has once again had to clarify party policy after Nigel Farage appeared to disown the position held by his deputy Paul Nuttall that sex education should be scrapped for primary school children. Speaking in an ITV debate with young voters, the Ukip leader said: I have never advocated that policy … I know there [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: George Osborne prepares for battle ahead of crunch announcement December 2, 2014 George Osborne met military personnel yesterday ahead of the Autumn Statement, one of the most important fiscal announcements of his term in office. The chancellor is widely expected to have a crowd-pleasing announcement up his sleeve, following leaks this week about infrastructure spending, flood defences and housebuilding. Possible measures include stamp duty reform or raising [...]
