Autumn Statement 2014 quiz: By George! What’s Osborne been up to? December 2, 2014 As the chancellor takes centre stage today to tell us how he plans to move the Treasury’s kitty about in the Autumn Statement, we take a look at some of his best moments over the last few months – but what exactly is he up to? Is it A, B or C? 1) A. [...]
George Osborne announces £1bn boost for small businesses ahead of the Autumn Statement December 2, 2014 George Osborne has announced a lending package worth nearly £1bn for the UK's small and medium-sized businesses ahead of tomorrow's Autumn Statement. The Treasury will give £400m to expand Enterprise Capital Funds, which invests in fast-growing small and medium size enterprises. It will also guarantee up to £500m of new bank lending to these kind [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: Forget a new fiscal rule – George Osborne should beef up the Office for Budget Responsibility to ensure real prudence December 2, 2014 George Osborne has made his name with a commitment to fiscal prudence, backed up by tough cuts to public services. In today’s Autumn Statement, he is expected to reinforce that reputation by announcing a formal target, backed by law, to eliminate the current structural deficit by 2017-18, a year earlier than previously forecast. There are [...]
Boris Johnson welcomes £141m transformation of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park into “Olympicopolis” December 2, 2014 Boris Johnson has welcomed the government's commitment to create a £141m education and culture hub on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The transformation will include two new campuses for University College London (UCL) and University of the Arts, new locations for the Victoria and Albert Museum and Sadler's Wells. It will create 3,000 jobs, 1.5m additional visitors [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: Fun for all the family – interactive Osborne bingo December 2, 2014 As George Osborne prepares to deliver his final Autumn Statement before next year’s general election, City PM is focusing on the important questions – will this be another one for “hard-working families”? Or is it just “ordinary people” he wants to help this year? We’ve put his favourite phrases into our chancellor-o-matic to create Autumn [...]
Merry Biz-mas? Last year’s weirdest business Christmas cards from Warren Buffett, Jamie Dimon and Maurice Lévy December 2, 2014 Tony Blair has already been given a heavy ribbing for his alarmingly wooden Christmas cards, while Nigel Farage has released a cartoon of him in a white van, reversing over his rivals. But they've got nothing on last year's trickle of chief executive Christmas cards, which ranged from the sublime to the downright tasteless. Here [...]
David Cameron gives Vince Cable and Nick Clegg the hard shoulder to take credit for “roads revolution” December 1, 2014 Usually the most exciting thing you see on the side of Britain’s A roads is a trailer selling strawberries for 50p and the odd squashed badger. However, yesterday was a different story as our top politicians were loitering in roadside ditches – all taking credit for a £15bn road-building scheme. Who was part of this [...]
“All in this together” takes a back seat as “long term economic plan” and immigration top odds on Osborne’s most likely Autumn Statement phrases December 1, 2014 Are we all in this together? Not any more. The phrase beloved by Cameron and Co has fallen to its longest odds yet when it comes to the likelihood of it appearing in this year’s Autumn Statement at 4/1. It looks like the Conservatives' long-term economic plan is still on track, though, with Ladbrokes giving [...]
George Osborne puts his money on roadbuilding and reveals Stonehenge tunnel plans November 30, 2014 Chancellor George Osborne will today unveil plans to build a tunnel under historic landmark Stonehenge, as he sets out how £15bn will be spent to overhaul British roads. The announcement marks the end of a long-running battle for a tunnel at the site, after plans were dropped seven years ago because of cost. Deputy prime [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: George Osborne could pull a small rabbit out of the hat November 30, 2014 STAMP DUTY George Osborne could choose to reform stamp duty on Wednesday – a crowd-pleasing policy that wouldn’t have to hit Treasury coffers hard. The most likely option for the chancellor would be to change the slab-like structure of the tax by only charging a higher rate on the amount spent over each threshold, rather [...]
