Jean-Claude Juncker says he should have changed Luxembourg’s tax laws November 27, 2014 Jean Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission, has responded to criticisms of Luxembourg’s tax system while he was in government. The former Prime Minister said he wished his government had legislated to to give it more control of tax deals by international companies. He said the tax structure was a way to diversify [...]
Mario Draghi makes case for for economic union November 27, 2014 Mario Draghi has upped the rhetoric and made the strongest statement yet about creating economic union in the single currency zone. Speaking in Helsinki, the European Central Bank (ECB) president said existing powers, under the Stability and Growth Pact, do not go far enough. Draghi wants certain decisions about fiscal reform to be taken [...]
Stagecoach share price jumps on East Coast mainline rail franchise win with Richard Branson’s Virgin November 27, 2014 Stagecoach and Virgin are the joint winners of a bid to run the East Coast mainline route, netting the government £3.3bn over the next eight years. The route between London and Edinburgh has been publicly run since 2009 after previous operator National Express ran into difficulties and gave up the contract. Stagecoach and Virgin, which [...]
City will snub Juncker’s masterplan, MEP warns November 26, 2014 A LONDON MEP has warned European president Jean-Claude Juncker that the City will snub his £250bn investment plan because investors are wary of government infrastructure projects. The claim follow’s Juncker’s announcement yesterday that the £250bn fund will be used to generate 15 times more investment from private companies, in a bid to kick-start Europe’s flagging [...]
Labour’s VAT jibe is political hot air, George Osborne won’t bite November 26, 2014 It’s that time of year again folks. The Christmas adverts have taken root on our TV screens and Marks and Spencer has its “tastefully festive” album playing in store. That’s right, the Autumn Statement is just around the corner and boy what a stocking full of goodies the chancellor is preparing to give away this [...]
Economists are pessimistic over ECB purchases November 26, 2014 A EUROPEAN official yesterday hinted that controversial government bond purchases could begin early in 2015. However, economists remain pessimistic with regard to the size and scope of any future purchases. European Central Bank (ECB) vice president Vitor Constancio said policy makers would wait and see if current policies had any success in the first three [...]
Theresa May’s new terrorism bill will allow passports to be seized for 30 days and require internet companies to identify individuals November 26, 2014 Theresa May has published the new terrorism bill, which includes a raft of new terrorism measures that she hopes will help protect the UK from what's been described as the rising terror threat. In a speech made earlier this week the home secretary said that the UK faced its greatest terror threat since any time [...]
World Cup bidding process: Sajid Javid calls upon Sepp Blatter to publish full report November 26, 2014 The UK government has added its voice to the increasing calls for Fifa to publish the full findings of an investigation into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process. Sajid Javid, secretary of state for culture, media and sport, has written to Fifa president Sepp Blatter urging football’s governing body to publish the [...]
Mark Carney says UK economy is still in need of stimulus November 25, 2014 Bank of England governor Mark Carney signalled a dovish tone while speaking to MPs yesterday, despite insisting that the UK’s monetary policy will not be loosened even further. Carney told the Treasury Select Committee that Britain was “still an economy that requires monetary stimulus”, despite an expected growth rate of above three per cent this [...]
George Osborne under fire for seven day current account switching service timidity November 25, 2014 George Osborne is expected to tweak the seven day current account switching scheme to iron out some of the wrinkles in the system, in his Autumn Statement next week. But the changes did not go nearly far enough to open up the market to competition, the Yorkshire Building Society said. And consumer group Which? also called [...]
