Letters to the Editor – 04/10 – Business growth, Stamp duty, Best of Twitter
Business growth
[Re: Cameron needs growth gazelles to bring life to his land of opportunity, yesterday]
The Prime Minister’s gazelles will find it difficult to leap with elephants in the room. Indeed, our recent research looked in depth at certain features of over 250 companies – around 54 per cent with no serious financial issues and the rest with a degree of challenge. Among the findings is the apparent fact that life is looking rosy for larger companies, with a substantial majority saying new lending is as good or better than this time last year. But worringly, the reverse is true for the mid-market.
Christine Elliot, Institute for Turnaround
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Stamp duty
[Re: Boris to call for a cut to stamp duty in London, Wednesday]
Stamp duty needs to be cut throughout the UK, but unless there is a fair balance of housing supply to meet demand, reduction in stamp duty will further inflate house prices (in London), not help buyers.
Name withheld
Stamp duty is a counter-productive tax that hammers first-time buyers, ordinary families wanting to move, and those wanting to move to a new job. It chokes geographical mobility and economic movement. It must be cut.
Adam Thornton
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BEST OF TWITTER
Cheerful thought for US: when Belgium went without a government, it enjoyed unusually strong growth.
@DanHannanMEP
EU parliament votes to overturn cuts to EU budget. UK taxpayers will be delighted.
@minefornothing
Russia takes the lead on Syria. US takes lead on oil and gas production. Works for us.
@ianbremmer
Italian services PMI – first rise in business activity in 28 months.
@OpenEurope