Weekend read: First-time home now have to stump up £33k more than before Covid hit April 24, 2022 How much worse off are Britain’s first-time buyers now the pandemic starts to settle? Quite a bit, as it turns out, largely as a result of the post-pandemic property market boom. A new analysis of first-time buyer house prices looked at the cost of purchasing a first home before the start of the pandemic in [...]
Revealed: UK and British overseas territories top every other offshore tax haven in the world April 24, 2022 When it comes to the dubious world of offshore wealth and the respective tax losses subsequently inflicted on other countries, not only does the UK rank second, but a further three British overseas territories make the top 10. In fact, when these tax losses to other nations via this offshore wealth are combined, it sits [...]
Brits race to snap up sunflower oil as shops place limits: Restaurants face shortage of cooking oil April 23, 2022 Supermarkets across the UK have placed limits on how much cooking oil customers can buy due to supply-chain problems caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Tesco is allowed three items per customer while Waitrose and Morrisons have placed limits of just two items each. The British Retail Consortium’s Tom Holder said the move was a [...]
Boris Johnson’s disastrous India trip: Little progress on trade deal, partygate rows, Tory donor bulldozers and Modi stays close to Putin April 23, 2022 Boris Johnson today indicated at a press conference in India that he did not try to encourage the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, to go further in dropping India’s neutrality over the Russian President’s invasion of Ukraine. Also, Johnson’s two-day trip was dogged by questions over the deepening partygate scandal, with a Tory rebellion leading [...]
Seething Tory row overshadows Boris Johnson’s much-trumpeted post-Brexit visit to India as allies lash out at critical MPs April 22, 2022 Allies of Boris Johnson have lashed out at Tory MPs calling for the Pinrime Minister to resign after the House of Commons ordered a third inquiry into lockdown parties in Downing Street. Senior backbencher Tobias Ellwood said there had been “a huge breach of trust” with the British people as he called on Conservative MPs [...]
Insolvencies more than double as rampant inflation and rising interest rates hit firms April 22, 2022 Company insolvencies more than doubled last month as soaring inflation and rising borrowing costs pushed firms over the edge.
Boris Johnson urges post-Brexit negotiators in India to ‘get it done’ despite Modi’s looser ambitions for trade deal April 22, 2022 Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged post-Brexit trade deal negotiators working with India to “get it done” this autumn, despite much looser ambitions on the side of his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi. After holding talks in New Delhi on Friday, Modi called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Ukraine but stopped short of criticising Russia’s actions [...]
FCA orders challenger banks to stop cutting corners in combating money laundering April 22, 2022 One of the UK’s main regulators has warned challenger banks to stop cutting corners in combating financial crime so that customers can set up accounts quickly and easily. Sarah Pritchard, who heads the market division of the City regulator, said that there cannot be a “trade-off” between getting customers to come into the fold and [...]
Brits already cutting spending amid cost of living squeeze April 22, 2022 Predictions that the historic cost of living crunch will trigger a sharp pull back in spending look nailed on come through, two surveys suggest. Around one in three households have already cut spending just four months into the year, consultancy KPMG said today. Brits are forgoing discretionary purchases in response to greater pressure on their [...]
Rain Newton-Smith interview: Go for growth to turbocharge economic resilience April 22, 2022 Everyone knows the dismal time the UK economy is in for over the coming year – but let’s recap. Living standards are scheduled to fall at the steepest rate in 66 years as a result of wages failing to keep pace with an average annual inflation rate of over seven per cent, according to the [...]