Greek crisis: UK stepping up contingency plans for Grexit says George Osborne June 17, 2015 The government has started planning for a Greek exit from the Eurozone, George Osborne has confirmed. Read more: European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says Greece has been misleading its voters A Grexit would pose "serious economic risks" to the UK, the chancellor said today, as David Cameron prepares to discuss the crisis with Italy's Prime Minister [...]
Rangers shareholders vote against immediate repayment of Mike Ashley’s £5m loan June 17, 2015 More than half of Rangers' shareholders have voted against paying back Mike Ashley's £5m immediately. The Sports Direct founder and owner of Newcastle called a meeting at Ibrox on Friday – which he did not attend personally – seeking repayment of the loan as well as an explanation for why the club had delisted from [...]
A third of pensions don’t qualify for George Osborne’s “pensions revolution” June 17, 2015 A third of pensions don't qualify for new rules which allow savers to withdraw their entire pension pots, it's been reported. The investigation by the Daily Mail found as many as six million policies could be "hard to cash in", including 2.29m final salary pensions. More than half that figure is public sector pensions, while insurance [...]
London mayor election: Who has declared in the race to succeed Boris Johnson? June 17, 2015 The London mayor election will take place next year and, with incumbent Boris Johnson standing down to focus on his role in Parliament, the field is filling with candidates who have already declared their intentions to run. Five Conservative candidates are looking to succeed Johnson, while six Labour candidates, two Greens, one Independent and a [...]
Labour leadership campaign: Tories support Corbyn in bid to damage party June 17, 2015 Conservatives have launched a campaign to elect Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour party in order to damage the party's electoral prospects. After Labour's poor results in the General Election, they believe that another left-leaning leader would lock the party out of government for another term. Changes in the Labour party rules now allow [...]
David Cameron gets a bloody nose as rebel Tory backbenchers flex their muscles over EU referendum bill June 16, 2015 Prime Minister David Cameron avoided an embarrassing parliamentary defeat last night, but only after Labour decided to abstain from a key vote. More than two dozen Conservative backbenchers rebelled over rules surrounding an EU referendum that Cameron has promised will take place before the end of 2017. A cross-party combination including 27 Tory rebels and [...]
Tom Hayes Libor-rigging trial: Broking market described as the Wild West June 16, 2015 The former trader on trial for alleged interest rate rigging described the broking market he worked in as being like the “Wild West” in court yesterday. Former UBS and Citigroup yen derivatives trader Tom Hayes told the court that the market had no rules and relationships in the sector relied on lavish entertainment. [...]
Ivan Massow’s mayoral bid evokes Thatcher spirit: Entrepreneur explains why he’s the Tories’ best bet to replace Boris June 16, 2015 Ivan Massow is used to facing challenges. A successful entrepreneur from a dis-advantaged background involving various foster homes, he rose to prominence in politics in the 1990s when he became one of the first openly gay, high-profile Conservative Party members. “It caused me a lot of embarrassment at the time, because of course if [...]
David Cameron to tap new business advisers: Will Harriet Green and Tidjane Thiam remain in Business Advisory Group? June 16, 2015 Prime Minster David Cameron is expected to bring on a new slate of business advisers in the coming months. Downing Street is preparing for a shake-up of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group (BAG), with at least a handful of BAG members from the last government not expected be asked back, Sky News first reported yesterday. [...]
George Osborne won’t need the drug of deficit finance if he liberates the supply side June 16, 2015 George Osborne’s plan to run fiscal surpluses and use them to pay off government debt has been met with the usual set of whinges and whines, mainly from academic economists funded by the taxpayer. Of course, their arguments are based purely on what they believe to be the intellectual merits of their case. One [...]