EU officials are said to be in discussions regarding new regulations covering bonus payments in the European financial industry. In what may well turn out to be the hardest hitting changes to the financial sector in recent times it seems that upfront bonuses could be limited to 30% in cash, bonuses could be limited to a multiple of salary and at least 40% of future bonuses may well need to be deferred for several years. So what does this mean for the European financial sector?
Yvette Cooper is said to be favourite to become Ed Miliband's Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer as the new Labour leader gets set to announce his shadow cabinet today. It is believed that eight of Ed Miliband's team will be women with the Labour Party adamant that a more balanced representation should be seen in the Shadow Cabinet.
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has been forced into a grovelling apology after suggesting that the state should not be forced to support large families on benefits. At a time when the Conservative party in particular is under pressure regarding child benefits and other welfare handouts this could not have come at a worse time. So are we seeing a return of old Conservative party policies?
Iain Duncan Smith has certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons at the Conservative party conference this week with a suggestion that child benefit will be means tested after 2017. He believes that the new proposed universal benefit payment will absorb the likes of child benefit and ultimately households in the UK will be means tested on their overall household income as opposed to individual incomes.
A number of prominent members of the Conservative party have today stepped forward to suggest that George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, may well have been rushed into announcing changes in child benefit payments. It is believed that excessive media and press comment regarding the issue forced George Osborne to bring forward the announcement and indeed a number of Cabinet ministers would appear not to have been consulted.
David Cameron is today set to backtrack lightly on child benefit cuts which were announced earlier this week by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. In a hastily rewritten speech it is believed he will offer married couples a tax break which will make up for the child benefit cuts that are set to hit many middle income families in the UK. There is growing anger within Conservative backbenchers regarding the handling of the benefits cut and the fact that it does not appear to have been correctly calculated to hit the people targeted.
David Cameron is this evening under intense pressure to revisit yesterday's announcement from George Osbourne regarding the reduction of child benefits for some people in the UK. Despite the fact that the Conservative party has put itself forward as the party for families in the UK it seems that where one parent earns in excess of £44,000 a year they will be relieved of child benefit. However, bizarrely, if two parents each earn just under £44,000 a year then they would still be entitled to child benefit as normal.
In years gone by wine has been seen by many people as a very tax efficient and potentially lucrative investment although everything may not be as it initially seemed. A number of wine companies are alleged to have sold the idea of investing in wine using the IHT angle (inheritance tax) with indications that wine is only valued at cost price for estate purposes upon the death of the holder. However, the revenue has recently confirmed this is not the case.
Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, has today suggested that that government will introduce a bill that will allow 12 of England's largest cities to directly elect their own mayor. The cities in question include Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, Bristol and Manchester with the likelihood that elected mayors will have more control on local spending and effectively decentralise power from the national government.
The UK government has today announced plans to cut child benefit where one parent in the family earns in excess of £44,000 a year. The move has attracted significant criticism from opposition parties although when you look at it realistically, perhaps those on £44,000 plus a year may not require the child benefits currently on offer as much as those on little or no employment income?
