Straws in the wind The NHS The NHS is crumbling and cannot continue for much longer in its current form. Free healthcare for all at the point of need was possible in the late 1940s and early 1950s but with ever more costly and complex interventions this is no longer the case. None of the modern imaging equipment had been invented when t...
Why have the Conservatives increased the burden of taxation on individuals earning between £100,000-£150,000, whilst at the same time reducing the burden on those earning over £150,000? Is this, yet another example, of how Conservatives have become out of touch with their key supporters?Under the last Labour Government taxable income between £100,0...
The tax on alcohol has been raised by 10.1%; the reasons given are 'wider UK tax and public health objectives.' It's mostly to do with the money: last year the Treasury raised £12.4 billion from alcohol duties. This compares with around £8 billion in the US, which has 5 times our population. Clearly the UK Government needs the cash and depends on d...
A competent Conservative Government would have rectified the anomaly of taxable income between £100,000 and £125,140 being subject to an effective tax rate of 60%. It is clearly anomalous for the effective tax rate to rise from 40% to 60% on income in this band and then fall to 40% on income between £125,141 and £150,000 before rising to 45% on inc...
By Barnabas Reynolds. The Brexit Freedoms Bill aims to end the special legal status of EU law. It will also simplify the removal of retained EU law. Here Barnabas Reynolds explains the advantages for the City – and the economy. The UK has recently been confronted with a series of adverse economic shocks – from Covid and the war in Ukraine, to the c...
GET ON YOUR BIKE No matter where we turn, it's the environment. It's the Earth! And like the Earth, my head is spinning from all of the information and the hypocrisy of private jet riding, elitist, globalists Davos attendees. However, I believe the answer is in the spin: spin the pedals. I believe it is time that we got on our bikes - especially th...
This week has been another shocking reminder how far adrift today's Conservative Party are from the principles enunciated and implemented by its greatest peacetime leader Margaret Thatcher. To me personally, this has been dramatically emphasised by the loss of Westminster City Council to the Labour Party. Some thirty years ago as the Finance Chairm...
Boris Johnson is often dismissed as a know-nothing on economics, and Rishi Sunak prides himself on being rather good at it. In his generally excellent recent Mais lecture, the Chancellor set out his vision for the UK economy. He aims for freeing up markets, improving regulation, and cutting taxes to incentivise investment, training and R...
Outputs from Spring Statement In advance of the promised reveal of the government's energy plan this week, let's start with the positives from Rishi Sunak's Spring Statement. 5 whole years of VAT free purchases on solar panels, ground and air source heat pumps. Not in Northern Ireland of course but they seem to matter less than ever to the Conserva...
United Kingdom rates of personal taxation are at their highest in over 70 years. They are set to increase further. Whether or not governments spend the money they raise wisely? That's another piece for another day but my overarching view is that individuals make better spending choices than "the state". This article examines the ways in which the T...
The campaign for a referendum on Net Zero appears to be gathering pace, with Nigel Farage openly discussing its evolution on his nightly GB News programme this week. Accepting the premise of global warming and the need to avoid the Earth's temperature overheating has become a settled issue for many but not all. Ground source heat pumps, electric ca...
Hands up, who still thinks the Conservatives are a low tax party? If your hand is up, might I suggest you put it swiftly down and start writing some letters to the 321 Tory MPs who this week voted in favour of the biggest tax hike since the Second World War. Someone ought to inform them. Someone also might want to disband CCHQ come the next general...
