Financial news

• British Isas are a gimmick that won’t move the dial

  06-03-2024 20:05
  
  Given the options available, Hunt’s scheme to encourage people to invest in UK firms could hardly be more modestBritish Isas ‘to encourage investment in UK firms’Budget: key points at a glanceIt was a good week to announce a British Isa, one could argue. Another two mid-sized UK companies, the haulier Wincanton and the telecoms equipment group Spirent Communications, are falling to foreign buyers, causing fresh agonising over how the unloved UK stock market has become a bargain
  
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• Budget 2024 calculator: find out if you are better or worse off

  06-03-2024 19:05
  
  Use our interactive tool to see how you have been affected by the chancellor’s tax and spending announcements Continue reading...
  
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• Child benefit: Jeremy Hunt raises income threshold for tax penalty

  06-03-2024 18:29
  
  Chancellor says nearly 500,000 families will be better off by an average of £1,260 in 2024-25 as a result of his changesJeremy Hunt has finally bowed to pressure and conceded that a tax penalty affecting many higher-earning parents works in an unfair way and has led to some paying a marginal tax rate of 64%.Announcing a shake-up of the controversial high-income child benefit charge, the chancellor said nearly half a million families would be better-off by an average of £1,260 in the
  
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• Budget 2024 live: Jeremy Hunt cuts national insurance, abolishes non-dom status and raises child benefit threshold

  06-03-2024 17:48
  
  NI cut of 2p announced, along with new tax on vapes, end of tax relief for holiday lettings and more cash for NHS IT systemBudget 2024: key points at a glanceJeremy Hunt announces 2p cut in national insuranceHow much will the 2p NI cut benefit workers?Jeremy Hunt is expected to extend the windfall tax on energy companies in the budget to help fund his national insurance cut. Extending the windfall tax is a Labour proposal that the Tories used to dismiss, and, according to a Daily Telegraph story
  
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• Jeremy Hunt’s last budget before an election – but not his last roll of the dice

  06-03-2024 17:41
  
  These latest tax cuts were not the gamechanger the Tories need before the election Jeremy Hunt is in favour of delaying the election until the autumn – and it showed. His second budget had all the hallmarks of a holding operation from a government hoping that the summer will bring better economic news and leave open the possibility of another package of measures in six or seven months’ time.Sure, there was the much-heralded cut in national insurance contributions, which formed the bi
  
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• British Isa will be created ‘to encourage investment in UK firms’, Hunt confirms

  06-03-2024 17:39
  
  Critics say scheme to let consumers plough in up to £5,000 tax-free is only likely to benefit small group of wealthier investorsPolitics live: latest news and reaction on UK budgetHunt announces 2p cut in national insuranceJeremy Hunt has confirmed that the government will create a tax-free British Isa as part of efforts to encourage more investment in UK companies and offset anxiety over foundering interest in London’s stock market.The chancellor’s heavily trailed scheme to cr
  
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• Jeremy Hunt plans to tax vaping products and raise tobacco duty

  06-03-2024 17:12
  
  Campaigners say measure will help tackle ‘pocket money’ pricing that attracts young children to vapingBudget 2024 – live updatesJeremy Hunt has announced plans for a tax on vaping products, along with increases in tobacco duty.Unveiling his decision to make the nicotine liquids used in electronic vapes subject to excise duties for the first time in his UK budget speech, Hunt said tobacco duty would also increase to ensure it remains more expensive than vaping. Continue reading.
  
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• Budget 2024: Jeremy Hunt announces 2p cut in national insurance

  06-03-2024 16:48
  
  Chancellor also scraps ‘non-dom’ tax breaks and slashes capital gains on property in pre-election gambitPolitics live: latest news and reaction on UK budgetBudget: key points at a glance
  Jeremy Hunt has announced a 2p national insurance cut in his budget as a pre-election gambit to revive flatlining opinion poll ratings and reboot Britain’s economy from recession.In what could be the last major economic intervention before voters go to the polls, the chancellor said the governm
  
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• Sunak and Hunt’s last stand? Our panel responds to the Tories’ spring budget

  06-03-2024 15:42
  
  Will the tax cuts at the heart of the chancellor’s make-or-break budget give his party any hope? Twenty-four hours before Jeremy Hunt took to the dispatch box, Birmingham city council approved what are thought to be the biggest cuts in local authority history – and it is only the latest community to reel from effective bankruptcy. Today at lunchtime, Hunt announced billions of pounds of tax cuts as a pre-election giveaway. It was akin to watching a budget from a parallel universe, in
  
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• Jeremy Hunt mirrors Labour policy by axing non-dom tax rules

  06-03-2024 15:42
  
  Chancellor overhauls system so new arrivals to UK will pay same taxes as other residents after four yearsBudget 2024 – live updatesJeremy Hunt has axed the UK’s non-dom rules, in a move that mirrors a longstanding Labour policy, and which the chancellor said would be used to cut taxes on working families in the UK.Rules allowing some wealthy people to avoid tax on foreign earnings if they have lived in the UK for less than 14 years are to be swapped for a new regime from April 2025 i
  
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• Fed chair Jerome Powell expects interest rate cut this year

  06-03-2024 15:26
  
  Central bank leader cautions that continued progress on inflation ‘is not assured’ in remarks prepared for House committeeThe US Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, said on Wednesday that the central bank still expects to reduce its benchmark interest rate later this year but warned continued progress on inflation “is not assured”.“If the economy evolves broadly as expected, it will likely be appropriate to begin dialing back policy restraint at some point this ye
  
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• National insurance: how much will the 2p cut leave workers better off?

  06-03-2024 15:16
  
  Jeremy Hunt said his budget measure will benefit 27 million people – here’s how it will workBudget: key points at a glanceHunt announces 2p cut in national insuranceA big national insurance cut was the centrepiece of Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement and he has done the same again for the spring budget . But just how much better off will UK employees really be?The chancellor is cutting the main rate of national insurance contributions (Nics) paid by workers from 10% to 8% with eff
  
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• Budget 2024: key points at a glance

  06-03-2024 15:11
  
  Jeremy Hunt has announced his financial update – here are the main points, with political analysisPolitics live: latest news and reaction on UK budgetHunt announces 2p cut in national insurance Continue reading...
  
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• UK fuel duty cut is regressive policy that benefits the wealthy, study finds

  06-03-2024 14:46
  
  Chancellor’s 5p freeze will save £60 a year for well-off motorists compared with just £22 for lower earnersRetaining the fuel duty cut in the budget is a regressive policy that benefits the wealthiest in society, who will save £60 a year, while those who earn the least will save just £22, according to analysis.Jeremy Hunt on Wednesday announced an extension of the 5p cut in fuel duty brought in during 2022, for which he has won plaudits across the rightwing press. C
  
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• Capital Gains Tax higher rate reduced from 28% to 24% in Spring Budget

  06-03-2024 14:33 via express.co.uk
  
  Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said slashing the tax would actually increase revenues for HMRC.
  
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• ISA reform unleashed in Budget sparks Martin Lewis intervention over new saver

  06-03-2024 14:13 via express.co.uk
  
  Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis took to social media platform X to comment on the new British ISA.
  
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• Why the double standards on ultra-processed foods? Because some have better PR than others | Giles Yeo

  06-03-2024 14:05
  
  The growing evidence on UPFs merits sober discussion, but products marketed with a halo of ‘health’ are avoiding scrutinyIn the fevered world of diet and nutrition, the past year has been dominated by heated arguments about the evils (or not) of ultra-processed foods. These have not just been confined to the media but have, unusually, engendered equally fractious debate in academic circles. So what is the “truth” about UPFs? Are they as bad for health as many claim? And h
  
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• Indie record shops boom in number – but supermarkets are deserting music

  06-03-2024 13:58
  
  Data from Digital Entertainment and Retail Association finds there are now 122 more indie record shops compared with 2014New data shows that the UK has dozens more record shops that it did 10 years ago, but the marketplace for physical music elsewhere is quickly collapsing.A study by the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA) finds that there are now 461 indie record shops in the UK, 122 more than 2014. Purely in terms of store numbers, the sector has recovered strongly after a small
  
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• Motorists warned of long delays as M25 to shut for roadworks

  06-03-2024 13:50
  
  Five-miles of London orbital motorway will close for an entire weekend with four more dates to followDrivers have been warned of unprecedented traffic jams with the first planned full closure of part of Britain’s busiest motorway, the M25, in March.A five-mile stretch of the London orbital motorway will be shut for an entire weekend from late 15 March, affecting the journeys of an estimated 200,000 vehicles. Continue reading...
  
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• Universal Credit claimants see major change in advance loans - Martin lewis praises move

  06-03-2024 13:43 via express.co.uk
  
  The smallest budgeting advance you can borrow is £100
  
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• The job applicants shut out by AI: ‘The interviewer sounded like Siri’

  06-03-2024 13:00
  
  Employers are letting artificial intelligence conduct job interviews. Candidates are trying to beat the systemWhen Ty landed an introductory phone interview with a finance and banking company last month, they assumed it would be a quick chat with a recruiter. And when they got on the phone, Ty assumed the recruiter, who introduced herself as Jaime, was human. But things got robotic.“The voice sounded similar to Siri,” said Ty, who is 29 and lives in the DC metro area. “It was c
  
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• Capital One and Discover merger ‘dangerous’, consumer groups tell Fed

  06-03-2024 13:00
  
  Coalition of advocacy groups warn that deal would ‘further concentrate risk’ in the financial system and ‘must be stopped’Regulators have been urged to block Capital One’s $35bn takeover of Discover by campaigners who say the blockbuster deal is “dangerous, illegal, and must be stopped”.Urging the Federal Reserve and Department of Justice to intervene, a coalition of more than a dozen advocacy groups cautioned that combining two of the largest credit car
  
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• Bitcoin scam alert as fraudsters swoop on crypto-currency's record-breaking success

  06-03-2024 12:51 via express.co.uk
  
  Bitcoin hit a record high on Tuesday after the Securities and Exchange Commission allowed 11 companies to start exchange-traded funds based on the cryptocurrency.
  
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• Shein UK breaches company law by failing to disclose human owner

  06-03-2024 12:43
  
  Breach could disrupt Shein’s reported plans to list in UK as firms are legally required to declare ‘person with significant control’• Business live – latest updatesThe UK business of the fast-fashion company Shein has failed to disclose its ultimate ownership, a breach of company law that could disrupt the firm’s reported plans to consider listing in the UK.UK companies are legally required to declare their ultimate human beneficial owner – their “p
  
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• OpenAI fires back at Elon Musk in legal fight over breach of contract claims

  06-03-2024 12:30
  
  ChatGPT maker releases emails in support of claim Tesla boss backed plan to create for-profit unitOpenAI has hit back at Elon Musk’s lawsuit accusing it of betraying its altruistic roots, claiming the Tesla chief executive had in fact supported the artificial intelligence company’s plans to create a for-profit unit.Executives at the ChatGPT maker released a blogpost containing what they claimed was historical email correspondence with Musk in which the entrepreneur suggested merging
  
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• British Airways to offer free in-flight use of messaging apps

  06-03-2024 12:26
  
  Passengers on planes with wifi will be able to send and receive texts on apps such as WhatsApp for no costBritish Airways is to offer free instant messaging on most flights and a new app to allow customers to automatically book alternative travel in cases of disruption, as part of a £7bn overhaul to spruce up the national carrier.Passengers on planes with wifi – about 80% of the Heathrow fleet, plus all of the smaller Gatwick operation – will from next month be able to send tex
  
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• DWP child benefit charge threshold raised to earnings of £60,000 in Budget

  06-03-2024 12:24 via express.co.uk
  
  Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has set out policies that will affect thousands of claimants across the UK.
  
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• As car insurance hits £955 expert shows ‘right way’ to cut premiums – and what we do wrong

  06-03-2024 11:43 via express.co.uk
  
  Motor insurance premiums are accelerating at record speed to an average £955 a year, according to Confused.com. Motorists are desperate to drive the cost down but mustn't push their luck.
  
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• NS&I 'prize winner' baffled as she doesn't even hold any Premium Bonds

  06-03-2024 11:28 via express.co.uk
  
  She got an email to tell her she had won despite not having any savings with the group.
  
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• Mortgage warning as rising interest rates could leave buyers needing 72-year plan

  06-03-2024 11:16 via express.co.uk
  
  The growth of mortgage rates since 2022 mean that First Time Buyers may have to take 72-year mortgages to reach the same levels of affordability.
  
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• It’s Kemi Badenoch v the Post Office, the show where ministers sweep everything under the carpet | Sam Fowles

  06-03-2024 11:00
  
  Whatever the truth in the latest ‘he said, she said’ row, one thing’s clear: the government has no intention of tackling this institutional rotKemi Badenoch v the Post Office is a great political soap opera. Like much good TV, however, it distracts us from reality. The business secretary fired Henry Staunton, the former chair of the Post Office, in January. A month later, Staunton told the Sunday Times that Sarah Munby, a senior civil servant, instructed him to slow compensatio
  
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• 'I was scammed out of £3,600 by fraudsters in con that anyone can fall for'

  06-03-2024 10:52 via express.co.uk
  
  Scams of this kind are surging in the UK with one in three falling victim in 2023.
  
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• 'I'm a tax expert - here are 12 ways to cut your income tax bill whatever Budget brings'

  06-03-2024 10:51 via express.co.uk
  
  Britons will be hoping that Jeremy Hunt grants them a tax cut in today's spring Budget but there is plenty people can do to pay less to HMRC without relying on the Chancellor.
  
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• Peloton bike software update seemed to break its £710 screen

  06-03-2024 08:00
  
  I was told that I would have to pay for a replacement as the one-year warranty had expiredAt New Year, I decided to dust off my Peloton Bike+. After reactivating my membership, which is £40 a month, I browsed some classes. I was then prompted to install a software update.I did this but the touchscreen stopped responding. I went through all the troubleshooting suggestions, ran the various diagnostics and even did a factory reset, all to no avail. Continue reading...
  
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• Even Tory voters won’t be fooled by the tax cuts in Jeremy Hunt’s fairytale budget | Rafael Behr

  06-03-2024 07:00
  
  The public would rather the chancellor prioritised spending on threadbare public services over tax giveawaysIt is one of the standard nightmares. An unseen predator is bearing down on you but your legs won’t move. Terror surges up from your lungs but you can’t scream. Is that how Rishi Sunak feels about the electoral reckoning at his heels? He pulls policy levers, pushes rhetorical buttons, makes speeches, resets and relaunches, but the polls won’t budge. Defeat is breathing do
  
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