Financial news

• The cost of a first-time buyer's mortgage and how much it has risen in five years

  24-06-2024 23:36 via express.co.uk
  
  The Bank of England has been urged to slash surging interest rates to help first time buyers get onto the property ladder.
  
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• Mortgage rates: Homeowners fear the worst as volatile interest rates risk increasing

  24-06-2024 23:28 via express.co.uk
  
  The findings make clear that any move by banks and building societies to cut interest rates cannot come soon enough for many struggling to pay for the essentials.
  
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• Labour wants to make UK a clean energy superpower. Will this help those stuck in fuel poverty?

  24-06-2024 19:00
  
  Experts say Starmer can honour pledge to move to net zero and cut bills – if plan embraces onshore renewables and focuses on poorestLabour appears poised to win a historic election victory on 4 July. In the series Life under Labour, we look at Keir Starmer’s five key political missions, and ask what is at stake and whether he can deliver the change the country is crying out for.*** Continue reading...
  
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• Brits 'need better incentives to switch to renewable energy' before UK reaches Net Zero

  24-06-2024 16:43 via express.co.uk
  
  New policies could accelerate the transition to adopting renewable energy sources and help the UK meet its net-zero obligations in the process.
  
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• Martin Lewis takes apart 'strange' Keir Starmer tax claim

  24-06-2024 14:58 via express.co.uk
  
  Labour has pledged not to raise income tax or National Insurance.
  
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• Why has the cost of home insurance suddenly gone through the roof?

  24-06-2024 11:30
  
  Renewal quotes have soared by 42%, on average, in the year to AprilAfter seven years living in his flat in Hove, East Sussex, Tony Mollett was used to paying about £100 for his contents insurance. Then, in April, he got a renewal notice for £1,076 – 10 times the cost of his last premium.Nothing had changed about the level of cover, nor had he made any claims which might help explain why it had soared. His broker, Swinton Insurance, told him it was the best it could offer. Conti
  
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• UK facing rise in economic Misery Index; advertised salaries fall – business live

  24-06-2024 09:10
  
  Rollng coverage of the latest economic and financial newsOuch indeed! Shares in SIG have tumbled 22% at the start of trading in London, after the building supplies firm’s profit warning this morning.A slowdown in demand across parts of Europe has hit UK building supplies firm SIG.Whilst we continue to see more robust demand in our Poland, Ireland and UK Exteriors businesses, Group sales overall were weaker than expected in May and June to date. Continue reading...
  
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• HMRC is threatening my terminally ill father with debt collectors

  24-06-2024 08:32
  
  He is 92 and doesn’t actually owe the money, but there is nothing he can do to stop the tax demands comingHMRC has threatened my terminally ill 92-year-old father with debt collectors over an erroneous tax bill, 38 times what he actually owed. The problem began when, due to visual impairment, he entered the tax paid on his pension in the wrong box on his 2022-23 tax return. He is required to submit a return each year due to a small pension he received from five years working in Spain.Conti
  
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• UK’s drive to install heat pumps stymied by ‘lack of demand and skill shortage’

  24-06-2024 07:00
  
  Almost a third of installers surveyed say finding skilled fitters is a barrier for customers, while 40% note lack of interestThe UK’s drive to replace gas boilers with heat pumps is being stymied by a lack of consumer demand and a shortage of skilled installers to fit heat pumps where they are wanted, according to an industry survey.The most comprehensive poll of heat pump installers to date found that the biggest barrier was the low number of households choosing to get one fitted. Continu
  
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• Mortgage of first-time buyer tops £1,000 a month as house prices and rates rise

  24-06-2024 07:00
  
  Average monthly payment has risen by 61% since 2019, pushing borrowers into smaller homes or ultra-long loansThe monthly mortgage of a first-time buyer has soared by more than 60% to exceed £1,000 a month since the last general election, according to figures that underline the financial challenge facing Britons trying to gain a foothold on the housing ladder.Over the last five years, the average mortgage payment for a typical first-time buyer in Great Britain has risen by 61% to £1,0
  
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• Tory minister accused of cronyism after associate’s firm hired as adviser

  24-06-2024 06:00
  
  Civil servants raised objections to health department giving contract to company run by close associate of Nick MarkhamA health minister has been accused of cronyism after a close associate became a £1,500-a-day adviser on the “40 new hospitals” programme, despite officials raising a series of detailed objections including perceived conflicts of interest.Nick Markham helped to ensure that the Department of Health and Social Care handed a £137,460 contract to iDevelop, a m
  
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• New towns and old ideas: Labour’s housing plan - podcast

  24-06-2024 04:00
  
  What are Labour’s proposals for fixing the housing crisis? Robert Booth reports from Hitchin, North HertfordshireLabour’s key housing pledge is to build 1.5m homes if it wins the general election. Its plan includes a promise to build new towns but what would it take to pull it off?“I think the new towns idea is very grabbing,” Robert Booth, the Guardian’s social affairs correspondent, tells Hannah Moore. “To build genuine new settlements, which are sufficientl
  
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