The taxman’s next raid is looming large as investors scramble to park their cash in the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS), which allows investors to halve their capital gains tax bill, before Rachel Reeves unleashes her Budget bombshell. Since Labour took the keys to Downing Street, there’s been an overflow of money pouring into the scheme, with the head of investor services at the UK’s biggest SEIS fund, SFC Capital, saying investments were up 90% since July. All to avoid taxes on ‘working people’…
Fund managers are singing the same tune: investors are liquidating assets, from shares to property, bracing for the dreaded tax hike on their gains. Meanwhile, Henley Private Wealth Migration reports that a record 9,500 millionaires will leave the UK in 2024, resulting in cash that could be filling up the Treasury’s coffers flooding out of the country instead. The party of “growth,” everyone…
The Met has admitted to making mistakes during the pro-Palestine protests, a report released by Policy Exchange reveals today. Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist told the think tank that the force “didn’t get everything right,” admitting, “on occasion, we did not move quickly to make arrests — for example, the man chanting for ‘jihad.’” A reminder: policing these protests from October until June still cost the taxpayer £42.9 million…
Unsurprisingly, the report also shows that three-quarters of people polled believe the police should actually do their jobs and step in when roads are blocked, public transport grinds to a halt, or when protestors climb a monument (something eco-activists and pro-Palestinians had a penchant for doing). Twist, however, brushed off any talk of “two-tier” policing, offering the baffling claim that there are actually an “infinite number of tiers of policing” instead. Hardly reassuring…
The Trades Union Congress have kicked off their conference, fuelled by the fact that Labour has already conceded to many their demands. Now they’ve passed a motion calling for the Government to scrap every single one of Margaret Thatcher’s anti-strike laws. The laws that curbed the power of flying pickets, put an end to closed shops, and made secret ballots mandatory before unions could down tools. And got Britain working again…
While Starmer’s already promised to ditch Tory laws ensuring vital services like rail and fire provide a minimum level of service during strikes, the comrades at the TUC want him to go further. Steve Wright, a union heavyweight from the Fire Brigades Union warned “That’s a start, but it’s not enough,” demanding the complete repeal of all “anti-union laws”. They’ve also threatened to hold a “special congress” if Labour fails to enact its New Deal for Working People “in full” within its first 100 days in office, which is in 33 days time. Meanwhile, Aslef general secretary has stated that Trade unions will “never be content”, despite securing bumper pay rises weeks ago. They’ve taken an inch…
Labour’s latest brainstorming session for how to raise taxes whilst blaming the Conservatives has produced a new scapegoat: the NHS. No prizes for originality…
A major report commissioned by Health Secretary Wes Streeting is set to find NHS progress has declined for the first time in 50 years. Waiting lists, which have increased across all areas of the service, will be highlighted as a Tory failure, adding to the growing arsenal of Labour excuses to raise taxes. Streeting will be hoping no one looks to Wales’ Labour run NHS where 20.1% of people wait more than a year for treatment, compared with 5.2% in England…
Many will see the report as the latest development in Labour’s doom-mongering approach to government, clearly a ruse to prepare the country for tax rises in the imminent October budget. The phrase ‘progress has declined’ feels very Labour…
HMRC have hit a record-breaking low, with sackings for gross misconduct now at a five-year high, as 179 tax office drones have been booted so far this year alone. A whopping 43% surge since 2020…
Gross misconduct includes bullying, intoxication, theft and gross negligence. One such model employee ended up behind bars earlier this year after abusing her position to scam £300,000 in child benefit. HMRC staff haven’t had the best track record, with 840,000 callers to the bureaucratic overlords ignored in January. Meanwhile the new-age “flexible working” has seen the pen-pushers concentrating on gaming on their PlayStations and “gardening” rather than deal with the taxpayers who keep them employed. Now it seems even the ones who make it into the office can’t seem to get the job done…
Crime and Policing Minister Diana Johnson had the arduous task of defending Labour’s decision to scrap the winter fuel allowance this morning, especially after Labour research claimed it could endanger 3,850 lives back in 2017. It didn’t go too well for the minister…
When pushed by BBC presenter Mishal Husain on whether the government was looking at “a social tariff” for energy bills or “restricting the winter fuel allowance to people in households in council tax Bands A to D,” Johnson folded, telling the Today Programme:
“I am sure that across government, all these measures are being looked at… I am absolutely confident that this is being looked at.”
Now, Number 10 is frantically deploying damage control, insisting that Johnson “misspoke” when she suggested that the Treasury is looking into ways to soften the impact. Meanwhile, Starmer is facing a rebellion tomorrow as MPs vote on the measure. Losing grip fast…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”