PM sets up possibility of income tax coming down in March and says control of welfare is a priority
Rishi Sunak has said he wants to cut taxes for working people further this year, possibly cutting welfare payments to fund it.
The prime minister said on Sunday his priority before the budget in March would be further tax cuts, which he said would entail stricter controls on public spending and benefits.
Continue reading...PM appears to rule out spring election after recent speculation it could be held in May
Starmer says being in opposition is frustrating, and he accuses the Tories of treating it as performance art.
He is now on the passage about his career in public service that was posted earlier. See 9.12am.
If you’ve been breaking your back to keep trading, steering your business through the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis, the challenge of Brexit and the chaos of Westminster.
If you’ve been serving our country, whether in scrubs or the uniform of your regiment and what you want now is a politics that serves you, then make no mistake - this is your year.
Continue reading...Party says American-style sweetshops – some under investigation for tax evasion – are ripping off public
A Labour government will launch a crackdown on “dodgy” candy stores if it wins the next election, as part of plans to revitalise Britain’s high streets.
There are more than 20 of the US-themed sweet stores on Oxford Street, London, alone. Many of them appeared during lockdown as high-street stalwarts closed down and landlords faced the prospect of long-term empty shops.
Continue reading...Office told that ‘all debts must be offset’ referring to offsetting taxpayers’ arrears against future refunds and credits
The Australian Taxation Office received “clear advice” from the government’s chief legal adviser before launching a campaign to resurrect historical debts that caused widespread confusion and distress.
Meanwhile, the federal government has distanced itself from the tax initiative, arguing that decisions and processes related to the debts were a matter for the ATO.
Continue reading...‘Very disappointing results, it is no wonder that so many Australians remain fed up with our major airlines,’ Catherine King says. Follow today’s news updates live
‘Very, very clear’ renewables are the cheapest form of energy, Bowen says
Renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy, including its storage and transmission costs, the energy minister told ABC RN.
Its conclusions this year are unimpeachable and very, very clear.
The cheapest form of energy is renewable energy, even including the costs that go with renewable energy around storage and transmission.
Continue reading...The prime minister has been facing questions on his government’s performance from senior MPs on the Commons liaison committee
Social care leaders felt “blindsided” by recently announced changes to visa rules banning care workers from bringing their families to the UK and have “grave concerns” it could drive people from the sector, the Commons health committee heard this morning. PA Media has filed this from the hearing.
The head of Care England, which represents social care providers across the country, criticised a lack of consultation with the sector, saying it left them “particularly concerned, annoyed and irritated”.
Prof Martin Green, its chief executive, told the committee the system is currently already “creaking at the edges” due to a lack of funding, and spoke of the “chronic workforce shortage” it faces.
Today’s guidance does not go far enough. During the many months we have been waiting for its publication, it has become increasingly clear that non-statutory guidance will provide insufficient protection and clarity, and that a change in the law of the land is required.
That is why I am today asking the government to back my private member’s bill which would change the law in this area to ensure children are fully protected.
Continue reading...Former Tory peer claims she never concealed her link to PPE Medpro from officials dealing with the contract
Mark Harper, the transport secretary, has announced in a written statement that Transport for London is getting a capital funding settlement worth £250m for 2024. It will fund upgrades to the Piccadilly line. Sadiq Khan, the mayor, welcomed that announcement but, as the Evening Standard reports, said “a decent long-term funding settlement” from the government was still needed.
Rishi Sunak has said that too many civilian lives have been lost in Gaza – but declined to back Ben Wallace’s claim that Israel is engaged in a “killing rage”. (See 10.27am.)
Israel obviously has a right to defend itself against what was an appalling terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas, but it must do that in accordance with humanitarian law.
It’s clear that too many civilian lives have been lost and nobody wants to see this conflict go on a day longer than it has to.
Continue reading...Karen Payne says the debt notices had triggered a significant increase in complaints, and may require the government implementing a legislative fix
Australia’s tax ombudsman says the government should consider putting time limits on debt collection and ensure that people are not put into hardship after an ATO campaign to resurrect thousands of historical debts caused widespread distress and confusion.
Karen Payne, the country’s top tax bureaucrat in charge of the complaints management service, said the ATO campaign to extract the debts from tax refunds had triggered a significant increase in complaints, and may require a legislative fix.
Do you know more? Email jonathan.barrett@theguardian.com
Continue reading...Exclusive: Treasurer says government working on measures to ease the squeeze as well as policies to accelerate transition to net-zero emissions
Jim Chalmers has said Australians could receive more help with cost-of-living relief in the budget next May and confirmed the government is working up new policy measures to accelerate the transition to net-zero emissions.
In an end-of-year interview with Guardian Australia following the release this week of the mid-year budget update, the treasurer said the government would consider further interventions to help households between now and the May budget as long as measures didn’t fuel inflationary pressure, which has been moderating.
Continue reading...Commons standards committee recommends 35-day suspension for Scott Benton, who had Conservative whip suspended in April
Rishi Sunak has said that he is open to considering ways in which his Rwanda bill can be “improved”.
With Conservative rightwingers and centrists both wanting to amend the bill, in opposite directions, when it returns to the Commons in the new year, Sunak signalled that the government would be open to accepting some changes.
I’ve been very consistently clear, as have all ministers, if there are ways that the legislation can be improved, to be made even more effective — with a respectable legal argument and maintaining the participation of the Rwandans in the scheme — of course we would be open to that, who wouldn’t be?
This is a damning report from the cross-party standards committee, clearly concluding that Scott Benton seriously breached parliamentary rules in flaunting his position as a parliamentarian in exchange for remuneration.
This is not an isolated case, but comes off the back of a wave of Tory sleaze and scandal.
Continue reading...Fees for foreign investors who leave properties vacant will double and taxes will triple for those who buy existing houses
Foreign investors in Australia will face higher fees and steeper penalties for buying existing homes and leaving them empty as the government aims to address housing affordability.
The federal government on Sunday announced new rules tripling taxes for foreigners who buy existing houses in Australia and a doubling in fees for those who leave dwellings vacant.
Continue reading...The weak economy probably means the next RBA rates move – short of an inflation surprise next month – will be a cut
Philip Lowe used his final speech as Reserve Bank governor to call on fiscal policy to “provide a stronger helping hand” in managing inflation so the central bank didn’t have to carry most of the load – and the ire.
“Raising interest rates and tightening policy can make you very unpopular, as I know all too well,” Lowe said on 7 September, 10 days before many battling borrowers cheered him out the door.
Continue reading...Opinium poll for the Observer reveals the public is unimpressed with Jeremy Hunt’s attempt to woo them by trimming national insurance
Rishi Sunak has received no poll bounce after cutting taxes in last week’s autumn statement, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.
Following a week in which the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, described a reduction in national insurance as “the biggest tax cut on work since the 1980s” Labour’s lead has increased to 16 percentage points over the Tories.
Continue reading...Amid less gloomy OBR forecasts the chancellor is expected to take first steps towards cutting personal taxes
Jeremy Hunt will announce 110 measures to boost Britain’s stagnant economy and bow to demands from anxious Tory MPs for tax cuts when he delivers his second autumn statement on Wednesday.
In one of the last set-piece economic events before the general election, the chancellor will pledge to “turbo charge” growth while taking the first steps to cut personal taxes after recent sharp increases.
Continue reading...Former chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance revealed there was ‘complete lack of leadership’ at times in crisis
Vallance says that some of what he was doing during Covid would have been done by anyone else in the post of government chief scientific adviser (GCSA).
But he says because of his medical training, and his knowledge of vaccines (he had worked for GlaxoSmithKline before taking the GCSA job), he was probably more involved than another GCSA might have been.
Continue reading...Chancellor seeks to promote growth ahead of autumn statement that could spark a rebellion among Tory backbenchers defending marginal seats
Jeremy Hunt has played down the prospect of immediate income tax cuts, pledging not to do anything in this week’s autumn statement that will fuel inflation.
Although some Conservative backbenchers are eager for measures that would be quickly felt by households, the chancellor on Sunday sought to emphasise the need to promote growth and indicated that tax cuts were “not going to happen overnight”.
Continue reading...The chancellor’s potential inheritance tax cut in Wednesday’s budget would aid millionaires amid a cost of living crisis
Jeremy Hunt faces a backlash from “red wall” Tory MPs if he uses a fiscal windfall of up to £20bn to deliver tax cuts for the rich rather than to help ordinary families with the cost of living, the Observer has been told.
The chancellor and Rishi Sunak are this weekend finalising an autumn statement on Wednesday that could include a major reduction in inheritance tax – four-fifths of which would benefit those with more than £1m at their death, according to a new report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Each person with more than £1m would receive an average tax cut of £180,000, the IFS states.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed
Labor MPs furious over ‘one political party’ pitting Jewish community against another
Labor MPs are still furious over the motion Peter Dutton moved in question time on Wednesday, where he linked anti-semitism with the release of detainees, including some criminals, after the high court decision which deemed indefinite detention to be unconstitutional.
As a leader of the Jewish community and someone who represents a large Jewish community, I’ve always thought it was extremely important to act in the interests of the community.
And that means working across the political aisle. It means working with people like Allegra Spender, who represents the largest Jewish community in Australia, and of course with my friend Julian Leeser, who I will always stand with members regardless of what political persuasion they have, in order to act in the interests of the Jewish community.
Continue reading...Deputy premier Steven Miles says it’s ‘too late’ to cancel projects and any effect on demand is likely to be years away
The Queensland deputy premier has demanded that federal Labor explain why it is cutting infrastructure spending to fight inflation rather than revisiting controversial tax cuts for high income earners.
Steven Miles has upped the pressure on the Albanese government over looming infrastructure cuts in an opinion piece in the Courier-Mail, arguing it is “too late” to cut projects to fight inflation and urging it to reconsider stage-three tax cuts instead.
Continue reading...Higher interest rates and move away from cash isas means hundreds of thousands more people may be hit
Higher interest rates look set to land hundreds of thousands more people with an unwelcome tax bill for their savings, a financial advice firm warned this week.
A couple of years ago it was typically only the wealthiest with very big nest eggs who had to pay tax on their savings interest – but now someone with an emergency savings pot of about £8,000 could find themselves falling foul of this little-known tax trap.
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