Express Digest | News & Magazine

FTSE CLOSE: Footsie rallies as Fed and Bank of England peg interest rates

17.40: The FTSE 100 closed up 25.63 points at 6201.12 as investors responded to signals that the US Federal Reserve isn't in a hurry to raise interest rates again.The US Dow Jones [...]

Business & Finance

Lifetime Isa is a clever idea, especially if you’re one of the real Budget winners

When is a pension Isa not a pension Isa? When it’s a Lifetime Isa, it seems.Having been rebuffed in his attempt to replace pensions - and the pesky tax relief on them that he pic [...]

Business & Finance

The Queen would love to ditch the eve-of-Budget fiscal meeting

A recent tradition the Queen would love to ditch as she approaches 90 is the eve-of-Budget meeting with the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It was created by Tony Blair, at the behes [...]

Business & Finance

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: A fine Budget, marred by the dread D-word

After six years in the job, Chancellor George Osborne has become a master of the art of Budgets, unrecognisable as the ingénue who blundered through the omnishambles of 2012After [...]

Business & Finance

George Osborne could learn the hard way that making budgetary rules can be dangerous

Forget the eye-catching fizzy drinks tax and more funding for school sports. The real narrative of George Osborne's fourth financial statement in a year is that he was hopelessly [...]

Business & Finance

George Osborne announces town halls, hospitals and Whitehall need to make ‘stealth’ cuts

Hospitals, town halls and Whitehall will have to make new 'stealth cuts' thanks to a multi-billion pound 'back door' spending raid announced by George Osborne.The Chancellor announ [...]

Business & Finance

George Osborne’s Budget 2016 figures rely on levels of immigration way above target

George Osborne's economic blueprint relies on levels of immigration way above the Government's target, documents reveal.David Cameron has pledged to slash net migration to 'tens of [...]

Business & Finance

George Osborne says he will return Britain to surplus by the end of the decade

George Osborne yesterday promised to balance the books by the end of the decade – but was forced to outline painful spending cuts and tax rises to hit his target.The Chancellor s [...]

Business & Finance

George Osborne seems more interested in HIS future than Britain’s, MAX HASTINGS writes

George Osborne is the most substantial politician in this Government, the least irresponsible Chancellor of the Exchequer since Ken Clarke lost the job in 1997.But yesterday he del [...]

Business & Finance

George Osborne gets behind High Speed 3 and Crossrail 2 in the Budget 2016

George Osborne got behind a string of high profile transport projects yesterday – but left it unclear when they will be completed.The Chancellor announced backing for part of Hig [...]

Business & Finance

QUENTIN LETTS spots some short-term political point-scoring

As George Osborne sat down, having pinked his way through another Budget, three hands shot forth to congratulate him. David Cameron gave him a little play-punch. Treasury Chief Sec [...]

Business & Finance

George Osborne claims corporation tax cuts will lure more companies to Britain

The Chancellor has promised to close loopholes which allow multinational firms to avoid paying tax in the UK.George Osborne also set out further cuts to corporation tax, which he s [...]

Business & Finance

George Osborne slashes business rates but his sums look VERY optimistic

George Osborne wooed Middle Britain with tax cuts and a big boost for savers yesterday but admitted the UK's finances had plunged deeper into the red.In a high-stakes Budget, he al [...]

Business & Finance

George Osborne drags ‘neutral’ watchdog into EU row

George Osborne faced a furious Tory backlash last night after suggesting that Britain's independent economic watchdog was in favour of remaining in the EU.The Chancellor was accuse [...]

Business & Finance

George Osborne’s sugar tax hits firms with £500m bill

Shares in soft drinks firms fell sharply yesterday after George Osborne’s shock sugar tax announcement left them facing costs of £500million a year.Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver j [...]

Business & Finance

Middle class workers £400 better off after higher rate

Almost 600,000 middle earners will be lifted out of the 40p rate of income tax, the Chancellor announced yesterday.From April next year, workers will only pay higher-rate tax when [...]

Business & Finance

Wheelchair-bound Tory disability campaigner sabotages party’s own website

A wheelchair-bound Tory disability campaigner has sabotaged his party's own website after accusing George Osborne of 'destroying lives' with today's Budget.So incensed was he by th [...]

Business & Finance

Jamie Oliver says it’s a ‘fluke’ he was at Westminster as Osborne announced sugary drinks tax

Crowning his interview with a celebratory jig, Jamie Oliver wasted no time addressing the media in the wake of today's sugar tax budget revelation.But such was his keenness, offer [...]

Business & Finance

How does George Osborne hit his target to get us into the black?

George Osborne yesterday bragged that the British economy was 'set to grow faster than any other major advanced economy in the world' this year.The UK, he said, would outpace the o [...]

Business & Finance

Coca Cola, Pepsi and Dr Pepper shares plummet after UK announced tax on soft drinks

Shares in the soft drinks industry plummeted on Wednesday after the British chancellor announced a tax on sugar to combat childhood obesity.As of 2018, any drinks with more than a [...]

Business & Finance

George Osborne cuts North Sea oil taxes to help boost Scottish industry

The under pressure oil industry has received a much needed set of tax breaks from Chancellor George Osborne, having been hit hard over the past six months by a severe dip in 'black [...]

Business & Finance

Theresa May steals the show at the 2016 budget as her dress divides Twitter

Budget Day is traditionally a time when all eyes are on the Chancellor of the Exchequer.But yesterday Theresa May managed to upstage George Osborne’s speech – not through any p [...]

Business & Finance

George Osborne announces SECOND hike to premium tax in five months

Households will face bigger insurance bills after the Chancellor announced a second hike to premium tax in five months.Families are already paying on average an extra £100 per yea [...]

Business & Finance

Tories will MISS their target of cutting net migration, budget watchdog warns

The Tories will fail to cut net migration to their target of 'tens of thousands' - even under the most generous forecasts, according to the budget watchdog. In its assessment of G [...]

Business & Finance

Buy-to-let landlords denied capital gains tax break in the Budget 2016

Buy-to-let landlords have been denied a tax break on their property profits as the Chancellor excluded them from a big capital gains tax cut.Drawing the battle lines in the propert [...]

Business & Finance

George Osborne slashes capital gains tax to give them a helping hand

Investors will be penalised less heavily when selling shares after George Osborne announced a significant cut in capital gains tax in this year's budget.The higher rate of tax has [...]

Business & Finance

Budget 2016: Government raises insurance tax for the second time in a year

Millions of households across the country will see their insurance bills rise as the Chancellor George Osborne confirmed in the budget a rise from 9.5 per cent to 10 per cent in in [...]

Business & Finance

Chancellor George Osborne confirms extra 3% stamp duty in budget 2016

Buy-to-let landlords have been dealt a new blow in the Budget after the Chancellor abandoned plans to exempt 'significant investors' from the extra 3 per cent stamp duty charges an [...]

Business & Finance

Sterling slides as George Osborne misses debt and economic growth forecasts

Chancellor George Osborne has missed his GDP and debt forecasts for this financial year, sending sterling down to a fresh monthly low against the dollar and the euro.Despite his be [...]

Business & Finance

Tax-free limit to rise to £20k despite new personal savings allowance

Savers will be able to save tax-free to the tune of £20,000 from April 2017, George Osborne announced in his Budget today.At present, savers can stash away £15,240 in Isas shiel [...]

Business & Finance

George Osborne hikes personal allowance and cuts 40p tax threshold in today’s budget

UK taxpayers will be able to hold on to more of their hard-earned cash after the Chancellor increased income tax-free earnings in today's Budget.Delivering another jump in the pers [...]

Business & Finance

Budget 2016: George Osborne promises business tax reforms

Small businesses can rejoice today after the government permanently extended its business rate relief scheme, and cut the overall level of corporation tax to 17 per cent.In a spe [...]

Business & Finance

Budget 2016 sees young savers handed up to £1,000 a year bonus with new Lifetime ISA

Young workers will no longer have to choose between saving for a home or retirement, as the Chancellor revealed a new Lifetime Isa with a bonus of up to £1,000 a year in his Budge [...]

Business & Finance

George Osborne’s 2016 Budget shocks Britain by including a sugar tax

George Osborne's 25p per litre sugar tax on super-sweet drinks was this evening branded a 'fat tax' with 'no evidence of success' in tackling childhood obesity.Economists and lead [...]

Business & Finance

BUDGET 2016 IN BRIEF: The key points of George Osborne’s speech at a glance

BUDGET 2016 IN BRIEF: The key points of George Osborne’s speech at a glance By Jonathon Hopkins for Thisismoney.co.uk Published: 12:12 BST, 16 March 2016 | Updated: [...]

Business & Finance

George Osborne to axe the Money Advice Service in the Budget 2016

Chancellor George Osborne has scrapped the costly Money Advice Service, less than six years after it was set-up in an attempt by the Government to provide people with 'financial ed [...]