Green Politics
The minimum wage at 15 – fully grown-up?
There is a strong consensus that the National Minimum Wage (NMW) has been a success yet, quite rightly, we are still worried about low pay. Can we do more with the NMW, or should we be thinking about a whole platter of policies to bring about fairer pay?
How can a company go bust owing £58 million in tax?
How could that have happened? How could HMRC have reached the point where it cannot chase that much tax? How limited are resources is this is the case?
It’s time to consider introducing rent controls
"Build build build. We must build more homes." Any politician who came out with such a statement would be greeted with near universal applause. Build them and they will clap.
You do the crime, you do the time. It seems that’s the case everywhere but banking
Money laundering, forgery, fraud, corruption – if you do the crime, you do the time. It seems that’s the case everywhere but banking. This is one conclusion arrived at after a year on the Parliamentary Banking Standards Commission (PBSC) examining the standards and culture of the industry. Why is it an off-shore island seemingly not subject to the normal rules of society?
European plans to regulate credit card transaction fees could hit poorest
The European Commission’s plans to regulate so-called 'multilateral interchange fees' could have major implications for the government’s ability to successfully implement welfare reform and will negatively impact on financial inclusion efforts in the UK.
Taxpayers are looking increasingly exposed on the back of Co-op downgrade
This morning credit ratings agency Moody's downgraded the Co-operative bank to Caa1. However the bank is still, as far as I am aware, open for business, despite the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) being told about the downgrade before the start of business today.