Peter William
3.2K posts
@peterwilliam308
Born in Plymouth, living in London via Leeds. Education: LSE and life. Centrist: see stuff I like and dislike on left and right.
BREAKING: Rachel Reeves announces a temporary cut in VAT for 'summer attractions' from 20% to 5% over the holidays This applies to ticket prices for adults and children It includes fairs, theme parks, zoos and museums It also includes children's tickets for cinemas, concerts, soft play and the theatre It will cut the cost of children's meals in restaurants and cafes from 20% to 5% The savings will apply from 25th June through to the 1st September Reeves brands it the Great British Summer Savings Scheme
Happy to go through this again @afneil. Let’s look at the wider data not just a few numbers plucked out of their context. Yields are mostly but not exclusively reflections of political stability, inflation and growth trajectory. We can see that at peaks of the Eurozone debt, when France was seen as on a bad trajectory, French yields spiked over the UK only to recover. These reflect, to a great degree, underlying fundamentals which were pre-2020 more favourable to the UK. What happened after 2020 when the UK left the Single Market is our pre-existing gap with France worsened against the background of a general spike linked to the pandemic and Ukraine. This increased gap reflects to a large degree Brexit induced political instability, Brexit-worsened inflation and Brexit-lowered growth trajectory. All these are highly documented and have of course influenced bond trader decisions. We can also see the Truss mini-Budget there clearly making things worse. Of course, the graph clearly shows the UK-France gap has not been a constant mathematical match to pre-Single Market exit trends as you appear to suggest. My argument is had the UK remained in the EU with a stronger growth trajectory the UK-France gap would have narrowed not grown in recent years as it did in the past reflecting stronger growth, greater stability and lower inflation inside the Single Market saving billions. I don’t see what’s confusing here. But I can see why it’s politically important to many on the Right that no longer puts growth first to deny this!
Wes Streeting has this morning set out his tax plans - specifically bringing capital gains tax into line with income tax He says that the current system is unfair because it penalises work Higher or additional rate taxpayers will pay 24% on gains in the current financial year. Streeting said that the rates should mirror income tax bands - so 40% for higher rate taxpayers and 45% for additional rate taxpayers He says that the approach could raise £12billion a year Streeting said: “A member of my family is a cleaner in Lancashire. She pays a higher tax rate on her salary than her landlord pays for the growing value of the home she lives in. She slogs her guts out, he puts in far less effort, yet the state rewards him more than her. And we wonder why people are angry. “The system is penalising work. It’s not fair and it’s bad for our economy. We need a wealth tax that works. A pound made from simply owning assets should not be taxed less than a pound made from a hard day's work. We can do it in a way that is pro-growth, pro-entrepreneur and pro-work.”
@afneil Price controls serve a purpose in the right context, for example limiting private sector profiteering
