Rise in Income Tax for Top Earners

Alistair darling has announced that his pre-budget report will include plans to increase Income tax for the highest earners.

Under the plans , the income tax rate will be 45% for earnings over 150, 000 pounds a year, provided labour win the next election.

These plans have broken New Labour promise of not raising the basic or top rate of income tax .

He stressed this would raise only a small amount of money needed to sort out public finances. It is esimated that this plan will raise 1.2 billion pounds.

The Taxpayers' Alliance described the move as "a totally backward step".

bUT WILL THE PLANS SCARE OFF INVESTORS??

Plans to cut VAT

Thare have been suggestions that VAT maybe cut from 17.5% to 15%.

Alistair Darlings plan will be announced on Monday. These will also include tax cuts targeted at poorer people and increased spending.

The BBC's political correspondent Jo Coburn said the VAT will benefit a larger range of people than the tax cuts would. She also added: the government's priority was to get "any extra money in people's pockets as quickly as possible and to get them out there spending that money and so boosting the economy".

Alistair Darling will tell the House of Commons that the plans will leave Britain 100bn in debt. Yet he insists "If we do not act now, the downturn will be longer and more severe," he says in the article.

Government adviser warns: Welfare plan 'may cause poverty'

He said the government should rethink plans on sending the log-term unemployed, lone parents and the disabled to work.

He warned this could cause poverty as a result of rising unemployment.

From next week, people are expected to find work once their youngest child is a least 12 years old or they will see their benefits cut.

Sir Richard, who is head of the social security advisory committee, said the so-called "welfare to work" reforms risked "falling into disrepute".

From monday, those with children over 12 will no longer be able to claim income support. However they can claim job seeker allowance instead.
He has called for the change to be delayed for a year or two.

Tories say they can't match Labours spending plans

Cameron has said he want to "set a new path" and wants build a "low tax, low debt economy for the long term".

The Conservatives are dropping their pledge to match Labour's spending plans for 2010/11.

He accused Prime Minister Gordon Brown of planning to "throw money at the crisis in the faint hope that this will help recovery".

He warned that Gordies "fiscal stimulus" would lead to higher taxes in the long run - he said a £30bn injection to the economy would mean an 8% rise in income tax later.

Could be possible tax cut

Gordon Brown has said he will do everything he can to see if cuts in taxes can be made.

This has come after David Cameron announced plans for tax cuts to keep people in work. And the lib dems have said they would offer tax cuts to lower paid people.

When asked on GMTV would had been done to help struggling familied,Gordon said petrol duty had been frozen and people where getting 120 pounds back from income tax due to the 10p tax row,.

He also added "Of course we are going to look at everything but that's a matter for the Budget and the pre-Budget report. "

The former chancellor also said he was expecting food prices to come down as a reult of a better wheat harvest and petrol prices are already falling.

When asked about about banks and interest rates he said "You can't cut interest rates and see no benefit to people - that's not acceptable, particularly when you are trying to help the banks - like Northern Rock - through difficult times."

HBOS board rejects the two former chiefs advice

The two former chiefs want to keep the bank independant as they argued that it would protect jobs and bring benifits to customers and shareholders.

The government has already spent £17bn of taxpayers' money bailing out HBOS.

HBOS said thier plan offered the shareholders no value and that merger plans with Lyolds TSB were on track.

Gordon Brown has given his backing for the takeover.

Gordon glad Banks have cut their rates

Lenders have agreed to pass on the full cut in interest rates by the bank of England. Halifax and Nationwide have cut their rates from 4.5% to 3%.

Gordon denied having to put pressure on banks to cut their lending rates.

World leaders are to meet in the US to dicuss the economic crisis.

He also repeated his idea for a "early warning system" to prevent future banking crises.

Terrorism threat in UK 'growing'

There are more Islamist extremists involved in active in the UK than prevously thought.

The document also states the UK will remain "a high-priority target" for al-Qaeda for the foreseeable future.

The head of MI5, Jonathan Evans, warned in November last year that there were at least 2,000 people in the UK who posed a threat to national security because of their support for terrorism.

Ther report also said "The overwhelming majority of extremists are male, typically in the 18-30 age range."

David Milli Band says its 'Game on' for Labour

He said there's "is a sense that it is game on"

However William Hague argued Labour were "kidding themselves" if they thought Glenrothes showed "some great change of mood".

He added: "People know that Gordon Brown left this country the worst prepared for recession of all the major economies."

David milliband also denied wanting to replace Gordie

An ICM poll for the Sunday Telegraph suggests that the Conservatives still have a 13% lead over Labour- 43% to 30%, with the Lib Dems on 18% - which the paper says would translate into an 80 seat Commons majority.

Labour's Glenrothes victory was hailed by Brown as 'vote of confidence'

...over the handling of the current economic crisis. Gordon Brown said the result proved people were prepared to support governments who offer them "real help."Gordon Brown was apparently told before the counting had began that Labour would lose.

Labour candidate Lindsay Roy's campaign targetted concerns over an increase in home care charges for some people from £4 a week to £11 an hour.
SNP candidate Peter Grant is leader of Fife Council, which introduced the charges.

Mr Salmond, Scotland's first minister, said Labour's campaign had focused on "distorted" claims."I don't like their campaigning style - I think it was fearmongering and scaremongering," he said.

Tory leader David Cameron, on a visit to Glasgow, said: "The real loser is the Scottish National Party and as they want to break up our country, to destroy the Union that I'm passionate about, then maybe it's no bad thing that the 'Salmond bounce' has disappeared.

Could Britain have a black Prime Minister?

Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, told the Times that somebody like Barack would find it difficult to "break through the institutional stranglehold that there is on power within the Labour Party."

He told The Times the system was biased against change.

Mr Phillips said it was no coincidence that there were only 15 ethnic minority MPs ( It has 13 MPs from these backgrounds while the Conservatives have two and the Lib Dems presently have none.)

Mr Phillips said he believed the Conservatives had performed better than Labour in increasing the number of black and Asian parliamentary candidates.

"[The Conservatives] are less democratic. They are happier to impose candidates on the local parties."

He suggested that parties were reluctant to pick ethnic minority candidates in constituencies but he didn't blame voters but rather the political system.

However , Last month Mr Phillips warned more help was needed for areas where there was a "white underclass" which had been "neglected" by existing equalities policies.

And in 2004 he argued multiculturalism belonged to a different era and that all citizens should "assert a core of Britishness".

A Labour spokesman added: "This is the party that produced, among others, the first black woman MP, the first black minister, the first black woman minister, the first black Cabinet minister, the first black woman Cabinet minister and the first black woman mayor."

Banks Oppose Takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB

The former chief executives of Bank of Scotland and Royal Bank of Scotland (Sir Peter Burt and Sir George Mathewson) have written to HBOS calling for its chairman and chief executive to resign.
They oppose the takeover and belive the HSOS would be better off if it remains independant and the government has provided them with enough funds to stay independant.

Lloyds TSB argue that the merge wouls save £1.5bn ($2.4bn) a year but this has just raised job loss fears after the takeover.

The leter says :"It is our intention to create a detailed alternative plan that we believe will represent better value for both the HBOS shareholders and stakeholders alike by keeping HBOS as an independent bank,"

One of the letter writters was involved with creting HBOS (when it merged with Halifax to form HBOS)

Theyalso say Sir Dennis and HBOS chief executive Andy Hornby should resign immediately - and that Sir George Mathewson should become the new chairman of the bank and Sir Peter Burt should be its chief executive.

It seems like they are trying to regain control of HBOS again, However the Scottish National Party has been highly critical of the takeover party due to the job loss fears and party due to the fact that HBOS's office is in Edinburgh and this could damage it's reputation as a financial centre.