Mayor of London Boris Johnson warned that thousands of high-earning bankers will flee City because of the Government’s taxation policy, Sky News reports.
Johnson wrote to Chancellor Alistair Darling asking for a meeting to discuss his introduction of a 50% income tax rate for top earners and a temporary 50% levy on banking bonuses over £25,000.
Johnson said that 9,000 bankers are planning to leave London because of the Government’s tax policy. Several companies have told him …

Families have less to spend than at any time over the past ten years, the Daily Mail reports.
An official analysis found that an average household paid £471 a week for everything from the cost of housing to buying lottery tickets in 2008, the lowest spending per home since 1999.
The statistics, released by the Office for National Statistics, reveal the amount that a typical family can afford has been falling since 2004.
Independent economists put the trend …

The Conservatives say that they would start cutting Whitehall spending plans from day one of a David Cameron Government, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said for the first time that Whitehall budgets for the financial year which starts in April would be ripped up. He confirmed that it meant some middle class tax breaks will be scrapped.
Osborne added that the Tories needed to show they were willing to start cutting costs immediately.
“Programmes that …

Millions face higher council tax and cuts in services because the black hole in local government pensions has soared to £60 billion, the Daily Mail reports.
Figures obtained under freedom of information show councils’ pension deficits have nearly trebled thanks to the recession.
Council tax bills in April next year will depend in part on a calculation of the size of the pensions black hole, due to take place this March.

Researchers, who have published new estimates of monthly GDP, say that Britain’s economy could be out of recession, Sky News reports.
Figures from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research show a 0.3% rise in the three months ending in December. The latest growth figures come after a 0.2% rise in the three months ending in November.
But the country will have to wait until the end of January, when the Government’s official figures are released, …

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said that the weather had brought the economy to a “standstill” – with estimates it was costing at least £600 million a day, the Independent reports.
Many parts of the UK have gone three weeks without rubbish collections due to the icy conditions. Major roads were closed, many airport runways shut and train services disrupted in the wake of the latest snowfall.
The FSB said there should now be talks between …

Virgin Money say they now have means of developing a UK retail banking business after buying regional bank Church House Trust, the BBC reports.
Virgin will pay £12.3m for the bank and invest £37.3m into the business.
Under the Virgin Money brand the company will use the bank to offer savings and mortgages products.
Virgin Money have more than 2.5 million customers and offer a range of financial services including credit and pre-paid cards, savings, individual savings accounts, …

Many of the country’s biggest brewers are to raise the price of a pint by up to10 pence to cope in the continuing recession.
Guinness producer Diageo warned that the recommended retail price of a pint would rise 10p to £3.03 on 1st February, the Daily Mail reports. Brewing giant InBev, makers of Stella Artois, announced that they will increase the wholesale price of all their drinks, which also include Beck’s, Budweiser, Staropramen and Leffe, by …

1,994,999 new cars were registered last year, and the number of new cars sold in 2009 dipped only 6.4%.
Car sales were boosted by the Government’s “cash-for-bangers” car-scrappage scheme, introduced in May, the Independent reports.
December sales were 38.9% up on those of the same month in 2008.

Average petrol prices have risen above £5 a gallon for the first time in 15 months, the Daily Telegraph reports.
With VAT returning to 17.5 per cent, the average price of petrol at the pumps has gone up to 110.04p a litre, with diesel now 111.77p a litre.
This compares with average petrol costs of 85.99p a litre a year ago, when diesel averaged 98.06p a litre.

Public sector employees have entered a golden age of employment with better pay, pensions, holidays and working hours than private sector staff, the Daily Mail reports.
Civil servants, NHS staff, council officials and other state-employed staff last year earned £22,405 on average, compared with £20,988 for employees at private firms.
The 7% pay gap has more than doubled from the 3% difference in the previous year.
The official figures show wages in the public sector – whose ranks …

Chief executive of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), John Fingleton, attacked the budget airline Ryanair over their new online payment charges, saying that the airline are being puerile and childish, and that they’re acting outside the spirit of the law.
Fingleton singled out the practice of levying fees by adding charges to payments made with a Visa Electron debit card, the Daily Mail reports. Electron users now face the same £5 passenger transaction fee for …

Virgin Trains ticket office staff, working on one of the UK’s busiest rail lines, went on strike today, the BBC reports.
About 200 members of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) are taking part in the 24-hour strike in protest at planned cutbacks. The walkout will affect 12 stations on the West Coast Main Line, which links England and Scotland.
A Virgin Trains spokesman said no-one would miss their train as a result of the strike.
The West …

Cash-strapped Government are to raise petrol taxes next year, motorists will see a five pence rise by the spring and 10p by the autumn, which will push the cost of unleaded petrol from 108p to 123p – or nearly £5.60 a gallon, the Daily Mail reports.
Among the tax changes planned or predicted are increases in VAT and fuel duty, the ending of the duty incentive to refiners for the production of biofuel, and tax increases in a snap post-election Budget On top of the tax rises, Britain’s 33million motorists are…

The Digital Economy Bill, which requires internet service providers (ISPs) to disconnect users who are accused of illegal filesharing, will cost consumers up to £500 million, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The Bill, which is expected to become law next year, will add £25 a year to the cost of broadband, according to ISPs. The Government’s impact assessment document, which examines the likely effects of the Bill, estimates that around 40,000 households will give up their broadband …

A group of employment experts warn that another 250,000 jobs will be lost in Britain before unemployment starts to ease in 2010, and the number of jobless will remain high for years, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said that next year would be better for jobs than 2009 was, but that the jobless total would continue to rise at least until the summer, peaking at 2.8 million. The latest …