Posts Tagged ‘alistair darling’
Friday, July 11th, 2008
Almost half of all car owners will be up to £245 worse off under plans for massive increases in road tax, the Treasury admitted yesterday. And fewer than one in five will benefit from the controversial move, which was sold as a way to cut greenhouse gas emissions. More than 1m drivers of cars registered between 2001 and 2006 will see road tax jump from £210 to either £430 or £455 depending on emissions, while others face hikes of between £10 and £155. Only 18% of motorists will see the price of a tax disc fall, 39% will pay the same and 43% to pay more.
The Chancellor Alistair Darling, has given strong signals that he will ‘fix’ the problem this autumn, probably by phasing in a retrospective element of the change which applies to vehicles registered between 2001 and 2006. The new regime starts to kick in next year but the biggest changes will hit in 2010 - weeks before the likely date of the next General Election.
Tags: alistair darling, car tax, car tax changes, Chancellor, road tax, road tax band, Treasury
Posted in Finance, Government, Politics, Taxation | No Comments »
Monday, July 7th, 2008
Chancellor Alistair Darling aims to raise the amount of money protected from the current £35,000 to a new ceiling of £50,000. Savers who lose money when a bank goes under will be given compensation within a week, instead of months. However, banks said making them pay up-front would divert vital capital away at a time when they were already under pressure from the credit crunch. So instead, the new scheme will borrow money from the public sector, if necessary, to enable quick payments. The Chancellor believes more generous protection will cut the risk of panic if a bank is rumoured to be in trouble.
Tags: alistair darling, Chancellor, Credit crunch, Savings, savings protection, savings protection proposal, savings protection scheme
Posted in Credit crisis, Credit crunch, Government, Savings | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
The Government is planning to use next week’s budget to introduce plans to grade all mortgages in a bid to kick start the wholesale money markets. Chancellor Alistair Darling is understood to be arranging the introduction of a new system under which all mortgages are graded, with the least risky awarded a gold standard ‘Kitemark’. Investors have been reluctant to buy mortgage-backed securities for fear they contain risky sub-prime loans and this has made it difficult for banks to remove mortgage assets from their books. It is hoped that by providing investors with greater reassurance about the quality of the loans they are taking on, it will make it easier for lenders to sell on mortgages to investors. The scheme could help re-vitalise the wholesale money markets and provide banks with access to cheaper funding, which subsequently could be passed on to consumers in lower mortgage rates.
Tags: alistair darling, Banking, Credit crisis, Credit crunch, Government, investors, kitemark, MBS, money market, mortgage rates, mortgage-backed securities, Mortgages, Sub-prime
Posted in Consumer, Credit crisis, Credit crunch, Finance, Government, Mortgages, Property Market, Speculation, Sub-prime | No Comments »
Sunday, February 17th, 2008
The government decided to nationalise Northern Rock today, abandoning a five-month attempt to find a private sector buyer for the ailing bank. “In the current market conditions we do not believe the two proposals deliver sufficient value for money for the taxpayer,” Finance minister Alistair Darling told a news conference. “So the government has decided to bring forward legislation to bring Northern Rock into a temporary period of public ownership.” The government will put forward legislation on tomorrow to take the bank into public hands — the first major nationalisation in Britain since the 1970s — and trading in Northern Rock shares was suspended.
Tags: alistair darling, Credit crisis, Credit crunch, finance minister, Government, legislation, nationalisation, nationalised, Northern rock, public ownership
Posted in Banking, Consumer, Credit crisis, Credit crunch, Finance, Politics, Stock Market | No Comments »
