June 5: Starmer and Sunak clash on tax in general election TV debate
Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer went head to head in their first TV debate of the election campaign.
Tax, immigration and the NHS were covered in the hour long debate, broadcast on ITV.
The similarities between the plans of the two leaders was shown when the pair were asked by presenter Julie Etchingham to raise their hand if they would not raise income tax, raise national insurance and, other than Labour on private schools, raise VAT in the next parliament.
Sunak claimed Labour's pledges would result in a £2,000 tax hike for all households. This was called "nonsense" by Starmer.
June 4: IFS would welcome return of reformed LTA
If Labour’s proposed reinstatement of the lifetime allowance was to go ahead, it would be “sensible” to go beyond just reintroducing it at its previous level, according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies.
Carl Emmerson, deputy director of the IFS and co-author of its briefing paper, said: "Rather than a simple knee jerk return to the system of two years ago, a new Labour chancellor would be well advised to implement a comprehensive and lasting reform which could rationalise, simplify and make fairer the current system of pension taxation whilst also raising revenue in the medium term.
“The danger is that a reintroduced lifetime allowance ends up being just another bump in the pensions tax road, and another missed opportunity to rationalise the system with a coherent package of measures.”
Brokers call out Lib Dems for ‘stating the obvious to borrowers’
Research, conducted by the House of Commons Library Research after being commissioned by the Liberal Democrats, found 100,000 households will face a mortgage increase between now and polling day on July 4.
However, Michelle Lawson, director at Lawson Financial, said: “The Bank of England is supposedly independent so the colour in charge shouldn’t make a difference when it comes to interest rates.
“The Lib Dems appear to be trying to do what Rishi has done and claim full glory for bringing inflation down when it was the economy and markets that did that, in the same way that they sent inflation up.
“Unless people have been hiding under a stone for the past couple of years, they will already be bracing for higher mortgage rates.”
May 30: Mortgage brokers share policy wishes ahead of election
Mortgage brokers are hoping to see policy pledges to build houses, incentivise buyers, and promote the housing department during the election campaign.
“What has been lacking from government policy for the past five years is a coherent house building and buying incentive scheme,” said Mather and Murray Financial independent financial adviser, Samuel Mather-Hodge.
He added, above that, and something which has been missing for even longer, is a strategic housing policy that focuses on building millions of homes, mostly affordable, in the areas of demand.
May 29: What do advisers want from next govt?
Pensions, tax, regulation and financial education are just a few of the areas advisers want the next government to focus on.
