The Times reports this morning that Britain will be poorer by the equivalent of £4,300 a year per household if there is a vote to leave the European Union.
In an article for the paper, George Osborne says that a Canadian-style post-Brexit deal with Europe, an approach advocated by Boris Johnson, would cause Britain’s economy to shrink by 6 per cent by 2030. He asks whether this is a ‘price worth paying’. The Chancellor added: ‘The conclusion is clear: for Britain’s economy and for families, leaving the EU would be the most extraordinary self-inflicted wound.’ A Treasury analysis on the cost of an EU exit will be published today.
A story about saving makes it to the front page of The Telegraph. According to the paper, millions of savers are missing out on top savings rates while others are being overcharged by the taxman amid chaos created by the Government’s new rules on savings interest taxation.
On April 6 the Government introduced a new Personal Savings Allowance under which 95 per cent of the population no longer have to pay tax on savings. On top of the annual £15,240 Individual Savings Account limit, basic-rate taxpayers will be able to earn up to £1,000 from bank accounts tax-free. Higher-rate taxpayers will no longer pay tax on the first £500 they earn from bank accounts. Accountants say the changes have led to ‘wild confusion’ and inaccuracies in people’s tax codes.
Also in The Telegraph is the revelation that bank customers will have to wait another year before they can pay in cheques via their mobile phones, as banks are falling out over plans to roll out the new technology. Mobile cheque imaging is intended to be the next big step forward in saving customers unnecessary trips to the bank branch by allowing them to simply take a photo of a cheque instead. It will also reduce the cost to banks, which currently have to transport millions of paper slips around the country every day.
House prices jumped £3,800 in April to hit another high as buy-to-let investors rushing to beat the stamp duty hike last month had a knock-on effect of energising the higher sectors of the market, new figures have revealed. The average asking property price in England and Wales rose 1.3 per cent to £307,033 this month and house prices have risen 7.3 per cent compared to April last year, according to property website Rightmove.
Buy-to-let investors who pushed sales through last month, before the 3 per cent hike in stamp duty from April 1, have unleashed a wave of ‘trader-uppers’. Increased demand for bigger properties from second-steppers has contributed to push prices higher this month, Rightmove said.
If you’re a motorist who routinely parks on the pavement, be warned: parking cars on the pavement could be banned across the country under new plans to make the streets safer and encourage more people to walk. Ministers are considering extending the total ban on pavement parking that has been in place in London for the past 40 years to the rest of England. The new measures would make it illegal to park on the kerb elsewhere in the country – potentially landing offenders with fines of up to £70. However, in a sliver of good news for motorists, the first quarter of this year saw no change at all in car insurance prices. This, coupled with a lower than expected increase in Insurance Premium Tax in the recent Budget, should allow drivers to pocket a few extra pounds after what has been a tough year of ongoing price hikes. Over the past year, comprehensive car insurance prices increased by 14 per cent on average, according to the latest Confused.com Car Insurance Price Index in association with Willis Towers Watson. Over the last 12 months, car insurance prices have risen by a staggering £81, bringing the average quoted premium for an annual comprehensive car insurance policy to stand at £671.
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