Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Senior business figures hit out at Labour's 50p tax rate plan

Heads of 24 of Britain’s most successful companies warn that Ed Miliband’s policy could threaten recovery and cost jobs





Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls

Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, is facing criticism over his plan to raise the top rate of tax to 50p Photo: Getty Images



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Matthew Holehouse
By Matthew Holehouse, Political Correspondent

9:12PM GMT 26 Jan 2014

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Senior business figures have launched a strong and united attack on Labour’s pledge to raise the top rate of tax to 50p.


In the strongest criticism so far, the heads of 24 of Britain’s most successful companies warned in a letter to The Telegraph - copied below - that Ed Miliband’s policy would threaten the recovery and cost jobs.


Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, has been severely criticised by rival politicians, industry figures and some members of his own party since announcing the policy. Mr Balls insisted that his party was “pro-business” but claimed it was needed to close the budget deficit, which is forecast to be £78 billion at the next election.


However, he admitted he could not say how much the change would raise.


The signatories of today’s letter include Sir Stuart Rose, the chairman of Ocado, Sir Ian Cheshire, the chief executive of the DIY giant Kingfisher, and Neil Clifford, the chief executive of the footwear retailer Kurt Geiger.


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They warn that the 50p rate “will have the effect of discouraging business investment in the UK” and is a “backward step” that would quickly lead to job losses.

Charlie Mullins, the founder of Pimlico Plumbers, said it would trigger an exodus of investors like that seen in France after President François Hollande increased the top rate of tax to 75 per cent.

“It would be suicidal,” he said. “Business people are against paying tax, just not at such a punitive rate.”

Another signatory is Richard Caring, the owner of Le Caprice and the Ivy restaurants who has an outstanding £2 million loan to the Labour Party.

He said he was “deflated to see this negative political attack on those trying to support the fragile recovery … This is a complete downer and discouragement for entrepreneurs”.

Sir Stuart, who led Marks & Spencer for six years, added: “This will put at risk all the good work that has been done to put the economy back on track.”

Sir Ian, whose company’s stores include B & Q and Screwfix, said: “Raising the rate is bad economics and sends an anti-business message.”

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, urged George Osborne to “open up some more blue water” between the Tories and Labour and cut the top rate back to the pre-2008 rate of 40p.

Mr Johnson writes in his Telegraph column today that politicians should encourage those who “put in the back-breaking hours” and without whom the welfare state could not exist.

He adds that Mr Balls’s proposal shows “the real instincts of the Labour party, now way to the Left of New Labour: populist, anti-capitalist and anti-business”.

Lord Jones, the former Labour trade minister and chairman of the CBI, accused Mr Balls of appealing to tribalism with a measure that was “great politics but it’s lousy economics”.

He added that if Mr Balls became chancellor he would be “amazed” if he resisted putting the rate up further to 60p – a level last seen in 1988.

The shadow chancellor insisted he would not go that far, saying: “It’s absolutely not back to the 1980s or 1990s.”

He also told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show that he was unsure how much extra revenue the measure would bring in, but said the 50p rate — introduced as a stop-gap measure in response to the financial crisis in 2009 — had brought in £10 billion over three years.

He said independently verified Government figures that showed cutting the top rate to 45p had only cost the country £100 million were “highly uncertain”.

The views of business leaders on tax policy have played a crucial role in previous election campaigns.

In March 2010, 23 senior businessmen endorsed George Osborne’s plan to halt planned increases in National Insurance, in a major boost to the party.

The Letter

Dear Sir,

We are concerned to see Ed Balls and the Labour Party calling for higher taxes on businesses and business people.

We think that these higher taxes will have the effect of discouraging business investment in the UK.

This is a backwards step which would put the economic recovery at risk and would very quickly lead to the loss of jobs in Britain.

Your sincerely

John Ayton, Chairman, Bremont

Karren Brady, Vice Chairman, West Ham United

Richard Caring

Sir Ian Cheshire, Chief Executive, Kingfisher

Neil Clifford, Chief Executive, Kurt Geiger

Andrew Coppel, Chief Executive, De Vere Group

Peter Cullum, Executive Chairman, Towergate

Philip Dilley, Chairman, London First

Rupert Gavin, CEO, Odeon UK

Michael Gutman, Chief Executive, Westfield Group

Anya Hindmarch, Founder, Anya Hindmarch

Brent Hoberman, Executive Chairman, mydeco

Luke Johnson, Chairman, Risk Capital

Mike Lynch, Chairman, Invoke Capital; Founder, Autonomy

Alistair McGeorge, Chairman, New Look

Charlie Mullins, Founder and CEO, Pimlico Plumbers

Tim Oliver, Founder and Chairman, Hampden

Sir Stuart Rose, Chairman, Ocado

Rob Templeman, Chairman British Retail Consortium, Gala Coral and the RAC

Michael Tobin, Chief Executive, Telecity

Ted Tuppen, Founder, Enterprise Inns

Joseph Wan, CEO, Harvey Nichols

Paul Walsh

Will Wyatt, CEO, Caledonia

Sir Hossein Yassaie, Chief Executive, Imagination Technologies

This letter is signed in a personal capacity.

How much do the heads of 24 of Britain’s most successful companies pay in tax?

% wise?

now define "heads" .... do you mean the CEO? .... if so, then probably an awful lot more than might be imagined from the rantings of some on this site

of course, the same is true about bankers' bonuses about which we all get so hot under the collar

special request from the senile member

please can those whom it may concern please learn to paraphrase the salient parts of articles instead of just c+p'ing the whole newspaper!

Taken from the article above:


"the heads of 24 of Britain’s most successful companies"


Stop nit picking, you know perfectly well what is meant.

it's not nit-picking at all; it's a singularly relevant question to which you clearly do not know the answer

if it refers to the CEOs, then i have assuredly answered it - so stop nit-picking :-)

ok, fair enough, you don't know the answer either.

no i don't :-))
i'm sure our our local, supercilious armchair politician does - or at least he'll pretend as much, or even more likely, give a response that doesn't actually answer the question at all

Max,

Leave Minuel alone, he is just a miserable nit-picker with a short term memory loss.


Just let him scratch himself.

Is the figure in blue Manuel, Haze or somebody else.


-

Mass demonstrations in France against Hollande's handling of the Economy. There were 250 arrests yesterday during protests at Hollander's socialist policies. There is widespread anger at the increases in income tax at all levels.

I have just made some watercress soup. Delicious!

What a "Balls up" by the Shadow Chancellor - I am to-day losing more than I would with the tax increase to 50p he is so bloody prour of.

the one has nothing to do with the other

just be thankful than EM+co are even more incompetent and inept that the other idiots

50p tax.

Why not?

Encourage the payers to work harder to take home a decent salary an improve the output.

Good incentive for a hard working tax payer to be more productive.

They shouldn't have to rely on tips like Manuel.

Couldn't move in the super market this morning.

Full of bloody Romanians and Bulgarians.

They all looked red and on the left of the shelf, but couldn't see read the flags.



=========



Not bad price for some good full bodied wines.


=======

This is a better image of future leader of the torrid patty.




Although Boris seems to be very quiet at the moment.

Perhaps, waiting in the wings for a call.

Taken before going clubbing!

That's a good one of Farage.

And the bully boys.

Ed's got it tho, no one does gurning like Ed.

The economy is improving