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.

Strange that Labour and their supporters are getting so worked up about so called tax avoidance now. Never seemed to occur to them in their thirteen years of government. Arise Sir Fred Goodwin!

Ed Balls refuses to back Ed Miliband tax loophole
Shadow Chancellor says he will look at 'systematic tax evasion' and refuses to rule out banning 'deed of variation'


By Holly Watt, Whitehall Editor10:30AM GMT 15 Feb 2015



Ed Balls has said that he might close a tax loophole used by Ed Miliband, after insisting he would crack down on "aggressive tax avoidance".
The Shadow Chancellor failed to back the Labour leader’s over his family’s use of a “deed of variation”, which changed his father’s will posthumously to minimise the amount paid in inheritance tax.
“I think Ed Miliband paid all the tax that was due,” said Mr Balls, during an appearance on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, refusing to comment any further.


Mr Balls said that he would launch a wide-ranging assessment of all tax loopholes used in financial planning if Labour wins the general election in May.
"I will look at every area. I will look at every area. The intention of Parliament must be delivered," he said.

He refused to rule out including deeds of variation in this assessment.
“I will not turn a blind eye,” insisted Mr Balls, accusing the Conservatives of allowing rich people to avoid paying “their fair share”.
Mr Balls said that Labour would crack down on “systematic tax evasion”. However, he defended a decision by the Labour party to accept a donation from the businessman John Mills, who gave the party £1.65m in shares in 2013. This reduced the tax paid on the donation.

Mr Balls called this "a tax efficiency" and "small beer compared with what the Tories are up to," speaking to John Pienaar on BBC Radio 5 live.
He also insisted he didn't "know the details of [the Mills donation] and it would be wrong for me to do so because as I think it is important that I can be objective on these matters."
However, he insisted that David Cameron should have carried out a more comprehensive analysis of Lord Green, the former HSBC chairman, before he was made a minister.
Grant Shapps, the Tory Chairman, said that "Labour say one thing on tax avoidance, but do another."
"Last week Ed Miliband criticised the practice, but today Ed Balls has admitted that the Party accepts 'tax efficient' donations because they 'need the money,'" said Mr Shapps.
Mr Miliband has become embroiled in a row over his inheritance, because he, his mother and his brother – the former Labour MP David Miliband – agreed to change the will of his father, the Marxist Ralph Miliband, in 1994.
The row centres on a house in Primrose Hill, where the Milibands grew up. When he died in 1994, Ralph Miliband originally left the whole house to his wife, Marion.
However, along with his mother and his brother – the former Labour MP David Miliband – Mr Miliband agreed to rewrite his father’s will using a deed of variation. Instead of the family home passing simply to his mother, each brother was given 20 per cent of the asset.
In order to change a will in this way, all the people involved have to agree.
The deed of variation would ultimately reduce the tax on Mrs Miliband’s estate, because inheritance tax would only be paid on 60 per cent of the asset rather than the whole value of the home.Mr Miliband has insisted he paid capital gains tax when he sold his share of the house.
The row blew up following allegations of tax evasion by HSBC customers. Mr Miliband went on the attack, criticising the Conservatives and their "dodgy donors".
The former party treasurer Lord Fink said that he had been smeared, although he admitted that he carried out what he called "vanilla" tax planning.
The former Conservative Chancellor Ken Clarke told the Observer that his party must end its dependency on rich individuals. He said that the tax row was "artificial and bogus", but said that the party leaders needed to resolve issues around party funding.
"I think the Conservative party will be strengthened if it is less dependent on having to raise money from wealthy individuals. But there is no way any leader can avoid raising funds from large gatherings of that kind," said Mr Clarke.


Mr Balls called this "a tax efficiency" and "small beer compared with what the Tories are up to," speaking to John Pienaar on BBC Radio 5 live.
He also insisted he didn't "know the details of [the Mills donation] and it would be wrong for me to do so because as I think it is important that I can be objective on these matters."
However, he insisted that David Cameron should have carried out a more comprehensive analysis of Lord Green, the former HSBC chairman, before he was made a minister.
Grant Shapps, the Tory Chairman, said that "Labour say one thing on tax avoidance, but do another."
"Last week Ed Miliband criticised the practice, but today Ed Balls has admitted that the Party accepts 'tax efficient' donations because they 'need the money,'" said Mr Shapps.
Mr Miliband has become embroiled in a row over his inheritance, because he, his mother and his brother – the former Labour MP David Miliband – agreed to change the will of his father, the Marxist Ralph Miliband, in 1994.
The row centres on a house in Primrose Hill, where the Milibands grew up. When he died in 1994, Ralph Miliband originally left the whole house to his wife, Marion.
However, along with his mother and his brother – the former Labour MP David Miliband – Mr Miliband agreed to rewrite his father’s will using a deed of variation. Instead of the family home passing simply to his mother, each brother was given 20 per cent of the asset.
In order to change a will in this way, all the people involved have to agree.
The deed of variation would ultimately reduce the tax on Mrs Miliband’s estate, because inheritance tax would only be paid on 60 per cent of the asset rather than the whole value of the home.Mr Miliband has insisted he paid capital gains tax when he sold his share of the house.
The row blew up following allegations of tax evasion by HSBC customers. Mr Miliband went on the attack, criticising the Conservatives and their "dodgy donors".
The former party treasurer Lord Fink said that he had been smeared, although he admitted that he carried out what he called "vanilla" tax planning.
The former Conservative Chancellor Ken Clarke told the Observer that his party must end its dependency on rich individuals. He said that the tax row was "artificial and bogus", but said that the party leaders needed to resolve issues around party funding.
"I think the Conservative party will be strengthened if it is less dependent on having to raise money from wealthy individuals. But there is no way any leader can avoid raising funds from large gatherings of that kind," said Mr Clarke.

fred - i know we're just a small company (about 20 employees), but we have had a profit share scheme in place for at least the last 15 years

i accept that the quantum is in the gift of the directors and could thus be accused of being parochial, but it most certainly works as is shown by the almost unknown loss of staff .... that we run a very relaxed company also helps, even if we would be seriously frowned upon by some for being not remotely pc!

At the end of the day it's about "trust on both sides", if there is that then things can work.

but thank goodness we don't have unions as inevitably they would insist on a written policy, and that automatically creates a possibility of problems

Not if there is "trust on both sides" so nothing inevitable at all.

I wouldn't trust Red ED and Mr No Balls with a Post Office Savings Account let alone the British economy :0)

Universal credit goes national tomorrow.

Anyone know how it works?


Also, they were interviewing people on the street, only saw one, looked like Sid Snot with pierced earings going through the center of his nose and his ear...he wasn't too happy about UC, but there again who is going to employ him anyway?

Manuel,

Worth reading.

The first article sums up the present tory party and what many think of it, while the second article gives other reasons:


If one thing will cost the Tories this election, it is their arrogance
Andrew Rawnsley

They know it is toxic to be seen as cronies of the super-rich but they threw their obscene fundraising ball anyway
.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/15/tories-black-white-ball-fundraiser-rich-arrogance

and know how to spend a buck:



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Is Mr Cameron the most parochial PM ever?

Nick Cohen
Sums up what Dodgy Dave is thought of in Europe and why:


http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/14/is-mr-cameron-most-parochial-pm-ever

You couldn't make this up. Oh yes you could, another left wing cock up in waiting. Or how to lose votes! LOL! LOL!


Strip companies of government contracts, Labour policy chief says

Jon Cruddas, who is writing Labour's general election manifesto, says there should be “no more outsourcing” of public services to firms that seek to make money rather than achieving a “social purpose”



By Ben Riley-Smith, Political Correspondent

5:34PM GMT 15 Feb 2015

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Private companies motivated by profit should be stripped of billions of pounds worth of government contracts, Ed Miliband’s top policy chief has said.


Jon Cruddas, who is helping to write Labour's general election manifesto, said there should be “no more outsourcing” of public services to firms that seek to make money rather than achieving a “social purpose”.


The Labour frontbencher also said it was “staggering” that 20 companies receive £10 billion of government money to help deliver services in the public sector.


The comments undermine the Labour leadership’s attempts to prove it is not anti-business after weeks of public criticism from executives and top donors.


It raises the prospect of those companies with the biggest government contracts – among them Vodafone, BT, Hewlett-Packard and DHL – losing deals if Labour takes office, potentially affecting tens of thousands of j



Mr Cruddas made the remarks in a new book entitled ‘Blue Labour: Forging a new politics’, due out next month.

In a chapter seen by The Telegraph entitled ‘The Common Good in an Age of Austerity’, Mr Cruddas outlines how he wants the Labour Party to change in the wake of the 2008 financial crash.

“In this circumstance Labour’s politics of the common good requires three big changes,” Mr Cruddas writes. “First, no more top-down re-organisation. Instead, locally run and organised schools, hospitals, house-building programmes and habitats.

“Second, no more outsourcing of relational services to those parts of the private sector that are driven purely by corporate profit rather than a social purpose. It is quite staggering that some £10 billion of public contracts – of taxpayers’ money – are allocated to some 20 private companies.

“Rather, we need to forge cooperative ties with ethical enterprise – such as cooperatives, mutuals, and social businesses.” The third change proposed is to give councils more spending powers.

He calls on Labour to pursue "big reforms without big money" and "to contest the very foundations of economic liberalism" - the principle of individualism that underpins free trade and open markets.

The 20 private companies with the biggest government contracts are: Airwave, Amey, Atkins, Atos, Babcock, BT, Capita, CapGemini, CGI, DHL, G4S, HP, Interserve, Lockheed Martin, Mitie, Serco, Sodexo, Steria, Teleral Trillium, Vodafone.

Between them they employ hundreds of thousands of British workers and generate billions of pounds for the country’s economy.

Peter Bone, the Conservative MP for Wellingborough, said: "This Labour Party is one of the most Left-wing Labour parties we have ever seen. They put up a veneer of sensibility but what they really believe is in pure socialism.”

A Labour spokesman said: “Labour’s plan for creating wealth does not rely on just a few at the very top - unlike the Conservatives - but on boosting productivity in every business and sector of the British economy.”

Mr Miliband has been forced to defend himself in recent days following claims that his party is not on the side of big business following a public row with a series of company chiefs.

A number of the country’s most senior business leaders have accused Mr Miliband of attempting to shut down debate after the Labour leader rounded on Stefano Pessina, the chief executive of Boots, who said a Labour Government would be a “catastrophe” for Britain.

Labour will today [MONDAY] announce plans to support small businesses by putting them “first in line for tax cuts” and cutting and then freezing business rates.

Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, will also announce plans to tack late payments to small firms by big businesses.

It came as Mr Balls said that he may close a tax loophole used by Mr Miliband, after insisting he would crack down on "aggressive tax avoidance".

The Shadow Chancellor failed to back the Labour leader’s over his family’s use of a “deed of variation”, which changed his father’s will posthumously to minimise the amount paid in inheritance tax.

Blame Red Fred for knackering the font the prick!

Scottish Labour MPs threaten to bar Ed Miliband from campaigning in their seats

Despairing Labour MPs north of the border tell The Telegraph they want a coalition to be ruled out and Miliband off their leaflets as dire polls show no sign of turning



By Ben Riley-Smith, Political Correspondent

6:01AM GMT 15 Feb 2015

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Scottish Labour MPs are threatening to bar Ed Miliband from campaigning in their constituencies before the election amid fears he puts off voters.


Politicians fighting to keep their seats amid surging support for the SNP have also told the Sunday Telegraph the Labour leader will not feature on local campaign leaflets.


It comes with senior Scottish Nationalists privately pledging to highlight Mr Miliband’s low personal approval ratings and lack of obvious links to the country ahead of the election.


They will attempt to portray Mr Miliband as the Labour leader with the “least affinity” with Scotland for a generation and claim he is an electoral asset for the SNP.


The revelations come with Labour facing an electoral apocalypse in Scotland in less than three months with polling showing the party could lose as many as 35 of its 41 Scottish MPs.


To test the mood within the party this newspaper talked to numerous Scottish Labour MPs about their hopes of mounting a comeback after the alarming slump in support since the Scottish independence referendum last September.

Speaking under the condition of anonymity, the MPs painted a dire picture of the party’s hopes north of the border ranging from disbelief at the scale of the collapse to utter despondency.

One Scottish Labour MP compared the impact of the sudden drop in support to a “cardiac arrest”, adding that colleagues were still reeling with shock while others on small majorities had all but given up hope of re-election.

Another said the abandonment of voters from Labour since the independence vote was comparable to the “backlash” the Conservatives suffered over the poll tax, adding: “There has been an emotional breakage between Scottish voters and Labour. God knows if it can be reformed.”

A third, when asked how things were looking in Scotland, simply formed his hand into a gun, raised it to his mouth and pulled the trigger.

Mr Miliband has come under fire from some Scottish Labour MPs who are taking steps to negate the leader’s apparent lack of appeal to Scottish voters in the run up to the election.

“Does Ed Miliband bring me votes? Absolutely f****** not,” said one Scottish Labour MP. “If Ed wanted to campaign in my seat would I agree? I'm not sure … You wouldn't want him out campaigning in a shopping mall." Another said they would want Labour HQ to send the leader to their seat before the election.

Others who carried pictures of Gordon Brown on local campaign leaflets before the 2010 election – when the Scot actually grew Labour’s vote share in Scotland despite collapsing support elsewhere – have said they will not do the same this year.

While the sentiments are not shared by all Scottish Labour MPs – some of whom said a visit from Mr Miliband could bring useful local media attention – it shows the extent to which he is seen as less of an electoral asset than previous Labour leaders.

The SNP hope to exploit Scottish voters’ apparent apathy to the Labour leader, pointing to Ipsos Mori polling last month that gave Mr Miliband a lower leadership approval rating than David Cameron.

“The more visits from Ed Miliband to Scotland the merrier. We would be prepared to pay his bus fares,” an SNP source said. “He is perceived as being part and parcel of a Westminster establishment that has become very, very unpopular.”

Mr Miliband’s lack of obvious Scottish links are largely unavoidable: he was not born in the country unlike the last three Labour leaders; Mr Brown, Tony Blair and John Smith. Yet the SNP will still seek to paint him as “the Labour leader who has got the least affinity with Scotland”.



The Labour leader and his Scottish counterpart, Jim Murphy, are also coming under pressure from MPs to publicly rule out doing a post-election deal with SNP.

Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader, upped the anti this week by suggesting she is willing to help get Mr Miliband into Number 10 even if Labour gets less votes that the Tories – providing he agrees to radically scale back austerity cuts.

Some Scottish Labour MPs fear such talk increases the likelihood of supporters abandoning the party for the SNP, with one saying the current position gives voters “open license not to vote for a Labour candidate if they're a waverer”. Ruling out a deal would make “absolutely clear” the party’s key message that a vote for the SNP is a vote for the Tories, says another.

A senior Scottish Labour source rebuffed the idea, saying the SNP has already effectively rejected a coalition and suggesting there was little to gain from Labour talking about post-election negotiations.

The source said Scottish Labour will focus on making clear every new seat the SNP take north of the border increases the likelihood of David Cameron remaining in Number 10.

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “This story is nonsense. Ed is, and will be, at the forefront of our general election campaign across Britain.”

this election campaign has degenerated in what is surely the most puerile ever

any one who now votes conservative thinks being a liar and a thief and no honour
is good. cameron is a very dishonest piece of scum will not answer questions about
is donors tax avoidance that about says it all . look after those that give you free cash

I must have got up on the wrong side of the bed, I agree with Manuel!

Except it does expose the corrupt leadership and its methods.

Cameron agrees with fink if you can fiddle your tax good luck ever one fiddles their taxes if they do not pay paye. hmrc we only hit the ones who pay via paye to go after the rich is not our game

they're all as bad as each other .... it's truly pathetic

Yes, the whole edifice is rotten from top to bottom.

Time to tear it down, and voting for the mainstream simply guarantee's that wont happen.


Just look north of the border, now you have gorgeous, pouting, Nicola threatening to put millibandus into no10 (for a small fee)... no doubt you can see where that will lead.

Unfortunately, if you chop the chicken's head off, it runs around in a circle before eventually dying!

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mark antony's speech comes to mind