Category: Economics
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The economics of the nationalist tide
Over at OurKingdom, Anthony Barnett pick up on the significance of the Labour-Plaid Cymru deal in Wales. The Anglo-British political class in London should be sounding the alarm, nationalists are now in government in all three of the ‘other countries’ of Britain. More important, they have the initiative. Salmond is getting on fine with the…
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Report: Brown to scrap Barnett Formula
Scotland on Sunday reports that Gordon Brown is set to tear up the Barnett Formula that allocates spending between the different parts of the UK: the Treasury has consistently resisted demands for the explosive move. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair last month said the distorted handouts were a small price to pay "to keep the…
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Accountants back NI corporation tax cut
It seems that Ireland’s accountants have not been deterred by reports that Sir David Varney is opposed to a corporation tax cut for the North. Tax advisors on both sides of the border have rejected suggestions that bringing Northern Ireland’s corporation tax rate in line with the Republic’s would lead to widescale tax avoidance by…
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Wales joining the Celtic consensus?
The Welsh Budget Minister today announced a review of tax and public funding for the Assembly: The funding review announcement came during a debate on a Lib Dem motion calling for an independent commission to investigate issues relating to the funding and financial powers of the assembly government. Ms Hutt responded to the call by…
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Varney rules out corporation tax cut for Northern Ireland
It’s the one policy almost every major party in Ireland is agreed on, including those that won the recent general election in the south, and the assembly elections in the north, but that it seems is not a consideration for the British Treasury. Plans by Northern Ireland’s new power-sharing executive to stimulate foreign investment by…
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Stormont and Holyrood: Brown’s taxing problems
Yesterday’s happy events at Stormont could have a sting in the tail for Gordon Brown. The business commmunity is already pushing the new Northern Ireland Executive for concessions on corporation tax. The IBEC-CBI Joint Business Council, the voice of business on the island of Ireland, today (Tuesday 8 May 2007) welcomed the formation of a…
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Bertie Ahern on the Northern Ireland tax issue
There was an interesting exchange in the Dáil yesterday, that shed some light on the attitude of the major party leaders in the Republic towards the campaign for a corporation tax cut in the North: Enda Kenny: What progress has been made in equalising the corporation tax rate? Some 68% of the economy in Northern…
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Scotland ‘needs new fiscal arrangements’
Today’s Scotsman reports an extremely interesting speech by Shonaig MacPherson, the Chairman of the Scottish Council of Development and Industry (SCDI), which perhaps highlights some of the centrifugal forces I wrote about yesterday.
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Brown offers NI tax review
Gordon Brown has today announced a review of the tax differential between Northern Ireland and the Republic, as part of the financial package in support of a re-established Northern Ireland Executive. Business leaders in the North have campaigned for several years for a cut in corporation tax to match the 12.5 per cent rate in…
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NI elections: Economy comes to the fore
Voters in Northern Ireland go to the polls on Wednesday to elect the Assembly which will hopefully produce a power-sharing executive. One positive sign for the outcome is that there has been a new focus on economic and social issues in the campaign: