UK May Experience Recession Soon
The United Kingdom may start to get into another bout of recession during the first six months of the year 2012 as many of the households are trying to lessen spending, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. In light of this, the influential research think tank said that the government should try to ease their spending cuts in order to foster growth and development in the country. The economy is expected to decline by 0.1 percent this year but is also expected to grow in 2013 should there be a positive change in the current crisis in the eurozone. The recession that NIESR is referring to is the two consecutive quarters of economic contraction. Official statistics show that in January, the UK economy declined by 0.2 percent during the last quarter of 2011.
UK Did Not Agree to Join Fiscal Treaty
There are 25 out of the 27 member states of the European Union who have said yes to join a fiscal treaty to put force budget discipline measures. The two member states who did not agree were the United Kingdom and Czech Republic. According to the UK Prime Minister David Cameron, the UK government will have actions in place should there be a conflict in the treaty with the UK interests and threaten the country’s economy. Cameron said that there are legal concerns regarding the utilization of EU institutions in pushing forward the fiscal treaty. “It’s good that the new treaty is absolutely explicit and clear that it cannot encroach on the competences of the EU.
UK Bank Boss Declines £1M Bonus
Chief executive Stephen Hester of the Royal Bank of Scotland has declined receiving his bonus worth almost £1 million. According to BBC Business editor Robert Peston, Mr. Hester turned down the £963,000 shares only bonus after it becoming highly controversial. The CEO declined the bonus due to “enormous political pressure”. According to Chancellor George Osborne, the decision of Mr. Hester was “sensible and welcome”. This will help Mr. Hester put the spotlight on putting efforts together in getting back billions of pounds for the UK taxpayers. “Mr. Hester has done the right thing,” said Ed Miliband, leader from the Labour Party. However Robert Peston has pointed out that Mr. Hester deserved the bonus because he has made a lot of effort in making the Royal Bank of Scotland be a less risky financial institution.
Tax Deadline Put Back by Two Days
There will be no extra charges over self-assessment tax returns submitted online during the first two days of February, according to the HM Revenue and Customs. The official deadline was set on January 31 but due to a strike scheduled that day, there may be a last minute disruption, hence the extra two days. There are over two million people who are expected to file their returns through the website. There was a change in the process after an announcement that there might be leniency due to the strike. PCS, the public sector union, will hold a strike against the decision to have private companies execute some call trials in two call centres. “This strike could have caused thousands of people to incur fines, so I am pleased that HMRC has taken this common sense approach,” said David Gauke, exchequer secretary to the Treasury.
