CHANCELLOR URGED TO CUT STAMP DUTY

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been urged by Conservative MPs to scrap or cut stamp duty (The Telegraph). Rising house prices mean that 1.2 million homes that were zero-rated before the pandemic now require buyers to pay stamp duty. A further 3.2 million have been pushed into higher stamp duty brackets.

£18.6 billion was collected through the tax in the year to March 2022, an increase of £6.1 billion despite the stamp duty holiday during the pandemic.

PRIME MINISTER ADMITS GOVERNMENT “CAN DO MORE” ON COST OF LIVING

Boris Johnson admitted on Tuesday that the government “can do more” to help families struggling with the cost-of-living crisis (Financial Times). However, the prime minister said the government had to be “prudent” and that high levels of extra public spending could lead to an “inflationary spiral”.

Mr Johnson also dismissed calls for a windfall tax on oil and gas companies, saying the government wanted to encourage energy companies to invest to bring down costs in the future (The Guardian).

NEWS IN BRIEF

Klarna will start providing information to UK credit agencies on the use of its Buy Now Pay Later services (Financial Times).

Energy suppliers could face substantial fines after regulators began an urgent investigation into increases in customers’ direct debits (The Times).

Internet users are urged to improve password security as an analysis of over 290 million data breaches worldwide showed that the most popular password among CEOs is ‘123456’ (Daily Mail).

Staff at the Financial Conduct Authority have said they will strike for the first time as a dispute over pay and union recognition remains unresolved (Reuters).