The Conservatives want to brand Burnham’s administration as a ‘traditional tax and spend socialist government’

In a news release issued ahead of his speech this morning, Andrew Griffith, the new shadow chancellor, gave details of some of the questions he wants the experts he has asked to review small business regulation to address. (See 8.58am.) He said:

[Craig Mackinlay and Robert Colvile] will produce a report taking evidence from small business and self-employed organisations. While they will have a wide remit, they will consider in particular these key questions, and report in December:

-Why have past attempts to reduce the regulatory and compliance burden on small business and the self-employed failed, and what specifically should be done to reduce the burden successfully?

This is staggering. Our socialist Chancellor has dished out a big Bank of England finance job to a socialist union boss who knows nothing about finance.

Clearly, trade union donations not only buy your way into government policymaking, but also onto the Bank of England’s board. This is cronyism in plain sight.

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© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Hospitality businesses are warning of a jobs bloodbath as Andy Burnham launches a huge 'tourist tax' raid, with England's mayors and local councils given new powers to impose uncapped levies on overnight stays.

The post Fears of ‘Jobs Bloodbath’ as Burnham Launches Huge ‘Tourist Tax’ Raid appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

California's Prop 40 would impose a one-time 5% tax on the net worth of the state's billionaires.

I'm paying more council tax than No 10 Downing Street – and have 540 asylum seekers camped next door, making homes unsellable. Is this your idea of levelling up, Andy? asks Madeleine Gillies.

The post Dear Andy Burnham: My Council Tax Bill is Higher Than No 10’s – and I Have an Asylum Camp Next Door appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has received an extra £9.8 billion in the first two months of this tax year from frozen thresholds in breach of Labour's election pledge not to raise taxes on working people.

The post Reeves Rakes in Extra £9.8 Billion From Stealth Taxes in Just Two Months in Breach of Labour Pledge appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Celebrated Left-wing economist Thomas Piketty has unveiled a mad new plan to impose a global 90% income tax and 20% wealth tax to 'save the planet'. It proves global quasi-communism was always the real goal, says Ben Pile.

The post The Left-Wing Plan to Impose a 90% Global Income Tax to ‘Save the Planet’ appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Exclusive: Mining giant says technology is not yet advanced enough to run a fully electrified fleet but experts say it is hooked on federal fuel tax credits

• Revealed: the internal BHP memo that slammed the brakes on world’s biggest miner’s climate push

• Read more from the BHP files investigation here

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BHP has continued to spend hundreds of millions of dollars buying diesel trucks in the Pilbara despite internal documents suggesting it would increase emissions and be “misaligned” with its decarbonisation goals.

The mining giant is Australia’s biggest consumer of diesel and trucks are its biggest single source of diesel emissions. Replacing the fleet with battery-electric trucks is considered a critical step in the multinational’s efforts to decarbonise.

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© Composite: Guardian

© Composite: Guardian

© Composite: Guardian

Outrage as leaked documents reveal mining giant’s backsliding on commitments to slash emissions

• Adam Morton: Big Mining gets a $4bn tax break to use fossil fuel. It’s a strange way to tackle emissions

• Read more from the BHP files investigation here

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

The independent senator David Pocock says leaked BHP documents show that the mining giant is “laughing” at Australia’s key climate policy while pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars through a generous diesel tax break.

An exclusive investigation based on documents leaked to by the Guardian and the ABC show BHP has scrapped a project to significantly reduce global emissions, delayed vast renewables projects in the Pilbara and war-gamed options to push the electrification of its polluting diesel truck and train fleets into the next two decades.

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© Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

© Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

© Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP