During the 2009 Lib Dem party conference, Vince Cable proposed introducing a mansion tax for all properties valued higher than £2m. Initially, the annual tax rate was set at 1% for such properties but it was later adapted to include a 7% tax rate of Stamp Duty Land Tax instead.
Since recession in Spain began, largely fuelled by a decline in domestic demand, the economy has shrunk even further, with no certainty of a return to growth any time soon.
General elections in Germany are planned for September this year and Angela Merkel could be elected once more, becoming the longest serving Chancellor of post-war Germany after Helmut Kohl and Europe’s longest serving female head of government, breaking the previous record set by Margaret Thatcher.
An announcement from Downing Street on Friday confirmed Justin Welby, an oil executive turned bishop, to be the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Bishop of Durham was nominated by the Crown Nominations Commission, a 16-member body made up of bishops, priests and lay members.
Change and transformation has been on the cards for Royal Mail for many years now. Being a government-owned postal service, it has battled successive governments’ plans for privatisation since the 1980s, and the Postal Services Act 2011 is ensuring the government can continue that tradition. Royal Mail handles approximately 4.
Mortgage fraud has increased dramatically. According to Experian, in 2011, 34 out of every 10,000 applications were deemed to be fraudulent, which is more than double the 2006 figures of 15 out of every 10,000 applications.