UK government seeking to "work together" with investors
The government has tried to strike a collaborative tone at a conference full of private equity and venture capital bosses this afternoon, despite tension over Labour’s plans to close a £500m tax loophole benefiting industry executives.
Speaking at the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) Summit on Thursday, City minister Tulip Siddiq, issued a call for “action and collaboration” between government and the sector, saying:
“I really believe that it’s only by working together that we will deliver greater returns for private capital investors, scale up high growth innovative UK firms, and we will be able to deliver the change and the growth that our country desperately needs.”
However, she made no mention of Labour’s proposals to hike taxes on carried interest - which is the share of profits that fund managers in private equity and make on successful deals – to 45%, from 28% currently.
The party has said carried interest should be treated as income, since it is effectively a bonus for general partners, and should be taxed as such. It has estimated that doing so would help raise another £500m for government coffers.
However, the industry argues that carried interest is a key incentive for staff to find lucrative investment opportunities, including promising companies that are key to UK growth.
The government closed a four week consultation on the matter at the end of August, and is expected to announce its final decision on tax levels at the 30 October budget.
Closing post
Time for a recap…
A teenager has been arrested following a cyberattack on London’s public transport body last week in which some personal customer data was accessed.
The 17-year-old male from Walsall was detained last week, and has been released on bail.
TfL said it was contacting about 5,000 customers as a precaution to warn that their email and bank account details could have been accessed. It is understood to relate to those who had applied for refunds on journeys made using Oyster cards.
News of the arrest came as BT reveals it identifies 2,000 signals indicating a potential cyber-attack across its networks every second.
The UK telco says an “AI arms” race is developing between businesses bolstering their defences and increasingly sophisticated hackers.
The European Central Bank has cut interest rates in the eurozone again, but also trimmed its growth forecasts.
Britain’s fiscal watchdog has warned that the national debt could almost triple over the next 50 years, as the rising cost of an aging population and climate change push up borrowing.
John Lewis has declared it is on track for “significantly higher” full-year profits, after narrowing its losses in the first half of the financial year.
The owners of the Grangemouth oil refinery have confirmed it will shut by the end of June next year, in a blow to Scotland’s industrial base and the site’s 500 employees.
