Latest news with #Left-leaning
Telegraph
03-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Left-wing government projected to win Australian election
Australia's centre-left Labor government is projected to hold on to power after a tense election shaped by concerns over housing, the cost of living and the looming shadow of Donald Trump. Hungry voters munched on barbecued 'democracy sausages' after casting their ballot – a polling day tradition – while others in bright swimwear crammed into voting booths after taking an early morning plunge. Projections suggest that voters swung in favour of Anthony Albanese, the Left-leaning incumbent prime minister, over the Liberal-National coalition, which is the opposition led by Peter Dutton. Mr Dutton's policies and campaigning tactics have been compared to those of the US president, who has loomed over the vote since its earliest days. There is keen global interest over whether his tariff-induced economic chaos will influence the final result, as it did in Canada's election last week. Mr Dutton, who is projected to lose his seat, could concede the election as early as Saturday night. The Australian Electoral Commission is yet to formally call a winner. However, projections by ABC, the national broadcaster, showed Mr Albanese's party as the winner and able to form a majority. Polls closed at 6pm local time (9am UK time) in Australia's most populous eastern time zone, while voting in Western Australia, home to the city of Perth, ended at 11am UK time. Opinion polls had shown Labor ahead, after trailing in the polls as recently as February to Mr Dutton's conservative coalition. Mr Dutton fell out of favour with voters, especially women, when he promised to stop public servants from working from home – before suggesting that working parents could drop their hours if they needed greater flexibility. He later backtracked on the pledge but by then his opponents had seized on the opportunity to point out that he was out of touch with working Australians in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. That image was not helped by revelations that he had made £14 million in property sales, and had also profited off share-market trades made just prior to the announcement of a government bank bailout during the global financial crisis. Then came a disastrous press conference in which Mr Dutton invited his 20-year-old son to talk about how hard it was to purchase a house – another move that worked against him after opponents pointed out the family's sizeable trust. However, in recent weeks, the greatest contributing factor to the swing against him is thought to have been the global uncertainty driven by Mr Trump. Opponents cast Mr Dutton, a former policeman who had pledged to sharply reduce immigration and cut thousands of public service jobs, as 'Temu Trump'. The election came less than a week after Canada's Liberal Party returned to power in a major political comeback, powered by a backlash against Mr Trump's tariffs and comments on Canadian sovereignty.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Left-wing government projected to win Australian election
Australia's centre-left Labor government is projected to hold on to power after a tense election shaped by concerns over housing, the cost of living and the looming shadow of Donald Trump. Hungry voters munched on barbecued 'democracy sausages' after casting their ballot – a polling day tradition – while others in bright swimwear crammed into voting booths after taking an early morning plunge. Projections suggest that voters swung in favour of Anthony Albanese, the Left-leaning incumbent prime minister, over the Liberal-National coalition, which is the opposition led by Peter Dutton. Mr Dutton's policies and campaigning tactics have been compared to those of the US president, who has loomed over the vote since its earliest days. There is keen global interest over whether his tariff-induced economic chaos will influence the final result, as it did in Canada's election last week. Mr Dutton, who is projected to lose his seat, could concede the election as early as Saturday night. The Australian Electoral Commission is yet to formally call a winner. However, projections by ABC, the national broadcaster, showed Mr Albanese's party as the winner and able to form a majority. Polls closed at 6pm local time (9am UK time) in Australia's most populous eastern time zone, while voting in Western Australia, home to the city of Perth, ended at 11am UK time. Opinion polls had shown Labor ahead, after trailing in the polls as recently as February to Mr Dutton's conservative coalition. Mr Dutton fell out of favour with voters, especially women, when he promised to stop public servants from working from home – before suggesting that working parents could drop their hours if they needed greater flexibility. He later backtracked on the pledge but by then his opponents had seized on the opportunity to point out that he was out of touch with working Australians in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. That image was not helped by revelations that he had made £14 million in property sales, and had also profited off share-market trades made just prior to the announcement of a government bank bailout during the global financial crisis. Then came a disastrous press conference in which Mr Dutton invited his 20-year-old son to talk about how hard it was to purchase a house – another move that worked against him after opponents pointed out the family's sizeable trust. However, in recent weeks, the greatest contributing factor to the swing against him is thought to have been the global uncertainty driven by Mr Trump. Opponents cast Mr Dutton, a former policeman who had pledged to sharply reduce immigration and cut thousands of public service jobs, as 'Temu Trump'. The election came less than a week after Canada's Liberal Party returned to power in a major political comeback, powered by a backlash against Mr Trump's tariffs and comments on Canadian sovereignty. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Porsche heir faces backlash over £8.5m private tunnel to Austrian villa
The heir to Porsche, the car maker, has triggered a class war in the Austrian city of Salzburg after he announced plans to build an underground tunnel through a mountain to reach his stately home. Salzburg council is set to rule on 81-year-old Wolfgang Porsche's right to dig a tunnel, reminiscent of a James Bond villain's lair, to reach his 17th-century villa and its vast garage. The small city's former mayor approved the project in 2024, but its current Left-leaning mayor has opposed the move. It has led to a dispute between politicians and the public, who say that Mr Porsche was granted swift permission for his €10 million (£8.5 million) project while city renovation projects have had to wait years. In one recent act of protest to coincide with Easter, activists hosted a three-day theatre festival titled 'The Tunnel of Mr P – a grotesque piece in three acts'. The group said:'We cannot afford the overly wealthy like Porsche anymore. No luxury for the few at the cost of others.' The upset in the baroque city, where Mozart was born and the Sound of Music was filmed, follows Mr Porsche's purchase of the villa for $9 million in 2020. The home formerly belonged to the celebrated Jewish author Stefan Zweig, who used it to entertain his eminent contemporaries, including James Joyce and Thomas Mann. Zweig loved his 'charming and impractical' home, as he called it, so much that he wanted it to be 'inaccessible by car'. Mr Porsche, who is the chairman of the car company, appears not to share this sentiment. Last year, he paid the conservative-led council at the time €35,000 for planning permission. Opponents of the project have said that the sum he paid was too low, while others have claimed it appears to give privileged access to the wealthy. One banner left behind by activists on the Kapuzinerberg mountain had a reference to the opening passages of the bible: 'And Porsche said, let there be a hole.' Ingeborg Haller, the leader of the Green Party group on the local council and an opponent of the plans, told The Wall Street Journal: 'I think what amazes people is that a private individual can dig into the mountain.' 'We reject special treatment for the super-rich,' she said. The Social Democrats will make up the deciding vote on a council, which is divided on the issue after the Austrian communist party won a record result in last year's elections. To make the politics more complicated, the mayor used to be on the labour board of Porsche holding company and may abstain from voting to avoid a possible conflict of interest. To keep the peace, Porsche has suggested partially opening his villa to the public, as well as allowing wealthy neighbours in the villa-quarter to use his tunnel. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Reeves's minimum wage rise and tax raid ‘to cost 85,000 jobs'
Rachel Reeves's raid on businesses will lead to the loss of 85,000 jobs, economists have warned, mostly affecting Britain's lowest-paid workers. The Resolution Foundation warned of potential redundancies ahead of the increase in employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) and the minimum wage, which the think tank claims will drive up the cost of employing a part-time low-paid worker by 14pc – the biggest jump on record. Given the scale of the increase, the Left-leaning think tank predicts that employers will have to fire staff, reduce hiring or trim hours to cope with higher costs. Nye Cominetti, an economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: 'We find an employment effect of 85,000 in terms of average-hours jobs. It is a substantial number. Most of that employment effect is concentrated among low-earners.' While companies employing higher-paid workers can pass on increased National Insurance (NI) costs through lower wages, this is not an option for bosses whose staff are on the minimum wage. It comes as the minimum wage is set to rise by 6.7pc to £12.21 per hour on April 1, while the Chancellor's £25bn National Insurance raid will kick in on Sunday. The latter will mean that employers' NI rates will rise from 13.8pc to 15pc, while the threshold at which they start paying the levy will also fall from £9,000 to £5,000. The latest warning from the Resolution Foundation, previously headed by Torsten Bell, who is now a Labour MP, has been made less than a week after Ms Reeves's Spring Statement – which revealed a £14bn hole in her October Budget spending plans. The looming £25bn NI increase is including in the £36bn in Labour tax increases which come into force in the first week of April. Louise Hellem, the chief economist at the Confederation of British Industry, said the decision to increase both NI and the minimum wage will inflict further harm on businesses. She also highlighted how the upcoming increase in the minimum wage comes after an increase of nearly 10pc last year. She said: 'For those who benefit, it is obviously incredibly positive. But those are huge increases in the cost of employment. 'Those increases over the last few years added about £8bn to employers' wage bills. If you put that together with NICs it is about £12bn, so that is about £20bn before you even do the interaction between the two.' Ms Hellem also raised concerns over Angela Rayner's looming workers' rights overhaul. She said: 'Coming down the road is the Employment Rights Bill, which the Government's own estimation suggests will cost a further £5bn. So those are all quite chunky numbers.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Sign in to access your portfolio
Telegraph
31-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Reeves's minimum wage rise and tax raid ‘to cost 85,000 jobs'
Rachel Reeves's raid on businesses will lead to the loss of 85,000 jobs, economists have warned, mostly affecting Britain's lowest-paid workers. The Resolution Foundation warned of potential redundancies ahead of the increase in employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) and the minimum wage, which the think tank claims will drive up the cost of employing a part-time low-paid worker by 14pc – the biggest jump on record. Given the scale of the increase, the Left-leaning think tank predicts that employers will have to fire staff, reduce hiring or trim hours to cope with higher costs. Nye Cominetti, an economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: 'We find an employment effect of 85,000 in terms of average-hours jobs. It is a substantial number. Most of that employment effect is concentrated among low-earners.' While companies employing higher-paid workers can pass on increased National Insurance (NI) costs through lower wages, this is not an option for bosses whose staff are on the minimum wage. It comes as the minimum wage is set to rise by 6.7pc to £12.21 per hour on April 1, while the Chancellor's £25bn National Insurance raid will kick in on Sunday. The latter will mean that employers' NI rates will rise from 13.8pc to 15pc, while the threshold at which they start paying the levy will also fall from £9,000 to £5,000. The latest warning from the Resolution Foundation, previously headed by Torsten Bell, who is now a Labour MP, has been made less than a week after Ms Reeves's Spring Statement – which revealed a £14bn hole in her October Budget spending plans. The looming £25bn NI increase is including in the £36bn in Labour tax increases which come into force in the first week of April. Louise Hellem, the chief economist at the Confederation of British Industry, said the decision to increase both NI and the minimum wage will inflict further harm on businesses. She also highlighted how the upcoming increase in the minimum wage comes after an increase of nearly 10pc last year. She said: 'For those who benefit, it is obviously incredibly positive. But those are huge increases in the cost of employment. 'Those increases over the last few years added about £8bn to employers' wage bills. If you put that together with NICs it is about £12bn, so that is about £20bn before you even do the interaction between the two.' Ms Hellem also raised concerns over Angela Rayner's looming workers' rights overhaul. She said: 'Coming down the road is the Employment Rights Bill, which the Government's own estimation suggests will cost a further £5bn. So those are all quite chunky numbers.'
