Latest news with #PoliticalCurrency
Business Mayor
24-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
UK considers taxing pensioners to claw back winter fuel payment
Unlock the Editor's Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The contentious winter fuel payment could be restored to all pensioners under plans being considered by Downing Street, with the sum being recouped from higher income pensioners through their tax returns. Government officials confirmed the idea is being looked at after Sir Keir Starmer this week announced a U-turn on last year's decision to scrap the benefit for all pensioners, limiting it to those already in receipt of pension credit. Starmer said last week he wanted more pensioners to receive the payment after about 10mn were stripped of the benefit last winter, a reversal of a policy that proved highly unpopular with voters in this month's English local elections. But Downing Street said that it was still looking at how and when this might happen and that final decisions would be taken at 'a fiscal event' — expected to be this autumn's Budget. Creating a new means test for the winter fuel payment would be highly complex and ministers are considering a simpler option, the officials said, which is restoring it as a universal benefit and then recouping the money when high income pensioners fill in their tax returns. 'There are a number of options being considered and that is one of them,' said one official close to the discussions. The payment is worth either £200 or £300 a year per recipient. A similar approach was taken by former Tory chancellor George Osborne when he reduced the eligibility to child benefit for better off parents and it was this week endorsed by former Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls. Read More Frasers' concept store at Overgate set to open in May 'What they should do is a big U turn — just say, we're going to restore the winter fuel allowance to everyone and then withdraw it through the tax system from the highest-income pensioners,' Balls said. Speaking on the Political Currency podcast, which he co-hosts with Osborne, Balls told the former Tory chancellor; 'That's what you did with child benefit — and you can do that because the higher income pensioners will be doing their tax return, you have got their income information.' The winter fuel payment cuts were announced by chancellor Rachel Reeves last July, just weeks after the general election, and limited the benefit in England and Wales to pensioners who receive means-tested pensions credit. The reforms removed the benefit from people with incomes of more than £11,800 a year or £18,000 for a couple. Analysts said widening the eligibility for the payments would be complex, because there was no simple way to identify households with income just above the cut-off for pensions credit. Recommended Modelling access to the winter fuel payment on the way child benefit has been withdrawn from higher earners would not be without problems, analysts said. The high-income child benefit charge (HICBC), which child benefit recipients pay if their income goes past a certain threshold, has proved controversial since its introduction in 2010 and has resulted in several high-profile cases at the tax tribunal against the levy. Emma Rawson, director of public policy at the Association of Taxation Technicians, said the government would be 'unwise' to use the HICBC as a model for restricting access to winter fuel payment, adding there were many outstanding problems with the policy. Read More Интернет-казино без первоначального взноса Not all higher income pensioners need to fill in a self-assessment tax return, as Balls had suggested, she added, only those who have additional income to pay or capital gains to report.
Times
25-04-2025
- Automotive
- Times
Too many U-turns leave Keir Starmer needing an image reset
Politicians must be wary of their car test. The Labour pollster Deborah Mattinson uses this, asking focus groups what sort of car a politician would be — and it is telling. She tells the Political Currency podcast that when Gordon Brown took over as PM, he was viewed as a sturdy, reliable Volvo, while the ex-chancellor George Osborne recalls that, in their nadir under William Hague, the Tories were viewed as a three-wheeled Reliant Robin. Things can change, though. Within three years of Brown's Volvo moment, the electorate had decided David Cameron was a BMW (smooth, posh, European) and the Labour leader was a write-off. Four years ago, Sir Keir Starmer was viewed as an old Mini, but no word as to what he is
New European
09-04-2025
- Business
- New European
Osborne and Balls have knuckles rapped for 'misleading' podcast ad
But it appears not – as the pair have had their knuckles rapped by the advertising regulator for a 'misleading' ad on their podcast for a ticket reselling firm. One was chancellor of the exchequer and the other really wanted to be, so one might have thought George Osborne and Ed Balls might have some basic understanding of maths. The pair – who put past enmities behind them in 2023 to launch Political Currency – have been hawking the ticket resale website Viagogo, with Balls telling listeners that 'over half the events listed on Viagogo had tickets selling below face value' and Osborne musing in a rather unlikely fashion that 'It sounds like Viagogo might be the solution next time I need cheaper tickets to the hottest shows in town.' That might seem surprising – sites such as Viagogo and rivals such as StubHub made their reputation allowing professional ticket 'traders' to make huge profits by hoovering up seats at gigs by acts such as Oasis and selling them on for massive mark-ups, rather than 'selling below face value'. And so it is – with the Advertising Standards Authority (AS) today ruling that Viagogo had misled the public with its claim about the amount of events for which tickets were available below face value, saying the ad breached the advertising code and banning it from appearing again. Viagogo's claim was based on the rather creative mathematics that 53% of concert listings on the site include at least one ticket listed at below face value, with the ASA not unreasonably countering that the average podcast listener might take Balls's claim to mean more than one lower-priced ticket was available. It said: 'One ticket per event was not a significant proportion of tickets and, as such, did not represent a reasonable chance for consumers to purchase tickets below face value… we considered that the claim, as it would be understood by consumers, had not been substantiated and was therefore misleading.' Perhaps Osborne and Balls should have stuck to politics. And if Osborne needs a new solution next time he needs cheaper tickets to the hottest shows in town, perhaps he should emulate his current successor and call them in for free!
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Viagogo reprimanded over ticket ‘face value' claims
Viagogo has been reprimanded by the advertising watchdog after claiming that more than half the events listed on its site had tickets selling below face value. An ad for the ticket resale site, heard in April last year during an episode of the Political Currency podcast, involved the hosts stating: 'This episode is sponsored by Viagogo, the world's leading marketplace that helps fans safely buy and sell tickets to their favourite live events… Did you know that over half the events listed on Viagogo had tickets selling below face value?' It went on: 'It sounds like Viagogo might be the solution next time I need cheaper tickets to the hottest shows in town.' FanFair Alliance complained that the claim 'over half the events listed on Viagogo had tickets selling below face value' was misleading. Viagogo said it calculated 'face value' by starting with the base price of a ticket, excluding booking fees, service charges, delivery fees or any other charges, and then applying a 20% increase. They said the claim compared the Viagogo price, including all fees and charges, against the face value price including the 20% for fees and charges, which they believed was an appropriate like-for-like comparison. On that basis, in 2023, of all UK events for which tickets were sold on Viagogo's marketplace, 53% had at least one ticket sold at below face value, it told the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The ASA said: 'We considered that definition did not reflect consumers' understanding of the face value of a ticket, because it included the various booking fees and other charges paid by consumers. 'We also understood that it did not reflect Viagogo's own use of the term face value on their website, where it related to the ticket price. 'Because of the disparity between the ticket price and Viagogo's definition of face value, we considered that the data provided was not relevant in supporting the claim as it would be understood by consumers.' Further, the ASA noted that under Viagogo's definition, 53% of events listed on the website had sold at least one ticket below face value. The ASA said: 'We considered, however, that one ticket per event was not a significant proportion of tickets and, as such, did not represent a reasonable chance for consumers to purchase tickets below face value. 'For the above reasons, we considered that the claim, as it would be understood by consumers, had not been substantiated and was therefore misleading.' The ASA added: 'We told Viagogo to ensure that they did not mislead consumers by claiming that over half the events listed on Viagogo had tickets selling below face value, if that was not the case.' A Viagogo spokeswoman said: 'The advertisement in question is from last year, has been discontinued and has not aired since then. 'Viagogo is a safe, secure and regulated global online marketplace and we are fully compliant in the UK.'
The Independent
08-04-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Viagogo reprimanded over ticket ‘face value' claims
Viagogo has been reprimanded by the advertising watchdog after claiming that more than half the events listed on its site had tickets selling below face value. An ad for the ticket resale site, heard in April last year during an episode of the Political Currency podcast, involved the hosts stating: 'This episode is sponsored by Viagogo, the world's leading marketplace that helps fans safely buy and sell tickets to their favourite live events… Did you know that over half the events listed on Viagogo had tickets selling below face value?' It went on: 'It sounds like Viagogo might be the solution next time I need cheaper tickets to the hottest shows in town.' FanFair Alliance complained that the claim 'over half the events listed on Viagogo had tickets selling below face value' was misleading. Viagogo said it calculated 'face value' by starting with the base price of a ticket, excluding booking fees, service charges, delivery fees or any other charges, and then applying a 20% increase. They said the claim compared the Viagogo price, including all fees and charges, against the face value price including the 20% for fees and charges, which they believed was an appropriate like-for-like comparison. On that basis, in 2023, of all UK events for which tickets were sold on Viagogo's marketplace, 53% had at least one ticket sold at below face value, it told the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The ASA said: 'We considered that definition did not reflect consumers' understanding of the face value of a ticket, because it included the various booking fees and other charges paid by consumers. 'We also understood that it did not reflect Viagogo's own use of the term face value on their website, where it related to the ticket price. 'Because of the disparity between the ticket price and Viagogo's definition of face value, we considered that the data provided was not relevant in supporting the claim as it would be understood by consumers.' Further, the ASA noted that under Viagogo's definition, 53% of events listed on the website had sold at least one ticket below face value. The ASA said: 'We considered, however, that one ticket per event was not a significant proportion of tickets and, as such, did not represent a reasonable chance for consumers to purchase tickets below face value. 'For the above reasons, we considered that the claim, as it would be understood by consumers, had not been substantiated and was therefore misleading.' The ASA added: 'We told Viagogo to ensure that they did not mislead consumers by claiming that over half the events listed on Viagogo had tickets selling below face value, if that was not the case.' A Viagogo spokeswoman said: 'The advertisement in question is from last year, has been discontinued and has not aired since then. 'Viagogo is a safe, secure and regulated global online marketplace and we are fully compliant in the UK.'
