Personal Finance
Government plans for a cap on benefits of £26,000 defeated in the Lords, after the Bishop of Ripon led a revolt demanding the child benefit should not be included in the cap. Partisan sentiments as the Daily Mail call it an insult to working families, whereas the Mirror reports that the proposed cap would have penalised the children of large families mortgages, executive pay.
Property
“How EU meddling could force families out of their homes” – The EU wants to standardise mortgage laws in all 27 member states, including halving the number of days that a homeowner can be “in default” from 180 to 90, apparently risking thousands of repossessions and increasing the proportion of mortgages in arrears by 50% from the 1.2% it currently stands at.
Corporate
Vince Cable outlines proposals to rain in executive pay, saying that the public will no longer stomach executive pay rising at five times the average. His four main proposals are:
- shareholders to be given binding votes on pay policy
- powers to clawback pay if performance is poor
- greater transparency including publishing a single figure on executive pay deals
- Boards being required to outline how exec pay compares to other payouts such as dividends
He has been hit by criticism from both sides – from Conservative rightwingers for going too far and from Chuka Umunna for not going far enough.
