Chinese carmaker slashes prices to match Labour grant
Leapmotor, based in Hangzhou, is ineligible for Labour's Electric Car Grant scheme after the Government blocked Chinese carmakers from accessing the discounts because their cars were not made in an environmentally friendly way.
But on Friday, Leapmotor said it would offer a £1,500 and £3,750 price reduction on two of its cars – the same amount as the UK government grants.
The Chinese business will sell its small T03 runaround for £14,495, including the £1,500 price cut.
This makes it Britain's cheapest electric motor after undercutting Dacia's £14,999 Spring, which is also made in China. The company also lowered the cost of its C10 SUV by £3,750. The car now costs £32,750.
Leapmotor billed the price cuts as 'Leap-Grant' and said it had introduced the offers to 'help car buyers make the leap into electric by offering immediate savings'.
The business, which builds its cars in China but sells them in Europe in a joint venture with Vauxhall-owner Stellantis, said the government grant scheme had 'left many potential car buyers in a state of limbo – unsure of when or how to take advantage of the promised incentives'.
'Consumers are still waiting to learn which vehicles will qualify, how much financial support will be available and when the grants will take effect.'
Labour's electric car grant scheme comes as Chinese EV brands flood the UK market, with the launch of cheap models from businesses including BYD, Chery and Jaecoo.
While the grants will offer discounts on electric cars worth up to £37,000, the Department for Transport officials do not intend to extend the subsidies to Chinese-made cars due to the industry's reliance on fossil fuels.
Lilian Greenwood, the transport minister, this week said: 'The grant is restricted to those manufacturers that reach minimum environmental standards.
'Frankly, if you generate a lot of the electricity that powers your factory through coal power stations, then you are not going to be able to access this grant.'
The decision prompted a warning from the Chinese embassy, which said it would 'resolutely safeguard' the interests of its electric car industry against potential discrimination.
The world's largest EV maker, BYD, said it planned to apply for the discount scheme despite the likelihood it would be rejected.
The discounts by Leapmotor threaten to fuel a price war for battery-powered cars in the UK, which could mirror a similar battle in China.
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Times
28 minutes ago
- Times
The new middle-class tax revolt
Hundreds of thousands of savers are making big changes to the way that they make and spend money for one simple reason: tax. Some are cutting the hours they work, while others are turning down promotions, giving their pensions away to family members or even considering leaving the country — all because of frozen tax thresholds and upcoming tax changes. The phenomenon known as fiscal drag — where more people pay more tax as wages increase because tax thresholds remain frozen — means that 6 million more people will pay income tax this tax year than in 2021-22. Almost 7.1 million workers are now in the higher income tax band, up 2.6 million since 2021-22, and the number of additional-rate payers has almost doubled to 1.2 million. Collectively, we're set to pay £298.6 billion in income tax in 2025-26 — an extra £89 billion compared with four years ago, the latest government figures show, and this is set to rise further because income tax thresholds will remain frozen until at least 2028. We're also on track to pay £6 billion in tax on our savings and £18.6 billion on dividends. 'Fiscal drag has had a devastating impact on the tax we pay. These figures show just how much damage is being done to our finances by this horrible stealth tax — and there is plenty more to come,' said Sarah Coles from the investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown. So it's no wonder that some families are shaking up their financial behaviour to avoid bigger tax bills. We spoke to four to find out how. Income tax thresholds have been frozen since 2021, and even those on relatively modest wages are now being dragged into the higher-rate 40 per cent band that is applied to earnings above £50,270 a year. For families this comes with an added sting in the tail because they start to lose their child benefit entitlement not far above this threshold. Child benefit is worth £26.05 a week for the first child and £17.25 a week for other children, but once one parent earns above £60,000 a year of adjusted income, you have to repay 1 per cent for every £200 earned over that threshold. Once one parent earns £80,000 you get nothing. Justin King, 55, a financial planner from Christchurch in Dorset, reduced his working hours to ensure that he was still eligible for child benefit, worth about £2,250 a year for Olivia, 16, and Amy, 14. 'I had the option to work more, but the extra income would have been largely eroded by higher tax and the loss of child benefit. When I weighed it up, it just didn't seem worth missing out on time with my family,' he said. Because eligibility for child benefit is based on adjusted net income — your earnings after pension contributions and certain tax reliefs have been deducted — there are ways you can avoid this trap. Dean Butler from the life insurer Standard Life said: 'Higher earners could consider increasing their pension contributions to reduce their adjusted net income below £80,000. This way you could get some or all of your child benefit back, while also saving for your future.' • Why high earners are cutting their pay (clue: it's about 600% tax) There is evidence that more people are doing exactly this. There has been a steep increase in the number of taxpayers with adjusted earnings that are between £1 and £3,000 below the threshold — almost 1 million, up from 893,000 a year earlier, according to HM Revenue & Customs data. King has started to increase his working hours again now his children are older and the child benefit threshold has been raised — it was £50,000 until April 2024 and went up to £60,000. He said: 'As a financial planner, I often encourage clients to make life choices based on their values, and at that point, family time mattered more to me than extra income. 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This will only drive more people to give assets away or look at alternative strategies.' Proposed changes to the Isa system are causing more savers to alter their plans. Adults can save up to £20,000 a year into an Isa, in cash or investments, or a mix of both, but it is thought that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, may slash the cash Isa limit in her October budget, in a bid to encourage more people to invest. The uncertainty could be having the opposite effect. Savers poured a record £14 billion into cash Isas in April, according to the Bank of England. Rob Mack usually invests about £500 a month but has been funnelling any spare money into his cash Isa in case the allowance is cut. Mack, 50, from north London, has saved £5,000 so far this tax year and hopes to use as much of the £20,000 allowance as possible before the budget. 'We've made some adjustments to our family finances, moving savings into cash Isas to keep them accessible and tax-efficient. 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Glasgow Times
28 minutes ago
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Daily Mail
28 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Revenge of the Taliban: Ex-UK interpreter warns data leak will mean 'more executions' as warlords murder three Afghans linked to foreign forces in a week
Taliban warlords are on a vengeful killing spree against hundreds of Afghans after the British Government lost a top secret database. One man was shot by a gunman who stepped from an alley on Monday and fired four bullets at close range into his chest – one of three assassinations in the past seven days. Panic has been spreading since Tuesday when Afghans were officially informed their personal details had been lost in the UK's worst ever data blunder, putting 100,000 'at risk of death'. Thousands received 'notifications' from His Majesty's Government saying sorry, and adding: 'We understand this news may be concerning.' It is not known if the Taliban actually has the database, which includes names of Afghans who helped the UK, as well as members of the British intelligence community, it is understood. But one Afghan soldier, who fled to Britain for fear of retribution, believes his brother was gunned down in the street this week because the militant group was aware of his affiliation to the UK. He said: 'If or when the Taliban have this list, then killings will increase – and it will be Britain's fault. There will be many more executions like the one on Monday.' The Mail has seen a dossier of more than 300 murders that include those who worked with the UK and some who had applied for the UK scheme, the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP). The murdered include Colonel Shafiq Ahmad Khan, a senior Afghan intelligence officer who had worked alongside British forces. The 61-year-old grandfather was lured into a trap and shot twice in the heart on his doorstep in May 2022. Others include commando Ahjmadzai, who applied for sanctuary in the UK, and soldier Qassim, both killed in April 2023. News of the killings comes after the media, public and MPs were kept in the dark while ministers launched evacuation mission Operation Rubific. The Mail discovered the data breach in August 2023. Since then, 18,500 Afghans have been airlifted to Britain in secret, with 23,900 expected overall. Yet some 75,000 Afghans will be left to fend for themselves – and were instead offered 'advice' on how to stay safe when the UK informed them it had lost their details. Afghans now know that the missing dossier contains their names, phone numbers, their family's details and other facts which could help Taliban revenge squads hunt them down. The Mail's revelations about the data leak and the unprecedented super-injunction to cover it up – which we spent two years fighting in secret courts – has triggered political and security storms. So far, three parliamentary probes have been launched, with MPs expressing outrage that the Government kept them in the dark for so long. Last October ministers agreed to spend £7billion without any parliamentary debate. Ahjmadzai (above, left) and Qassim (above, right) were both murdered in April 2023 The missing database contains the names of 18,800 people who had applied to the ARAP scheme for loyal Afghans who had worked alongside British forces. Military interpreters saved countless British lives by being their 'eyes and ears' on the frontline. In May 2024, when the High Court initially tried to lift the super-injunction, Mr Justice Chamberlain said: 'The one thing that can be said with confidence is that affected persons would be better off learning of the data breach by notification from the UK Government than from a knock on the door by the Taliban.' There has been fury this week as the deadly implications of the 'double betrayal' by Britain sunk in, with one angry former interpreter telling the Mail: 'We risked our lives for the UK standing beside them day after day. Now they are risking our lives again.' While the methods may change, Monday's assassination on a quiet dust-caked street in the capital Kabul has now become a weekly occurrence. The victim's brother was a soldier with the Afghan special forces known as the Triples who was given sanctuary in Britain. Within an hour, news of the murder had reached the brother in Britain, who is convinced his sibling was executed because the Taliban, having been unable to kill the Triple himself, sought revenge on his family instead. Elsewhere in the city, a day later, Taliban fighters dragged a woman from her home, beating her on the street and dumping her for neighbours to take to hospital. A former British military interpreter who witnessed it told the Mail: 'The woman's husband worked for the West and it was punishment for that work. He is hiding in Iran and they told her it was because he worked with "infidels".' The murder of the soldier's brother and the beating of the woman took place in the hours before the lifting of the super-injunction, and it is unknown if any of the victims featured on the lost list. The Taliban boasted this week that they had obtained the leaked data, although this could not be verified. Mohammed, a former interpreter who once translated for former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, is now in Britain. He said news of the lost database had spread like wildfire since Tuesday, striking the 'fear of god' into former interpreters like him. Mohammed, 38, who was pictured with Mr Brown in Afghanistan, said: 'This has changed everything. In the past the Taliban did not often have confirmation that an Afghan worked for the UK, or what his role was, but now we know it is on the dataset together with our family members. It is a gift that leads to death.' Last night the MoD referred the Mail to a statement made by Defence Secretary John Healy in the Commons on Tuesday. He said: 'My first concern has been to notify as many people as possible who are affected by the data incident and to provide them with further advice. 'The MoD has done that this morning. Anyone who may be concerned can head to our new dedicated website, where they will find more information about the data loss, further security advice, a self-checker tool, which will inform them whether their application has been affected, and contact steps for the detailed information services centre that the MoD has established.
