Latest news with #MaxMosley
Daily Mail
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Future of press watchdog financed by late Formula One tycoon thrown into doubt amid bitter funding row
The future of a controversial state-approved Press watchdog has been thrown into doubt amid a bitter funding row, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Impress, backed by money from the late Formula One tycoon Max Mosley, was established after the Leveson Inquiry into Press standards and regulates more than 200 small publications and websites. But no national newspapers have joined because of objections to any form of state interference. Now Impress has warned that the entire state-approved Press regulation system faces collapse due to the absence of major titles and because of the 'crippling' fees it has to pay an obscure quango called the Press Recognition Panel (PRP). The PRP, set up by a Royal Charter to oversee any state-backed Press regulators, charged Impress more than £276,000 last year. That is equivalent to about a quarter of the annual funding Impress receives indirectly from the estate of Mr Mosley, who made it his personal mission to muzzle the Press. In a damning submission to the PRP, Impress highlighted how it has repeatedly urged the panel to reduce its fees. 'Despite being aware repeatedly of the crippling effect of its charges upon Impress, the PRP has not minimised its own costs,' it said. 'Independent Press regulation will not survive if two problems are not addressed: the absence of all high-turnover publishers from the regulatory system, and the requirement for the regulator to finance the PRP.' Granted state recognition in 2016, Impress has faced criticism for accepting millions of pounds from Mr Mosley, whose violent and racist past was exposed by the Mail. Almost all national and local newspapers, including the MoS, are members of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso), which is free of state control. Meanwhile, the PRP, which reviews Impress every three years, was given £3 million by the Treasury when it was set up in 2014 – but it was then supposed to fend for itself. However, the MoS has learned that, on top of the fees it charges Impress, it is also still receiving £430,000 of public money each year. It received its most recent tranche of taxpayers' cash in April – despite accounts showing the quango was sitting on more than £1.5 million in reserves last year. Impress insisted its warning related to the survival of 'independent Press regulation more broadly' rather than its own organisation. It said its staff 'have taken steps to ensure the financial viability of the organisation and our ability to deliver on our mission is maintained for the foreseeable future.' The PRP says under the terms of the Charter it cannot alter the fees.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Britain ‘no longer a rich country' after living standards plunge
Britain is no longer a rich country after 15 years of stagnation 'caused UK living standards to plummet', according to economists, leaving parts of the UK worse off than the poorest parts of nations including Slovenia and Lithuania. Economic growth and productivity have lagged behind a host of other nations since the financial crisis, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr) said, as it called on the Government to raise the threshold at which workers start to pay income tax in an attempt to boost performance. The typical British worker would be £4,000 per year better off if productivity growth and wages in the UK had matched those of the US, said Max Mosley, economist at the Institute. 'Economic stagnation over the past decade is now threatening the UK's position as a place for a high standard of living. A combination of weak productivity growth driving near zero growth in real wages and cuts to welfare has resulted in a situation where we are neither delivering prosperity through high wages nor security through welfare,' he said. 'That the poorest in our country now fare worse than those in nations once considered less affluent is a stark indictment of the UK's economic social model.' Mr Mosley asked whether Britain is still a rich country, declaring that 'this question – which was easy to answer for centuries – is now less straightforward'. Parts of Birmingham and the north east of England are worse off than even the poorest parts of Slovenia and Lithuania, Niesr found, as nations that once made up the Eastern Bloc become increasingly prosperous. The average Slovenian's living standards are now almost on a par with the typical Briton's, the think tank said, in a stark indication of the UK's relative economic decline. Britons' average real earnings have risen by less than 3pc since 2019 after taking inflation into account. They are up just 6.6pc since 2007 at the start of the financial crisis, Niesr found. By contrast, real earnings rose by almost 20pc between 2000 and 2007. Adrian Pabst, deputy director at Niesr, said the situation is even worse for those in the least affluent areas, with a 'dramatic collapse in the living standards of the poorest 40pc in society'. He said: 'The Government's mission to grow the economy is not just about aggregate numbers but about higher living standards in every part of the country. It is vitally important to raise public investment in ways that unlock business investment to generate productivity increases and sustained real wage growth.' That should include tax cuts, Mr Pabst said, adding: 'The Government should revisit its decision to delay the uprating of the personal income tax threshold until April 2028. After more than 15 years of real wage stagnation for millions, working families need to see a tangible improvement in their living standards over the duration of this parliament.' Niesr also suggested ending the two-child limit on benefits as the most cost-effective way to reduce poverty, as well as boosting productivity by slashing barriers to building by reforming the planning system. However, some of these changes may prove difficult to finance. Abolishing the two-child limit would cost the Government £2bn per year, providing an 'essentials guarantee' for benefit claimants is priced at £7bn, and raising the income tax personal allowance would cost more than £10bn. All of this comes when the public finances are under pressure from higher borrowing costs and weak economic growth as well as demands for more defence spending, all of which may force the Chancellor to make cuts to other parts of the public sector in her Spring Statement later this month. 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.
Telegraph
12-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Britain ‘no longer a rich country' after living standards plunge
Britain is no longer a rich country after 15 years of stagnation 'caused UK living standards to plummet', according to economists, leaving parts of the UK worse off than the poorest parts of nations including Slovenia and Lithuania. Economic growth and productivity have lagged behind a host of other nations since the financial crisis, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr) said, as it called on the Government to raise the threshold at which workers start to pay income tax in an attempt to boost performance. The typical British worker would be £4,000 per year better off if productivity growth and wages in the UK had matched those of the US, said Max Mosley, economist at the Institute. 'Economic stagnation over the past decade is now threatening the UK's position as a place for a high standard of living. A combination of weak productivity growth driving near zero growth in real wages and cuts to welfare has resulted in a situation where we are neither delivering prosperity through high wages nor security through welfare,' he said. 'That the poorest in our country now fare worse than those in nations once considered less affluent is a stark indictment of the UK's economic social model.' Mr Mosley asked whether Britain is still a rich country, declaring that 'this question – which was easy to answer for centuries – is now less straightforward'. Parts of Birmingham and the north east of England are worse off than even the poorest parts of Slovenia and Lithuania, Niesr found, as nations that once made up the Eastern Bloc become increasingly prosperous. The average Slovenian's living standards are now almost on a par with the typical Briton's, the think tank said, in a stark indication of the UK's relative economic decline. Britons' average real earnings have risen by less than 3pc since 2019 after taking inflation into account. They are up just 6.6pc since 2007 at the start of the financial crisis, Niesr found. By contrast, real earnings rose by almost 20pc between 2000 and 2007. Adrian Pabst, deputy director at Niesr, said the situation is even worse for those in the least affluent areas, with a 'dramatic collapse in the living standards of the poorest 40pc in society'. He said: 'The Government's mission to grow the economy is not just about aggregate numbers but about higher living standards in every part of the country. It is vitally important to raise public investment in ways that unlock business investment to generate productivity increases and sustained real wage growth.' That should include tax cuts, Mr Pabst said, adding: 'The Government should revisit its decision to delay the uprating of the personal income tax threshold until April 2028. After more than 15 years of real wage stagnation for millions, working families need to see a tangible improvement in their living standards over the duration of this parliament.' Niesr also suggested ending the two-child limit on benefits as the most cost-effective way to reduce poverty, as well as boosting productivity by slashing barriers to building by reforming the planning system. However, some of these changes may prove difficult to finance. Abolishing the two-child limit would cost the Government £2bn per year, providing an 'essentials guarantee' for benefit claimants is priced at £7bn, and raising the income tax personal allowance would cost more than £10bn. All of this comes when the public finances are under pressure from higher borrowing costs and weak economic growth as well as demands for more defence spending, all of which may force the Chancellor to make cuts to other parts of the public sector in her Spring Statement later this month.
