Latest news with #SocialMarketFoundation
The Guardian
a day ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Trainers' chief backs radical alternative to government's gambling tax plan
A radical alternative to Treasury plans to 'harmonise' the rate of tax paid on online sports betting and high-risk casino gaming products received support from one of racing's key stakeholder groups on Monday when Paul Johnson, the chief executive of the National Trainers' Federation, said proposals from the Social Market Foundation thinktank, which will be published on Tuesday, 'have the full backing of the NTF'. The Social Market Foundation report – titled The Duty to Differentiate: How gambling tax reform can raise revenue for the government, reduce harm to the public and save British horse racing – was written by Dr James Noyes, a senior fellow at the SMF, with a foreword by Alex Ballinger MP, a member of the all-party parliamentary group for Gambling Reform. In a sharp contrast to the Treasury's proposal for a unified rate of duty, Noyes argues that online gaming, on slots and other fixed-margin casino products such as roulette, is 'under-taxed' at its current rate of 21% of gross profits, pointing out that 'in some European jurisdictions, tax on remote casino is closer to 40%, and in some US states it is over 50%'. The report suggests that the tax rate on gaming products should be raised to as high as 50%, while in one chapter Noyes also proposes changes to the regime around betting tax and the Levy system, which returns money to racing from off-course betting. Online operators at present pay an additional 10% of their gross profits on racing turnover in Levy, which represents, as Noyes points out, 'a de facto horse-racing betting duty of 25%' when combined with the current 15% charge for betting duty. He suggests a change to the ratio of duty to Levy, combined with an extension of the Levy to bets on overseas racing, would improve significantly the proportion of overall betting turnover that is returned to the sport. The SMF report notes that Martin Cruddace, the chief executive of the major racecourse group Arena Racing Company, recently proposed an inversion of the rates charged for Levy and betting duty, but suggests that this 'does not go far enough' to address 'systemic underfunding'. It proposes that a reduction to 5% of gross profits for racing bets alone, alongside an increase to 20% for the Levy, 'would ensure fiscal neutrality for the betting industry, while fundamentally reorienting the distribution of revenue in favour of the sport'. Johnson was among several representatives of racing's key stakeholder groups who met Noyes last week to discuss the SMF proposals, and said on Monday that the report is 'a sensible and informed piece of work that could be a route for the government to resolve the issues that have beset the sport in recent years and which are affecting our ability to compete with other jurisdictions'. He added: 'Whilst our immediate priority has been to ensure that the Treasury does not inflict a significant blow on racing via tax harmonisation, we are aware that success here does not resolve the challenges faced by the sport at present, or undo some of the damage inflicted in recent years. 'The SMF proposes a tax solution that is mindful of the very different social and economic aspects of different types of gambling, and which seeks to support a sport that means a great deal to the British public.' In his foreword to the SMF report, Ballinger, the Labour member for Halesowen, said that 'as the Treasury considers changes [to the tax regime around gambling], it is vital that they reflect the real impact of gambling on people's lives', and describes its 'practical' proposals as 'smart, fair ideas that deserve serious attention'. Ballinger said: 'The evidence is clear: some gambling products – like online slots – cause far more harm than others', adding: 'These harms carry huge costs, from personal debt and family breakdown to rising pressure on public services. Our tax system should reflect this.' The British Horseracing Authority released research on Monday which suggests that tax harmonisation at a rate of 21% could lead to an industry-wide revenue loss of 'at least £330m in the first five years' and put '2,752 jobs at risk in the first year alone'. The BHA has also launched an online petition which calls on the government to 'rethink' its plans on gambling taxation. The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), the main body representing the gambling industry in the UK, said on Monday that arguments for a hike in gaming taxes were 'naive'. 'Some naively argue that tax increases should target gaming while sparing sports betting or carving out horse racing,' a BGC spokesperson said. 'But the reality is our members don't ringfence products in that way, these are integrated businesses. Any tax rise, whether on betting or gaming, affects the whole operation. That means less money available for sponsorship, media rights and support for sports like racing, which is especially vulnerable to changes in the customer offer.' The Goodwood Cup is the feature event on the opening afternoon of Glorious Goodwood on Tuesday, when the locally trained Sunway (3.05) could prove to be a decent each-way alternative to Aidan O'Brien's Illinois, the runner-up in last year's St Leger, in the two-mile Group One contest. Illinois has progressed steadily since his near-miss in the Doncaster Classic and put up a career-best to finish a seven-length runner-up behind Trawlerman in the Gold Cup at Ascot last time. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion He is also Ryan Moore's pick for Tuesday's race ahead of his three-year-old stable companion, Scandinavia, but he looked a little ill-at-ease on the undulations at Chester in May and does not have as much to spare on ratings as an early price of around 6-4 might suggest. Scandinavia, meanwhile, will be making his third start at a staying trip in the space of six weeks, and at around 14-1, Sunway makes plenty of appeal to spring a surprise. Goodwood 1.20 Tony Montana (nap) 1.55 Zavateri 2.30 Kinross 3.05 Sunway 3.45 Dream Composer (nb) 4.20 Naval Light 4.55 Dash Of Azure 5.30 Cinque Verde Beverley 2.10 Blue Yonder 2.45 Rosso Levanto 3.20 Jeddaal 4.00 Haberdash 4.35 Believe In Glory 5.10 Catch Cunningham 5.47 Mayberry Moon Ffos Las 5.42 Neptune Legend 6.15 Shetakesthegold 6.50 Sundiata Keita 7.25 Zilfee 8.00 Fifty Sent 8.30 Zooks Ripon 6.00 Al Shaham 6.30 A'Ali G 7.05 Silver Chamber 7.40 Canaria Queen 8.10 Ferrari Gold 8.40 Homeland David Menuisier's colt has not raced beyond 12 furlongs since finishing just a length and a half behind Illinois in the St Leger, and remains unexposed at staying trips. He was also less than a length behind Los Angeles in last year's Irish Derby during a run of five straight starts at Group One level, and a sharp two miles around Goodwood could be the ideal track and trip for Sunway to register a first success at the highest level since his juvenile campaign. Goodwood 1.20: Tony Montana did not appreciate the drop back to a mile for the Royal Hunt Cup last month and is better judged on his two-length second behind an unexposed rival over track and trip in May. That was his first start for eight months and he is just 4lb higher now, while a draw in stall six is also in his favour. Goodwood 1.55: Eve Johnson Houghton's unbeaten Zavateri was an 18-1 shot for the July Stakes last time but his one-length win was backed up by a decent time. The market may be underestimating him again at around 7-1 to defy a 3lb penalty. Goodwood 2.30: The veteran Kinross has form figures of 1-2-1-3 in the last four renewals of this race and looked as good as ever when finishing a close second in a Group Three at Haydock last time. Goodwood 3.45: The eye-catcher at the likely prices is Dream Composer at around 20-1. Last year's Dash winner at Epsom rarely runs a bad race over this course and distance and is back down to his last winning mark.
The Independent
19-07-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Rachel Reeves ‘could extend fuel duty freeze in autumn Budget' in cost of living boost
Rachel Reeves will freeze fuel duty again this autumn in a boost to drivers still struggling with the cost of living, it has eben reported. The chancellor reportedly feels vindicated by a freeze on the levy last October, despite calls from campaigners and economists to hike the tax. As she seeks to fill a multi-billion pound black hole in the public finances, she has faced fresh calls to end the long-running freeze on fuel duty, which has been in place since 2011. Maintaining the freeze, and keeping in place a 5p cut brought in by Rishi Sunak as chancellor in 2022, is expected to cost around £5bn per year - the same as Labour's U-turn on planned benefit cuts. But The i reported a hike in fuel duty in line with inflation will not form part of Ms Reeves' Autumn Budget as she seeks to balance the books. Treasury sources told the newspaper the freeze is an example of the Treasury being 'front-footed' in tackling the cost of living pressures facing households. The headline rate on standard petrol and diesel is 52.95 pence per litre, a level which would ordinarily rise in line with inflation. But the repeated freezing of the measure means that, since George Osborne first made the move, the rate has fallen by more than a third in real terms. The Social Market Foundation, a think tank, said freezes and cuts since 2012 will have cost the government more than £200bn in total by 2028, more than the budget for the NHS. After Ms Reeves kept the rate of fuel duty flat last October, former Institute for Fiscal Studies director Paul Johnson said: 'Almost unbelievably this Government has followed the practice of its predecessor in freezing rates of fuel duties and not allowing the 'temporary' 5p cut to expire, while raising other taxes dramatically and claiming to be focused on tackling climate change.' But Ms Reeves said hiking fuel duty would be the 'wrong choice' as she unveiled what she called 'very difficult decisions' on tax elsewhere. Ms Reeves said: 'To retain the 5p cut and to freeze fuel duty again would cost over £3 billion next year. 'At a time when the fiscal position is so difficult, I have to be frank with the House that this is a substantial commitment to make. 'I have concluded that in these difficult circumstances – while the cost of living remains high and with a backdrop of global uncertainty – increasing fuel duty next year would be the wrong choice for working people. 'It would mean fuel duty rising by 7p per litre. So, I have today decided to freeze fuel duty next year and I will maintain the existing 5p cut for another year, too. 'There will be no higher taxes at the petrol pumps next year.' A Treasury source said they would not comment on speculation ahead of the Budget.
The Guardian
06-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
People lacking good public transport more likely to feel lonely, UK study finds
People who depend on cars to get around are more likely to feel lonely and disconnected than those who have access to good public transport, a UK study has found. Analysing official statistics on loneliness and transport usage, researchers said there was a clear correlation between people without decent transport alternatives and those who describe themselves as feeling left out or without companionship. According to the findings from the Social Market Foundation (SMF), based on Department for Transport data, the trend appeared across Britain and was statistically significant in all but one region. Car dependency had the highest impact on loneliness in rural towns, the thinktank found, and the least in cities, where people are more likely to have reliable alternatives in terms of train, buses, trams, walking or cycling. A report last year for the DfT concluded that most people were 'no more or less likely to be lonely if they used public transport or not', with an exception for those with health conditions that stopped them driving. However, by cross-referencing the data with that from another major study, the DfT's national travel survey, the SMF concluded that when people were dissatisfied with their public transport, they were more likely to also be lonely. The thinktank said: 'Our first-of-its-kind analysis shows a very clear and statistically significant link between car dependency and loneliness, with results indicating that loneliness increases by 5% for every 20% fall in satisfaction with public transport and active travel. Put another way, failing to provide alternatives to cars is making people more lonely and more isolated.' The report says the correlation was found across every region of the country, but car dependency was shown to have the highest impact on loneliness in rural towns. Gideon Salutin, a senior researcher at the SMF, said the study showed that people in car-dependent areas were lonelier even if they were able to drive. Among possible explanation for the link was that people had 'fewer ways to reach others, cutting them off from job sites, pubs and other social spaces'. 'It might also be that the infrastructure we build to support motoring builds more barriers in what might have been walkable neighbourhoods and green spaces,' he said. 'Given that driving tends to poorly affect stress and health, it's also possible that it leaves people more vulnerable to loneliness and isolation. Driving also means you can't drink, which can be an exclusionary factor in many social settings.' Salutin said that while the data did not show that cars themselves caused loneliness, a recent US academic study had found that relying on a car more than 50% of the time was associated with a decrease in life satisfaction. A number of UK thinktanks and charities have expressed concern about increased car dependency in new housing estates, as well as the decline in rural bus routes. A report by the New Economics Foundation in 2024 said newbuilds across Britain were leading to ever more car dependency, relative to existing homes. Steve Chambers, the director of Transport for New Homes, said: 'It's not surprising to learn that people are lonely. When we visit housing estates, it's very rare that we see many people outside at all. When they leave the house, they have to get in their car – there are very few trips that are possible on foot.' He said examples such as Derwenthorpe, on the edge of York, built around walking and cycling with open spaces and people interacting, were few. 'That vibrancy of life is in really stark contrast to many places where people have no reason to set foot outside their home, bar maybe to wash their car.'
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Reeves under scrutiny over claimed £1bn asylum saving given size of backlog
Experts have questioned whether Rachel Reeves will be able to meet the spending promises she made on Wednesday, given how many of them require a sudden and unprecedented drop in the asylum backlog. The chancellor said on Wednesday she would save £1bn by drastically reducing the number of asylum seekers waiting for a decision on their claims and ending the use of hotels to house them. The policy is aimed both at winning over Reform voters, many of whom list the use of asylum hotels as a major concern, and at freeing up cash for other priorities such as affordable housing. But economists and aid experts warned that the savings would be difficult to achieve. Jonathan Thomas, a senior fellow at the Social Market Foundation thinktank, said: 'The political priority is to 'end the costly use of asylum hotels in this parliament', not by housing asylum claimants elsewhere, but by 'clearing the asylum backlog, increasing appeals capacity and continuing to return those with no right to be here'. 'All of these things are really hard to do and – assuming the investment in the Border Security Command is not sufficient to stop people arriving irregularly in the UK – hostage to fortune; of who, and how many, continue to arrive in the UK to claim asylum.' Gideon Rabinowitz, director of policy and advocacy at Bond, which represents aid organisations, said there was 'a lack of urgency within government to reduce these costs'. Labour promised before the election to end the use of hotels for asylum seekers. A senior Home Office official confirmed this year the ambition would be to achieve this by the end of the parliament. Related: Reeves relaunches – but will it save Labour from Farage? – Politics Weekly UK On Wednesday, however, Reeves put the expected savings from this policy into the government's budgets, meaning ministers now have to achieve them to be able to spend what they want to elsewhere. Her aides said the reductions in the asylum backlog would enable the housing department to spend less on housing people in temporary accommodation – cash that will be used instead to pay for the £4bn a year affordable homes scheme. So far the Home Office has had little success in reducing hotel costs. Much of the department's hotel spending for asylum seekers qualifies as international aid. But documents released last week show it plans to spend £2.2bn on aid this year – only slightly below the £2.3bn it spent last year. Ministers say their plans over the next few years will enable them to rapidly reduce reliance on asylum hotels. The Home Office is planning, for example, to move more people into empty 'medium-sized' accommodation, with officials examining proposals from nearly 200 councils seeking to recondition disused tower blocks and student accommodation. Angela Eagle, the immigration minister, told MPs on Tuesday that the government had received 198 applications to convert unused housing, which also includes former teaching colleges. Appearing before the home affairs select committee, the minister said the government was discussing proposals with local authorities to investigate 'medium-sized' accommodation options. These could replace the current use of hotels but operate on a smaller and more localised scale than disused military bases as suggested by the last government. Related: Labour bets on investment, but will Britons see change before the next election? 'The idea with medium-sized is things like old voided tower blocks or old teacher training colleges or old student accommodation that isn't being used, where you could have numbers of rooms that are more than you would get with dispersed accommodation,' she said. 'The idea is you would move from hotels into that kind of thing rather than old military bases or Pontins holiday parks.' Karen Bradley, the Conservative chair of the committee, said on Wednesday: 'If hotels disappear there will still need to be stock of short-term accommodation to deal with unpredictable levels of irregular migration. Targets on their own are not enough, they need to be delivered – and for that we need to have workable solutions.' 'Unless these savings are made there will be a knock-on effect on the ability of the Home Office to achieve its wider aims. Policing, immigration and counter-terror will all struggle to meet the ambitious targets the government has set itself.'
The Guardian
11-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Experts question Rachel Reeves' spending promises
Experts have questioned whether Rachel Reeves will be able to meet the spending promises she made on Wednesday, given how many of them require a sudden and unprecedented drop in the asylum backlog. The chancellor said on Wednesday she would save £1bn by drastically reducing the number of asylum seekers waiting for a decision on their claims and ending the use of hotels to house them. The policy is aimed both at winning over Reform voters, many of whom list the use of asylum hotels as a major concern, and at freeing up cash for other priorities such as affordable housing. But economists and aid experts warned that the savings would be difficult to achieve. Jonathan Thomas, a senior fellow at the Social Market Foundation thinktank, said: 'The political priority is to 'end the costly use of asylum hotels in this parliament', not by housing asylum claimants elsewhere, but by 'clearing the asylum backlog, increasing appeals capacity and continuing to return those with no right to be here'. 'All of these things are really hard to do and – assuming the investment in the Border Security Command is not sufficient to stop people arriving irregularly in the UK – hostage to fortune; of who, and how many, continue to arrive in the UK to claim asylum.' Gideon Rabinowitz, director of policy and advocacy at Bond, which represents aid organisations, said there was 'a lack of urgency within government to reduce these costs'. Labour promised before the election to end the use of hotels for asylum seekers, with a senior Home Office official confirming earlier this year the ambition would be to achieve this by the end of the parliament. On Wednesday however, Reeves put the expected savings from this policy into the government's budgets, meaning ministers now have to achieve them to be able to spend what they want to elsewhere. Her aides added that the reductions in the asylum backlog would enable the housing department to spend less on housing people in temporary accommodation – cash which will be used instead to pay for the £4bn a year affordable homes scheme. So far however, the Home Office has had little success in reducing hotel costs. Much of the department's hotel spending for asylum seekers qualifies as international aid. But documents released last week show it plans to spend £2.2bn on aid this year – only slightly below the £2.3bn it spent last year. Ministers say their plans over the next few years will enable them to rapidly reduce reliance on asylum hotels. The Home Office is planning, for example, to move more people into empty 'medium-sized' accommodation, with officials examining proposals from nearly 200 councils seeking to recondition disused tower blocks and student accommodation. Angela Eagle, the immigration minister, told MPs on Tuesday that the government had received 198 applications to convert unused housing which also includes former teaching colleges. Appearing before the home affairs select committee, the minister said the government was discussing proposals with local authorities to investigate 'medium-sized' accommodation options. These could replace the current use of hotels but operate on a smaller and more localised scale than disused military bases as suggested by the last government. 'The idea with medium-sized is things like old voided tower blocks or old teacher training colleges or old student accommodation that isn't being used where you could have numbers of rooms that are more than you would get with dispersed accommodation,' she said. 'The idea is you would move from hotels into that kind of thing rather than old military bases or Pontins holiday parks.' Karen Bradley, the Conservative chair of the committee, said on Wednesday however: 'If hotels disappear there will still need to be stock of short-term accommodation to deal with unpredictable levels of irregular migration. Targets on their own are not enough, they need to be delivered – and for that we need to have workable solutions.' 'Unless these savings are made there will be a knock-on effect on the ability of the Home Office to achieve its wider aims. Policing, immigration and counter-terror will all struggle to meet the ambitious targets the government has set itself.'
