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Shane Croucher

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Colchester
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Covers:  energy, business, shale gas, retail, housing, global trade, uk economy, finance, bank of england, european union, social and economic rights, construction, tax, human rights, banking, society, social affairs, youth unemployment, unemployment, uk politics
Journalist writing news and features on economics, business, politics and society in the UK.
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EU Law Blocking 'Urgent' Finance Help for UK Exporters

EU Law Blocking 'Urgent' Finance Help for UK Exporters

www.ibtimes.co.uk — European Union state aid law is preventing the launch of two export finance schemes announced by the Government in 2012, leaving British exporters in "urgent" need of help to bolster trade in an increasingly comptitive global market, IBTimes UK can exclusively reveal. While the £5bn (€5.9bn / $7.7bn) Export Refinancing Facility (ERF) and the £1.5bn Direct Lending Scheme (DLS) should have already launched, discussions between the Treasury, UK Trade & Investment and the British Bankers' Association are still taking place, as they try to navigate EU law and make sure the schemes are compliant.
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City of God: Meet London's Christian Bankers

City of God: Meet London's Christian Bankers

www.ibtimes.co.uk — The long wooden benches and looming balconies of the City of London's St Botolph's-without-Bishopsgate are full on this dim December lunchtime. There's a school choir and band on the stage at the front of the fine 18 th Century building, which has roots dating back to the Anglo-Saxons, while three ornate chandeliers hang above the heads of the congregation for this year's carol service, the warm glow of the light belying winter's cold chill outside. Wide mouthed and full lunged, the Christian revellers bellow impassioned verses of well-known Christmas carols, such as Good King Wenceslas and Hark!
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UK Tax Avoidance: Hypocritical Consumers Still Drinking at Starbucks and Shopping on Amazon

UK Tax Avoidance: Hypocritical Consumers Still Drinking at Starbucks and Shopping on Amazon

www.ibtimes.co.uk — Once again, the failings of HMRC in its risible attempt to stop corporate tax avoidance are decried by parliament and no doubt public dismay will follow. The Public Accounts Committee, which led an inquiry into tax avoidance, HMRC and the big four accountancy firms, made several predictable demands. Give HMRC better resources; stop tax advisers jumping in and out of the tax office and those it polices because it is a "ridiculous conflict of interest"; simplify the tax system. FOLLOW IBTIMES This is all well and good, but there are about 60m elephants in the room - British consumers.
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The Rise of Shareholder Activism: How Investors are Saying No to the Bosses

The Rise of Shareholder Activism: How Investors are Saying No to the Bosses

www.ibtimes.co.uk — "Beware the Ides of March," Julius Caesar was famously warned by a soothsayer, or so Shakespeare has it, before the Roman Emperor was murdered by a group of more than 60 conspirators led by his most loyal and prominent backer, Brutus. You would think things may have changed since 44 BC, yet a group of modern corporate emperors, if you believe the caricatures, share Caesar's arrogance and gluttony for the finest wine, food, and women - and unfortunately for them there were no soothsayers in New York or London's sky-scraping temples forewarning of an impending revolt.
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Long-Term Unemployment in the UK Recession: A Labour Market Plague

Long-Term Unemployment in the UK Recession: A Labour Market Plague

www.ibtimes.co.uk — After making her daily trip to the library or job centre to trawl through the latest vacancies, 51-year-old Lyn Coates would return to her Scunthorpe home ready to repeat the process again tomorrow. Bored and frustrated, she found herself trapped in an ever-lengthening period of unemployment. Endless rejected applications dented her confidence and 13 months after losing her job at a supermarket Lyn was left feeling like she may never work again. "I desperately want to work. I absolutely hate being unemployed," she says in an interview with IBTimes UK.
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Rise of the Self-Employed: How More Britons are Ditching Their Bosses to Work for Themselves

Rise of the Self-Employed: How More Britons are Ditching Their Bosses to Work for Themselves

www.ibtimes.co.uk — Simon Hayford Morris was enjoying his visit to Snowshill Manor, a National Trust period property in Gloucestershire, last Spring. As he was about to leave, he spotted a penny-farthing bicycle in the visitors centre. "This penny-farthing was small. Sort of half the size of an original, and it was rideable. It had pumped up tyres and brakes. It was modern. I thought 'that looks amazing'," says Morris, in an interview with IBTimes UK. After pedalling the popular Victorian mode of transport around the car park, amassing a crowd of around 30 awed spectators, Morris had his eureka moment.
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Help to Buy Scheme Poses No Housing Bubble Threat, Say UK's Top Homebuilder and Estate Agent

Help to Buy Scheme Poses No Housing Bubble Threat, Say UK's Top Homebuilder and Estate Agent

www.ibtimes.co.uk — Britain's biggest homebuilder and largest estate agency both insist there is little chance of the Treasury's Help to Buy scheme blowing a new property bubble in the economy, saying instead it will help rebuild the construction industry which has seen output demolished as government austerity and domestic economic weakness swung a wrecking ball through the sector. A swell in mortgage demand as home loans become more accessible thanks to Help to Buy should precipitate supply as housebuilders rush to meet market needs, though it could be two years before the country sees the full benefit of Chancellor George Osborne's significant Budget announcement - assuming it even has any effect on the willingness and ability of hard-pressed Britons to take out a home loan.
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Exclusive: London Underground Pays £1m a Year for Late Trains

Exclusive: London Underground Pays £1m a Year for Late Trains

www.ibtimes.co.uk — Transport for London (TfL) is shelling out an average of £1million a year on refunds for London Underground customers because of service inefficiency. Figures obtained by International Business Times UK reveal that from 2009-11 TfL handed £3,215,645.55 back to unhappy customers who had experienced delays on the underground. Around 1.1 billion passengers are carried by London Underground trains every year. Tube travellers were most irked about the Metropolitan line, which had the highest number of refunds every year. In 2011, the line's most expensive year in refunds, £432,137.90 was paid out to 107,138 passengers, averaging £4.03 each.
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Treasury in 'Detailed Discussions' over £40bn Infrastructure Projects

Treasury in 'Detailed Discussions' over £40bn Infrastructure Projects

www.ibtimes.co.uk — Work on major infrastructure projects deemed to be of national importance, but which require financial support from the government, could start as early as the end of this year, with applicants currently locked in "detailed discussions" with Treasury ministers over the first tranche of approvals, IBTimes UK has learned. More than 70 infrastructure projects have so far applied for financial help under the Treasury's UK Guarantees Scheme, which will support the finances of projects ministers consider "nationally significant" and "financially viable", among other criteria. "There's a real feeling from ministers that they want to make this a success.
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UK Trade Minister Lord Green: Government Must 'Step up a Gear' to meet George Osborne's Export Ta...

UK Trade Minister Lord Green: Government Must 'Step up a Gear' to meet George Osborne's Export Ta...

www.ibtimes.co.uk — The UK government must "step up a gear" if it is to stand any chance of meeting Chancellor George Osborne's target of doubling the value of exports to £1tn by the end of the decade, trade minister Lord Green has admitted in an exclusive interview with IBTimes UK. Lord Green also said that "Brand Britain" should be exploited by businesses following the success of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and exporters must not forget about Britain's European trading partners in their pursuit of lucrative emerging markets such as Russia, Brazil and China.
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