The Labour party is launching its manifesto today.

Capital Gains Tax: If a Labour government increased CGT, tax receipts to the Treasury could decline, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) data suggests. HMRC estimates a 10% increase in the higher rate of CGT to match the higher rate of income tax – a hike Labour has refused to rule out - could lead to a £170m fall in tax take in 2024-25, followed by a £1.1bn drop in 2025-26 and £2.1bn in the year after. In a note accompanying the data, HMRC said that “very large” rate rises “can reduce exchequer yield due to taxpayer behavioural impacts” because individuals have a degree of control around when to sell up and realise their gains”. Christopher Springett of wealth manager Evelyn Partners told The Telegraph: “It is not unexpected to see a drop in anticipated capital gains tax revenue when rates are increased, particularly when the announcement is made in advance of the rate change. Looking back to 1988 when capital gains tax rates increased from 30% to 40%, there was no meaningful increase in yield over that next five-year period.” The Liberal Democrats, meanwhle, are have promised to double CGT rates for higher earners if they get into power, a proposal they claim would raise £5.2bn “for the NHS” in 2028-29. Currently, basic rate taxpayers pay 10% on gains after selling investments and 18% on profits from the sale of a second property. Higher rates of 20% and 24% apply for higher earners and those with larger gains.

The Bank of England will start cutting interest rates in August, according to all but two of 65 economists polled by Reuters. Most of them also expect at least one more reduction this year despite persistently high pay and services inflation.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) says the world will face an “unprecedented” excess of oil by 2030 because of rising sales of electric vehicles, the increased adoption of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, and the reduction of demand from China. Not only will this distrupt attempts to manage the market by Opec+, the Middle East-dominated oil cartel, it will also create challenges for the US shale industry whose success has recently made the country the world’s leading oil producer, The Telegraph reports. “A ramping up of world oil production capacity, led by the United States and other producers in the Americas, is expected to outstrip demand growth over the 2023-2030 forecast period,” the IEA report, thereby inflating “the world’s spare capacity cushion to levels that are unprecedented”. It estimates there will be “a staggering 8m barrels per day above projected global demand” by the end of the decade.

Russian energy giant Gazprom has been ordered to pay €13bn (£11bn) to Germany’s Uniper after failing to fulfil gas orders since the war in Ukraine began. Uniper was heavily reliant on Russian gas and had to be bailed out to the tune of €8bn and nationalised by the German government in September 2022. “Uniper decided today to terminate its long-term Russian gas supply contracts and thus legally ended the long-term gas supply relationship with the Russian state-owned company Gazprom Export,” the firm said in a statement yesterday, adding: “The decision was made possible after an arbitration tribunal awarded Uniper the right to terminate the contracts and awarded it an amount of more than €13bn in damages for the gas volumes not supplied by Gazprom Export since mid-2022”. However, President Putin is unlikely to authorise Gazprom to pay the money owed, not least as it would now be going direct to the German government.

Centrica, which owns British Gas, is backing a pioneering plan to build the UK’s first commercial energy storage project to use liquid air, The Telegraph reports. Centrica is among a consortium of investors supporting a £300m fundraising for the project, rolled out by UK-based Highview Power. The UK Infrastructure Bank, mining giant Rio Tinto and Goldman Sachs are also investing. Centrica has put £70m into the proposal to construct a 50 megawatt energy storage facility in Carrington, on the outskirts of Manchester, capable of running for six hours by 2026. It will work by compressing air into a liquid and then cooling it to temperatures of almost -200°C. The air will be stored in insulated tanks at low pressure and when power is needed, it will be drawn from the tanks and heated up so it expands, resulting in a high-pressure gas that powers a turbine.

The Airport Operators Association (AOA) said yesterday that airports were left “frustrated” when the Government suddenly re-introduced 100ml limits on liquids, gels and pastes in hand luggage last weekend. Passengers are also confused, not least as Ministers have not said when the temporary reintroduction of the rule, which had been scrapped at airports which had installed new high-tech scanning equipment, will be revoked again. The Department for Transport said the edict was not in response to a specific threat, but "to enable further improvements to be made to the new checkpoint systems". Karen Dee, CEO of the AOA, said Friday’s "surprise" announcement "was sprung on us with very little time to react", and this "created uncertainty for passengers just as airports enter their busiest periods of the year". "It has also put airport operators in a challenging position, with very limited time to prepare for the additional staffing and wider resources that this will require, and no clear idea of when this issue will be resolved," she said.

Holiday car hire can be a rip off, research from Which? shows. The consumer group says holidaymakers travelling to Europe can be charged up to 12 times more than online policies when they take out insurance excess waivers at the car hire desk, and for inferior products. Travellers could be charged up to £199 for at the desk, while alternative policies are available online for as little as £16, Which? said. Although basic insurance is included in the car rental price, that is subject to an ‘excess’ meaning it can be necessary to pay a contribution towards repair costs, regardless of who is at fault. Data from Zest Car Rental showed common issues like a puncture could cost as much as €300 to rectify, while a replacement windscreen can cost around €750. Drivers can avoid that cost by either purchasing a super collision damage waiver (SCDW) policy from the rental firm, which removes or reduces the excess, or buy an excess reimbursement insurance (ERI) so any excess is paid back. Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel said: “What our research shows is that you should never take excess insurance from your car hire firm, no matter how hard the sell. Buy an ERI either directly from an insurer or via your car hire broker”.

Co-operative Bank customers have experienced problems with payments being taken twice from some business accounts. One business owner said on social media they had been left “almost £5,000 down”, The Guardian said yesterday, while another claimed they had only realised that money had been taken when they could not buy petrol. The bank said: “We are aware there are a small number of SME account holders who have duplicated payments showing in their balances and are in the process of correcting this issue. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and are supporting customers during this period.” The bank has not said how many customers were affected by the glitch.

Rentokil shares surged more than 13% yesterday morning when it was revealed that activist investor Nelson Peltz had bought a stake. Peltz’s Trian Partners told Bloomberg News it had reached out to the Crawley-based pest-exterminator with ideas to “improve shareholder value” after building a stake that put it among the top 10 shareholders in the firm. Peltz recently abandoned an activist campaign against Disney, but currently has a seat on the board at London-listed Unilever after calling for a break-up of the firm in 2022.

Paypoint has reported a near 83% rise in revenue of £306.4m in the year to March, up from £167.7m the previous year. The strong revenue figures partly reflected its acquisition of Love2shop in February last year, which helped pretax profit rise 13%. Earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased to £81.3m, up a third on last year’s figure of £61.3m. The London-listed company is aiming to reach £100m by the end of the 2026 financial year.

Revolut has signed a 10-year lease on the top four floors of the recently refurbished 30 South Colonnade skyscraper in the heart of Canary Wharf, the building now known as YY London. The challenger bank is planning to move into the building in May next year, however it still allows many of its 10,000 staff to work from home.  Revolut said it planned to use the building for product launches and team meetings, and that it wants to hire a further 1,500 staff globally by the end of 2024.

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has bought a £400m 3.2% stake in BT, making him one of the telecom giant’s largest shareholders. French billionaire Patrick Drahi is BT’s biggest investor with a 24.5%. Deutsche Telekom owns 12%. Previously, Slim took a 21% stake in Dutch telecom company KPN via his America Movil business, before launching a failed takeover in 2013. He has also tried to buy Telecom Italia and Portugal Telecom. Between 2010 and 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world by Forbes magazine.

Ernst & Young’s (EY) UK Chair Hywel Ball is to step down, he said yesterday, meaning one of the most prestigious jobs in British professional services is up for grabs. In an email to EY partners, the 61-year-old Ball said the time had come to “hand on the baton” to someone else. He has led the ‘Big Four’ firm since 2020 and has worked there his entire professional life, since 1983.

Inflation in the US eased slightly last month, official data from the US Labor Department suggests. Prices rose 3.3% in the year to the end of May, down 0.1% from the month before. Core inflation, which strips out volatile items such as food and energy prices, also slowed, but rents continued to rise. Food inflation remained at about 2%. Meanwhile, the US Federal Reserve voted to leave interest rates on hold at 5.25% to 5.5% for the seventh consecutive meeting in a row yesterday, but surprised markets with projections showing policymakers expect to cut interest rates only once in 2024, as there has been only “modest further progress” towards the 2% target and that inflation “remains elevated”.

Apple has become the first brand to cross $1 trillion in brand value, a 15% jump from last year. The iPhone maker also retained its crown as the world's most valuable brand for the third straight year in 2024, followed by Alphabet's Google at $753bn and Microsoft at $713bn.

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