Infozone Breaking World News

The foreign office minister for Asia, Africa and the United Nations is to leave the government at the end of this month.  In a statement the minister said that it was never his intention to “do the job forever”.

Also, the Minister indicated that the decision came about because of personal and family reasons and that his resignation was not motivated by a political situation.

Downing Street has made no comments so far on any potential replacement for the foreign office minister and it is thought that any immediate announcement is unlikely at this stage. Lord Malloch Brown has said that he still greatly admires what the prime minister is doing and that he would continue to support the government.

When stepping down from his post as the foreign office minister Lord Malloch Brown said that his entrance to the government was “as a professional and not a politician”.

The Foreign office minister also stated that he thought it was a privilege to work with such people as David Miliband and Gordon Brown. 

The foreign minister was a member of the prime ministers Government of All the Talents which was aptly named “goats” by commentators. (People who are not political but have been utilised by the government for their areas of expertise in certain policy areas)

Gordon Brown has tried to maintain the goat policy; this is evident when he hired the former M&S chairman Paul Myners to take the role of city minister. Mervyn Davies (former bank boss) was also brought in to replace Lord Jones.

The government has announced a plan to help small businesses through the economic downturn. The plan will guarantee up to £20 billion of loans given to small businesses and insures banks against small companies defaulting on repayments.

The new plan will consist of a £10 billion Working Capital Scheme, which will help the bank lend to businesses and the government will guarantee 50% of £20bn for short term loans to businesses that have an annual turnover of up to £500 million.

In addition to the Working Capital Scheme, a further £1.3 billion will be made available through an Enterprise Guarantee Scheme for bank loans to businesses with a turnover of up to £25 million.

The government will also be setting up a £75 million Capital for Enterprise Fund, which will aid companies with large debts that have failed to secure other forms of finance.

There are concerns that the new £20 billion plan will not be enough to persuade banks to loan to small businesses, with the Conservatives lobbying for ministers to raise it to £50 billion.

Yesterday Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer released the government’s pre-Budget report cutting VAT and taking UK borrowing to its highest level ever. It is hoped the move will help the UK during the current economic climate and save it from a long and drawn out recession.

VAT is to be lowered to 15% from 17.5% from December the 1st, with the duty paid for Tobacco, alcohol and fuel set to rise to offset the tax cut. Top earners will lose out as well, with tax and national insurance contributions rising.

Mr Darling stated that “exceptional measures” were needed to stabilise the economy, with the Conservative shadow chancellor George Osborne accusing Alistair Darling of “bringing this country to the verge of bankruptcy” by nearly doubling the national debt.

Mr Osborne went on to say that the government was creating “a huge unexploded tax bombshell timed to go off at the time of the next economic recovery”.

The Liberal Democrats also argued that a cut in VAT would not boost consumer spending, with treasury spokesman Vince Cable saying “it would be much more sensible to put money directly in the pockets of low paid workers by cutting their income tax”.

As the major parties fight over how to help individuals and especially companies through what is likely to become a recession, David Cameron and the Conservative party announced its plans to cut business taxes.

In the plan set out by the Conservative Party, they will call for a cut in National Insurance that a company pays if they hire staff that have been out of work for over three months. David Cameron, when on to say that the plan would create around 350,000 jobs, and cut the tax burden faced by companies by £2.6 billion and that the scheme would finance itself.

Mr Cameron went on to say that it costs the taxpayer in the region of £8,000 when someone goes onto benefits and that the new Conservative plan would see around £2,500 go to funding a National Insurance cut.

Prime Minister, Gordon Brown also hinted at a possible tax cut in his pre-budget report, which is expected to be announced in the next few weeks. Also joining the debate was the Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg who gave more details of his parties tax breaks for the lower and middle classes.