Tuesday newspaper round-up: Labour, G4S, EY, Boris
The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has ramped up his attack on the super-rich, describing their wealth as “obscene”, as Labour unveiled research showing one in three billionaires in the UK have made donations to the Tory party. McDonnell is due to take a swipe at the richest people in the country in a speech on Tuesday and will also set out the tax breaks billionaires have benefited from under successive Conservative governments. - Guardian.
Human rights campaigners have criticised the London Stock Exchange Group for including G4S on ethical investment indices, after the British security company was accused of contributing to human rights violations. The FTSE4Good index, run by the London Stock Exchange Group’s FTSE Russell subsidiary, has included G4S for the past three years. - Guardian.
Partners at one of the Big Four accountancy firms are in line for a pay cut, despite its British business making record revenues as the profession braces itself for regulatory reform. The 702 partners at EY received an average of £679,000 in the year to the end of June, down 2% on the previous year’s pay of £693,000. - The Times.
Boris Johnson’s pledge of a fundamental review of business rates has been greeted with scepticism, with industry leaders fearing that it will “go over old ground” after failures to act on previous promises of reform. A Conservative government would cut the commercial property tax in its first budget if the party won a majority at the general election, the prime minister said. "We will reduce the overall burden of business rates as part of this review," the Tories said. - The Times.
Major high street chains have been forced to close almost 6,000 stores so far this year amid a raging crisis on the high street. A total of 5,834 shops were shut by large retailers with 10 or more stores since the start of the year to September 30, according to the Centre for Retail Research. - Telegraph.