Daily Mail - Eating his words! Osborne reverses controversial 'pasty tax' as long as takeaway food is cooling
The hated ‘pasty tax’ is to be reversed, George Osborne is to announce.
The Chancellor will write to MPs on the Treasury select committee to reveal that as long as hot takeaway food is cooling naturally, it will not be subject to VAT, as planned.
It means pasties, and other hot snacks that are not served straight from the oven and are allowed to cool down in a glass cabinet will continue to be tax-free.
The Chancellor will also announce a retreat on another controversial measure in his badly received March Budget - a proposal to levy VAT at 20 per cent on static holiday caravans.
Instead, they will be subject to just five per cent VAT.
Both VAT rises prompted uproar among Tory MPs in the regions -- with particular anger in the South West at the pasty tax and in the North over the caravan levy. See Article
Daily Mail - Caught on camera: No 10 spin doctor haranguing BBC reporter to tone down coverage of links between Murdoch and Cameron
David Cameron’s top media adviser was caught on camera berating a BBC political correspondent over his ‘partial’ coverage of the scandal engulfing Jeremy Hunt.
Craig Oliver was facing embarrassment last night after a video of his five-minute lecture to Norman Smith outside Number Ten was leaked. In it, he urges Mr Smith to report Vince Cable’s ‘bias’ against Rupert Murdoch.
Mr Oliver, who replaced Andy Coulson when he resigned over the phone hacking scandal last year, is a former BBC executive. See Article
Daily Express - HOW I EVADED SECURITY FARCE, BY BLAIR HECKLER
A PROTESTER told last night how he slipped unchallenged through a security cordon to dramatically confront former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
As the politician gave evidence to Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry into press standards, anti-war activist David Lawley Wakelin burst in and yelled: “This man is a war criminal.”
Three security guards grabbed him and bundled him out of the hearing at London’s Royal Courts of Justice.
But last night, Mr Lawley Wakelin, 49, told the Daily Express just how easily he was able to disrupt the inquiry.
“Nobody challenged me at any point,” he said. “In fact I asked a couple of people the way and they pointed me in the right direction. They were security men in uniform. It was a farce. I couldn’t believe I was standing in front of Blair.”
He said he acted on the spur of the moment while taking part in a protest at the court.
“I walked through the front entrance where they have the security scanners,” said Mr Lawley Wakelin of Neasden, north London.
“I asked directions to Court 73. I did a bit of detective work and ended up going in through the back door. I reached the corridor next to the judge’s chambers. I was surprised I had got that far.
“To be honest, I was terrified. I went in to a bathroom and just stood there for five minutes. I decided I had come this far and I was going through with it.” Amid intense embarrassment, court officials were last night investigating how a high-level security operation around Mr Blair had failed.
Springing out from a curtain hanging behind Lord Justice Leveson, Mr Lawley Wakelin shouted: “This man should be arrested for war crimes.” He claimed Mr Blair had been “paid off” by investment bank JP Morgan for ordering the 2003 invasion of
Mr Blair sat impassively stroking his chin throughout the brief interruption but a clearly angry Lord Justice Leveson repeatedly tried to interrupt the intruder.
The judge apologised to Mr Blair and ordered an inquiry into how the protester entered the area, supposedly guarded by security-coded doors.
He said later: “I will be giving consideration to the steps that can be taken against this intruder. Efforts will be redoubled to ensure that incidents of this nature don’t recur.”
During the hearing, Mr Blair denied doing a deal with media tycoon Rupert Murdoch to try to get Labour favourable coverage in his newspapers.
Mr Blair said he had a “working relationship” with Mr Murdoch during his premiership but they became close friends only after he left office.
He said that some newspapers ran a “personal vendetta” against his wife Cherie during his time in Downing Street which went “too far”. See Article
The Telegraph - Greek promises of tax crackdowns fail to bite
When Christine Lagarde hit out at Greeks for not paying their taxes, Athens scholar Evi Malliarou agreed with the IMF chief's sentiment.
Over the weekend Ms Lagarde told a newspaper she agreed that it was "payback time" for the many Greeks who see taxes as optional.
Ms Malliarou said: "Rich people have many tools to renegotiate their taxes while poor people have to pay in full. I paid the state all my taxes in full, not instalments, even though I have to deny myself other things."
Tax evasion is such an issue in Greece that successive finance ministers have declared crackdowns as a route out of the current crisis. See Article
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