Labour accused of planning secret 10% death tax - papers

The Tories have stepped up their onslaught on Labour over social care, claiming that the Government was secretly planning to charge a £50,000 inheritance tax levy on people with estates of £500,000.

The claim was made after it emerged that pollsters Ipsos Mori, who carry out research for the Health Department, conducted a survey in which people were asked if they would pay a ten per cent levy of their estate when they died to cover the cost of care for the elderly, according to The Daily Mail.

The poll included an example of a person with an estate of £500,000, of which £50,000 went to the taxman.

Shadow Chief Secretary Philip Hammond said: ‘The more we see of Labour's death tax plans, the more shocking they will appear to people. Full story...

TWO of Royal Bank of Scotland's most senior bankers have resigned amid frustration over the state-backed lender's bonus policy, raising fears about the Government's chances of selling off its stake at a profit.

Steve Ashley, who heads up RBS's lucrative trading division, and Chris Fleming, a senior salesman, quit the bank on Friday last week in a move that shocked RBS investment banking staff. The trading business is believed to have been one of RBS's most profitable divisions in 2009, reports The Telegraph.

Mr Ashley and Mr Fleming are thought to have been offered jobs elsewhere but their decision to leave is believed to stem, at least in part, from dissatisfaction that RBS is being forced to scale back bonuses in the wake of the taxpayer-funded bailout of the bank.

One trader at RBS said: "This is a disaster. The Government has got to make a decision - either it ignores the noise around bonuses, lets the bank pay up and ultimately generates a return for the taxpayer or it stamps down, our best people leave and the taxpayer loses out." Full story...

FOREIGN banks are pulling top rates on short-term fixed savings deals in the latest sign that savings rates in general could be turning down, says The Times.

Overseas banks have dominated the top deals for the past two years, offering rates well above Bank rate and the rest of the market, so any indication that they are scaling back could be a signal to others in the industry.

FirstSave, part of the First Bank of Nigeria, cut its best-buy one-year deal from 3.65% to 3.25% last week. It leaves State Bank of India with the best deal at 3.5%, followed by ICICI, also Indian, at 3.4%.

However, ICICI told The Sunday Times that it plans to withdraw its deal within the next few weeks. "I don't see a resurgence in the one-year fixed-rate market for some time. Our focus on savings now is to offer longer term deals of at least two years or more," a source said. Full story...

ICELAND is expected to reopen talks with Britain and the Netherlands next week hopeful that it has a blueprint for a compromise over how the bill for Icesave deposit guarantees should be met. If successful, it will avert the need for a referendum next month, according to The Guardian.

The City minister, Lord Myners, and his Dutch counterpart, Wouter Bos, have been closely consulted by Reykjavik ahead of a formal request for new talks. The foreign secretary, David Miliband, met his Icelandic opposite number in London on Thursday to discuss the matter.

The compromise proposal, which is believed to have the support of Iceland's opposition parties as well as campaign groups, could see Iceland change its insolvency laws to allow administrators overseeing assets at Landsbanki - the failed bank behind Icesave internet accounts - to dispose of the loan book in one sale rather than running it down over time. Full story...