Blair says Labour will not hit high earners - Tuesday 5 June

The FT's lead story this morning says Tony Blair has tried to reassure the middle classes in the run up to polling day that a second Labour government would not hit high earners. Labour has pledged not to increase the upper tax rate but has come under pressure for refusing to rule out the abolition of the ceiling on national insurance contributions. The FT reports that FleetBoston Financial, the US banking group, confirmed on Monday that it had agreed to buy Liberty Financial's mutual fund group for $900m in cash. FleetBoston, which announced it was in talks with Liberty last month, sa...