coalition government

Many middle-class professionals are paying an income tax rate of 60% as a result of a little-understood policy introduced by the last Labour government which affects more than 500,000 people, a leading economist has warned.

George Osborne has denied ‘insulting' middle-class voters by claiming that making them pay higher tax rates is ‘good for them' because it makes them feel successful - and more likely to back the Tories.

The taxpayer lost £230m on the government's disposal of part of its stake in Lloyds Banking Group, according to the National Audit Office (NAO), despite claims the sale was made at a profit.

Nick Clegg has said he is pushing his Tory coalition partners to agree to cut income tax bills by another £100.

Activist hedge fund the Children's Investment Fund (TCI) is the largest private shareholder in newly listed Royal Mail, a regulatory filing has revealed.

Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to continue cutting taxes for what he calls the "hardworking people in our country".

Royal Mail is to be valued at between £2.6bn and £3.3bn, the government has said.

Labour would scrap tax relief for the UK's richest pensioners if the party wins at the next General Election, shadow chancellor Ed Balls has said.

The Liberal Democrats have vowed to close tax loopholes in limited partnership firms and for private equity investors, as part of the party's action to "tackle the remaining deficit fairly".

It is "certainly possible" that the coalition government - the power-sharing arrangement between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties in place since 2010 - could break up before the next general election in 2015, Vince Cable has said.