Britain should follow America’s lead and create its own UFO taskforce to investigate potential extraterrestrial sightings, experts have said.

They accused the UK Government of failing to take the issue seriously enough and warned that it could have serious implications for the country’s defence capabilities.

Nick Pope, who investigated UFOs for the British military in the 1990s before the unit was disbanded, said it was ‘outrageous’ that ministers are not taking ‘meaningful action’ to probe unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) — more commonly known as unidentified flying objects.

‘The Ministry of Defence (MoD) needs to restart UAP investigations, a task force of some sort needs to be set up, and the Defence Committee needs to start holding the MoD to account on UAP, as the Armed Services Committees are doing in the US Congress, in both the Senate and the House,’ he told MailOnline.

Mr Pope accused defence officials of ‘falling back on a lazy, closed-minded “it can’t be, so it isn’t” mindset’, meaning potential foreign threats to UK shores could be missed.

The MoD closed its UFO desk in 2009 and nothing has ever replaced it.

Prior to this, it carried out what at the time was a highly-secretive and extensive UFO investigation of more than 10,000 possible sightings over several decades — many of which were by military personnel.

Known as the Project Condign report, it concluded that 80 per cent of the sightings were easily explained, 19 per cent were secret military craft and just 1 per cent were mysterious in origin.

However, the MoD accepted that there are always going to be UAP and that those which are unexplained are likely an ‘an unknown kind of plasma’ and not of concern. 

‘The MoD has consistently stated that no UFO/UAP sighting has ever shown a threat to the UK, therefore they are of no defence significance and as a result the MoD is not interested,’ said Philip Mantle, the former director of investigations at the British UFO Research Association.

He told MailOnline that for this reason it would be ‘pointless’ to set up a UFO taskforce.

‘The MoD are not interested and science in general usually gives the subject a wide berth,’ Mr Mantle added.

‘One thing that is clear, however, is that the UFO phenomenon, whatever it may be, does not recognise any international borders, therefore any such study surely must be international in scope rather than national.’

In the US, NASA last week released its highly-anticipated report into more than 800 potential alien sightings over a period of three decades.

The space agency’s independent panel of experts stressed that there was ‘no reason to conclude’ that any were extraterrestrial in origin, but warned that mysterious flying objects were a ‘self-evident’ threat to American airspace. 

Mr Pope said that if the US was worried about this then Britain, as an NATO ally, should be too.

He added: ‘The UK can make a significant contribution to the wider search for the truth about UAP, by leveraging its world class intelligence community imagery analysis resources and capabilities. 

‘The bottom line is that we need action. 

‘Just as lawmakers in the US – Republicans and Democrats alike – are taking up this issue, UK Parliamentarians should start asking the MoD some hard questions, not accept boilerplate responses, and ensure that meaningful action is taken by setting up a task force modeled on the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.’

A petition has also been set up calling for the UK to set up an investigatory office on UFOs/UAPs but has so far attracted just 1,500 signatures since May.

It requires 10,000 for the Government to respond to it and 100,000 to be considered for debate in Parliament.

The petition states that the office ‘would be primarily to research and investigate reports of UFOs (unidentified flying objects) and UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena) over the United Kingdom and also assist and support witnesses.’

Even though they poured cold water on the extraterrestrial hypothesis, NASA’s experts did not deny the possibility of a ‘potential unknown alien technology operating in Earth’s atmosphere’. 

Their 33-page report called for NASA to utilise its technological might to continue studying UFOs because many cases remain unsolved — and researchers still have no idea what some of these sightings are.

NASA chief Bill Nelson announced that a new director for UFO research would help implement the panel’s recommendations. 

A separate UFO investigation by the Pentagon is also under way, but with the intelligence and military communities.

Britain urged to freeze ties with AIIB – China’s answer to the World Bank

By Patrick Tooher

Updated: 08:34 EDT, 17 September 2023

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.

Aldi has plans to open 500 more supermarket stores in Britain

• German supermarket opened its 1,000th UK store in Woking
• A year ago, Aldi surpassed Morrisons to become Britain’s fourth-largest grocer
• Two-thirds of Britons now shop at Aldi, according to research agency Kantar

By Harry Wise

Updated: 12:13 EDT, 7 September 2023

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.

• UK to rejoin £85bn EU science scheme Horizon as PM allows deal to be finalised
• Britain has been out the group for two years since Brexit a 

By David Churchill Chief Political Correspondent For The Daily Mail

Updated: 17:45 EDT, 6 September 2023

An adventurer who was trying to cross the Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Britain in a home-made hamster wheel has been arrested.

Reza Baluchi, 51, was detained 70 nautical miles into his journey off Tybee Island, Georgia, after a three-day standoff with US coastguards.

The Iranian national, who lives in Florida, was attempting to make the 5000 nautical mile journey on a human-powered vessel that is in the shape of a hamster wheel. 

The contraption consists of a metal drum, with paddle wheels on either side which are buoyant, theoretically allowing him to run across the waves. 

On August 26 the USS Coast Guard cutter Valiant intercepted him at sea before he allegedly threatened anyone attempting to arrest gum that he would take his own life with a 12-inch knife and that he had a bomb onboard his vessel, according to Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.

After two days Baluchi finally admitted that there was no bomb on his hamster wheel and another day later he joined officers on their boat. 

He was brought ashore on September 1 and faces federal charges of obstruction of a boarding and violation of a Captain of the Port order.

‘Based on the condition of the vessel – which was afloat as a result of wiring and buoys – USCG officers determined Baluchi was conducting a manifestly unsafe voyage,’ the criminal complaint filed in US District Court in Florida stated.

It is not the first time Baluchi has attempted to use the hamster wheel to travel across the ocean.

In July 2021 he tried to travel from Miami to New York City for charity but was washed ashore on a Florida beach not far from where he set off.

Deputies from the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office arrived on the scene at a beach in Hammock, near Miami, after concerned residents reported seeing the unusual cylindrical vessel.

When they arrived, they said, they found Baluchi safe inside without any injuries.

Baluchi reportedly told the authorities he was trying to run in the floating vessel from Florida to New York to raise money for charity but ‘came across some complications that brought him back to shore,’ the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office explained in a Facebook post following the rescue.

‘My goal is not only raise money for homeless people, raise money for the Coast Guard, raise money for the police department, raise money for the fire department,’ Baluchi told FOX 35 News. 

‘They are in public service, they do it for safety and they help other people.’

He reportedly carries around a GPS with him on each of his treks, so family and friends know where he is at all times, and carries enough food and water to keep him safe and can ‘survive anywhere for days and weeks,’ his friend, Gina Laspina told the local news channel. 

But this is far from the first time Baluchi had to be rescued from one of his floating vessels, which he calls a ‘bubble’.

Baluchi had to be rescued from a ‘hydro-bubble’ near Saint Augustine in 2014 when he had attempted to journey 3,000 miles from Florida to Bermuda. 

And in 2016 he had to be rescued off the coast of Jupiter. Miami Coast Guard spent 12 hours trying to coax him out of his homemade inflatable bubble after already warning him not to attempt a ‘life-threatening’ 3,500 mile ocean journey.

Ahead of that trip, Baluchi had been given a written warning by the Coast Guard not to attempt the five month trip from Pompano Beach, Florida, bound for Bermuda via the Caribbean. Officials said it was too dangerous, and put him and other sailors at risk.

Vladimir Putin today put the world’s most powerful Armageddon nuclear rocket dubbed Satan-2 on combat duty.

The ‘unstoppable’ 15,880mph intercontinental missile system, known to Russians as Sarmat, is the size of a 14-storey tower block.

The announcement came from Yury Borisov, head of the Russian Space Agency.

‘The Sarmat strategic complex has been put on combat duty,’ he told students at an educational event.

He gave no further details.

The 208-ton missile had been due to go on duty at the end of last year but was mysteriously delayed.

Russian propagandists have boasted one strike could sink Britain under the sea.

The move comes as Russia is smarting from setbacks in the war in Ukraine, as Kyiv gains ground and subjects Putin’s territory to increasing drone attacks.

Yet its deployment – if the move is for real – comes after only one proven test launch.

Others were forecast but not announced.

It also comes soon after the Russian Space Agency faced international humiliation over its failed moon mission last month.

Nine months ago Putin threatened: ‘In the near future, Sarmat ICBMs will be put on combat duty for the first time.

‘We know there will be a certain delay in time but this does not change our plans – everything will be done.’

In June he boasted: ‘In the nearest future the first launch pads of Sarmat [Satan-2] with a new heavy missile will be put on combat duty…’

The Armageddon weapon can be loaded with multiple nuclear warheads.

Putin TV propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov – also deputy head of the company running state run Rossiya 1 channel – threatened Britain in revenge for a comment then premier Boris Johnson never made about striking Russia with a nuclear attack.

Downing Street dismissed the claim – widely repeated in Russia’ state media – as ‘another example of disinformation peddled by the Kremlin’, but it continues to be trumpeted in Moscow.

‘The island is so small that one Sarmat missile is enough to drown it once and for all,’ said Kiselyov.

‘Russian missile Sarmat [Satan-2], the world most powerful…is capable of … destroying an area the size of Texas or England.

‘A single launch, Boris, and there is no England anymore.

‘Once and for all.’

The first and only known full-scale test of Satan-2 was announced to great fanfare as soon as it took place on April 20, 2022, with Putin in touch by video-link.

The silo-based Satan-2 launch was from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.

The following month, former head of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin, seen as a close Putin ally, said almost 50 Satan-2 missiles, which were in mass production, would soon be on combat duty.

In early June, a major ICBM test was scheduled and locals near the Kura test range were warned to stay clear of the target site in remote Kamchatka.

But this test never happened.

On 25 June last year Rogozin boasted: ‘We are absolutely on schedule, we are now preparing for the second flight test of the Sarmat.’

The following month Rogozin was fired for unknown reasons with his promised new job yet to arrive.

His successor, ex-deputy premier Borisov, in July 2022 repeated the claim that the missile is in mass production without reiterating Putin’s goal of Satan-2 being on combat duty by December of last year.

Defence analysts suspecting hypersonic hyperbole pointed out that Russia’s R-36M2 Voevoda missile was tested no less than 17 times before it was put on combat duty.

Some experts will doubt the reality of today’s announcement.

Another missile – RT-2PM Topol – was tested a dozen times before deployment.

‘In this context, the truth of the terms bandied about by Rogozin — that Sarmat is in [serial] production and is soon to be placed on ‘combat duty’ — appear dubious,’ defence expert Leonid Nersisyan has said.

‘It is far likelier that Sarmat will undergo the same testing, prototyping and experimentation programme as its predecessors,’ he wrote in Shephard Media.

‘Actual acceptance of the ICBM into service with the Strategic Missile Forces …is hardly achievable by 2024.’

More than a year ago, Rogozin visited the Krasmash defence factory in Krasnoyarsk, in eastern Siberia, which he labelled the ‘Doomsday Plant’, to inspect the process of producing Satan-2 for flight tests.

The missile was rolled out into a forest for the cameras – and sabre-rattling Rogozin said: ‘The world’s most powerful global-range nuclear-tipped missile is being prepared for new tests.’

Yet there is no evidence these tests happened.

Ruth Wilson teases a return to Luther during an appearance on Good Morning Britain despite her character Alice ‘falling to her death’

By Lily Jobson For Mailonline

Published: 05:23 EDT, 22 August 2023 | Updated: 06:40 EDT, 22 August 2023

Michael Heseltine has never been a ‘clubbable Tory’. To his lasting regret, he missed out on achieving the top job in British politics that he coveted so much. 

At 90 years of age he still cuts a dash. He is tall and trim. His leonine, once golden mane is now snowy white, but still stylishly swept back.

Shrewsbury and Oxford educated Heseltine is under no illusions that he is not everyone’s cup of tea. He says: ‘I have always been a controversial figure, I have views and I have expressed them.’

Heseltine was seen by many as Margaret Thatcher’s successor when she left Downing Street in 1990, but he lost to John Major in the Tory leadership contest. However, he went on to serve as his Deputy Prime Minister.

He is honest about missing out, but perhaps there is a tinge of regret that he didn’t ‘play the game’ in the Commons bars and tea rooms. ‘I was never in the tea rooms,’ he says. ‘I was seen as a divisive character.’

Called back by David Cameron in 2010, the ardent Remainer then spectacularly fell out with the party over Brexit. He had the whip suspended in 2019 after saying he would back the Liberal Democrats in European elections.

At his age, the multi-millionaire publishing entrepreneur is as fiery as ever.

He believes the adults are back in charge under Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt after the Liz Truss interlude, adding that there is much to be done to show the voting public that the Tories should still be in power after 13 years in government.

‘Anybody who thinks this is a perfect business environment is wrong,’ he says. ‘But we’ve always had the talent. It’s a great country.’

The economic environment is showing some signs of improvement. Sunak looks set to hit his inflation target of 5 per cent by the end of the year and the economy is growing faster than rivals Germany and Italy.

‘I think there’s one more interest rate hike down the line,’ he says.

He lists a host of problems that need to be overcome, starting with the banks.

In his long career he has been a passionate champion of many causes. The latest of these is the Daily Mail’s campaign to get the banks to pass on better savings rates to their customers now that interest rates are sky high. This is an issue that particularly affects many older voters.

‘It’s a scandal,’ he says. ‘It is really serious. Those with loans are paying significant sums of money and those with cash balances are getting derisory sums. Those with deposits deserve a fair crack of the whip.’

Chancellor Hunt has called the banks to Downing Street to address the problem, while in Italy prime minister Giorgia Meloni has gone a step further and introduced a windfall tax on lenders.

When it comes to Sunak’s plans to deregulate the City – Big Bang 2.0 – Hezza urges caution. The financial crisis in 2008 wreaked havoc and much of the regulation put in place after the event is viewed by many as essential.

The original Big Bang took place in the 1980s under Thatcher.

‘What she did was let the foreigners in to a gentleman’s club and the City transformed,’ Heseltine says. ‘But remember, regulation is the difference between the jungle and civilisation.’

Sitting back in his armchair in London’s posh Belgravia district, surrounded by antiques and sumptuous cream carpets, Heseltine is almost regal as he rattles through 60 years of modern British political history. As well as his London home, he owns Thenford House in Northamptonshire – a sprawling country manor.

His wife Anne pops in and out with coffee, tea and biscuits. She takes to sitting on the sofa opposite us reading through newspapers while we chat, keeping a discreet eye on the proceedings.

On the current high tax environment, Heseltine says he feels the pain of the nation’s entrepreneurs. Unlike most politicians he has first-hand experience.

The corporate tax rate currently stands at 25 per cent, its highest level for more than ten years.

He started Haymarket – owner of What Car, Management Today and AI Week – in 1957, turning it into a publishing triumph. Last year, the company – where his son Rupert is now chairman – posted revenues of £165.9 million and a profit of £11.2 million.

‘It’s never easy running a small business, but it’s always fun,’ Heseltine says as his eyes light up. ‘Tax is a bore but you have to pay it.’

He says tax cuts are not possible given the high spending that took place during the pandemic. ‘Cutting taxes is politically popular, but there’s huge government debt after Covid.’

We touch on Brexit. It is no secret it is anathema to him. ‘The single market is historically perhaps one of the most extraordinary successful concepts ever developed by humankind,’ he says.

But his abiding passion is the need for Britain to create a credible industrial strategy.

He fervently believes the state and business need to come together so that the UK can get ahead on green technology and develop the industries of the future – including hydrogen and battery plants.

‘We need a public private partnership,’ he says. ‘Anybody who thinks we can leave it to the market is talking nonsense.’ He points to America’s Inflation Reduction Act, which he says is transforming the world’s largest economy.

He also wants to see more power devolved to the regions so they can take control of their own individual strategies. ‘It’s up to Manchester and Liverpool to devise their own plans,’ he says. ‘But they need stirring up.’

He believes the UK should stop selling off all of its best and most valuable companies to foreign buyers in order to keep jobs and innovation in Britain. He says the Government should have the power to veto takeovers if necessary.

In recent years defence giants Cobham and Ultra have been sold to private equity – something he insists would never have happened while he was Minister for Defence.

It is unsurprising that he is so passionate about using business to solve some of Britain’s social issues. In the 1980s he was the driving force behind the early development of Canary Wharf and the rejuvenation of Liverpool.

More recently, he wrote a landmark report on restoring economic growth to Teesside in the wake of the steel closure of 2015 that led to an ambitious scheme bringing thousands of jobs in green energy to the former steelworks site.

He says he wants to see his legacy carried on, adding that the Conservatives should do more on levelling up in order to hold on to the Red Wall seats won at the 2019 General Election.

‘It’s been much too slow,’ he says. ‘There is no momentum behind the process at the moment.’

But the One Nation Tory remains optimistic. ‘Virtually every major rejuvenation innovation in this country has been led by the Conservatives,’ he says. ‘All the initiatives I know have been led by Tories.’ He says Mayors Ben Houchen in Tees Valley and Andy Street in the West Midlands are good examples of those carrying on this Tory tradition.

Time flies and the hour he has allocated me in his busy diary is gone in a blink. And with that Anne whisks the grandee off to lunch. He may be in his tenth decade, but Hezza has no desire to slow down.

With higher taxes, rising interest rates and a cost-of-living squeeze, you’d be forgiven for wanting to escape it all.

Adam, in his late 40s, has come up with an inventive solution to escape the helter skelter of life – by booking himself on a three-year cruise.

In November he will set off on the trip of a lifetime from Istanbul, visiting places around the world from Shanghai to Montego Bay in a 1000 day adventure.

Speaking to MailOnline, he said that he had decided to take the trip following several setbacks, including a relationship breakdown and health problems.

He said: ‘I’ve been through a few life-changing events recently.

‘I sort of thought “I’ve had enough of this”.’

Cabins on Miray International’s MV Lara ship run by Life at Sea Cruises start at £60,000 per year including sights of seven world wonders.

But Adam argues that he can live at sea for three years for the same price that it would cost him to live at home.

He says when he first saw the offer he thought it might be a scam, when he found the offer while browsing online.

‘When I saw it I thought, is this a scam? Around the world for three years?’, he said.

With a tour of 382 places, Adam told MailOnline he was most eager to visit Deception and Half Moon Islands on Antarctica.

‘I’ve always dreamt of going to Antartica.’, he says.

‘If you were to do a trip on its own to Antarctica you would spend thousands.’, he said.

‘I was thinking I get to go to all these places including Antarctica.

‘And the other unique thing about this cruise is that we’re going to places that are hard to get to by plane.’ 

It won’t necessarily be one long holiday though: Adam is trying to arrange with his work to do his job onboard the ship in its designated business centre with high-speed internet.

He is also hoping to complete his dissertation for his Master’s in business administration onboard. 

But he joked that it would mean he wouldn’t need to commute or bother with food shopping.

‘I won’t have to go on Friday for a weekly shop.’, he said gleefully.

‘My bed gets made, my clothes get washed. 

‘They say you can do some yourself, but why would you?

‘Everything gets taken care of. It’s like living in a hotel.’

Onboard Adam will be pampered with a cooked breakfast each day, plus free soft drinks including tea and coffee and alcohol included with dinner.

There’s even entertainment, including live shows thrown in, and all housekeeping is taken care of. 

And as if that wasn’t enough, he can also enjoy the onboard gym and spa, and cinema.

He will also have access to medical consultations, but will have to pay extra for medicine and any treatment. 

But with over a thousand days at sea and not returning the UK until November 1 2026, will he get lonely?

No, says Adam, who lives at home on his own. He says his girlfriend can visit him on the ship four times a year for up to 30 days all included within his package, if they pay port fees and taxes.

The more than 1,200 passengers are also free to leave and rejoin the ship at different destinations if they wish to stay and explore somewhere for longer.

‘Residents, as we are called, are not tied to the ship. What I mean by this is that if we choose to go on some sort of land trip we are able to do so and meet the ship at another destination.’, says Adam.

‘And of course, if you have an emergency at home, say, you can disembark, go and do what you need, and rejoin the cruise later.’ 

With nearly everything included in his multi-year getaway, he even thinks he might make a saving compared to his everyday living costs.

According to the Office of National Statistics, the average UK household spends as much as £528.80 on food, energy, housing, transport and leisure activities – all adding up to £27,497.60 a year.

With higher gas and electricity bills in autumn and winter these costs are likely to rise.

Adam’s diesel car back in Bristol sets him back £9 each time he drives into the city’s low emission zone. 

But while cruising, Adam will be protected from Britain’s high inflation having paid a fixed cost for his trip.

He said: ‘Think about road taxes, shopping, bills.

‘Add into that the stealth taxes this government’s thrown in.’, he adds, ‘No wonder no one wants to earn anything, because everyone’s being thrown into higher tax brackets.

‘We just keep robbing people.’ , he concludes.

While households struggle with historically high inflation and eye-watering borrowing costs, Britain’s banking industry is enjoying bumper profit growth. 

HSBC last week posted half-year earnings growth of more than 144 per cent to $16.9billion, following rivals Lloyds, Standard Chartered and NatWest Group, which all revealed double-digit earnings expansion.

The results triggered a torrent of criticism from some politicians and activists who accuse the banking sector of benefiting at the expense of financially-stretched Britons.

Some critics say banks should pay a windfall tax, like that imposed on oil and gas companies last year. 

But Italy’s government was forced to water down such a move this week after the announcement sparked market movements that posed serious financial implications for the country.

Italy’s banks will still fork out more in tax, though – could Britain follow?

What Italy did – and why was it such a shock?

On Monday, Prime Minister Georgia Meloni’s administration declared an ‘extra profits’ tax on its banking sector to fund tax cuts and mortgage support for Italians.

They said a 40 per cent levy would be imposed on net interest income – the difference between income earned from loans and interest paid to savers.

The move led to a meltdown in Italian banking stocks and implications for the country’s borrowing costs.  

Italy was forced to water down the plan just a day later.

The country’s finance ministry has now told lenders their tax bill will be capped at 0.1 per cent of their total assets. Italian banking stocks have subsequently revived. 

How have investors and analysts responded?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, some prominent shareholders in Italian banks have been critical of the plans.

David Herro, the chief investment officer of Harris Associates, a major investor in Italy’s largest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, called it a ‘tragic’ policy that would punish a sector that has, until recently, struggled with low interest rates.

Cole Smead of Smead Capital, an investor in UniCredit, echoed that theme, tweeting that banks ‘starve on low rates [only] to then be punished for higher rates’.

Analysts at broker Jefferies predict the revised proposal will raise €2.5billion (£2.2billion) from the ten largest publicly-listed Italian banks, about €2billion less than under the original plan, and cause a 12 per cent average hit to annual profits this year. 

However, credit ratings agency Moody’s warned the move would be ‘credit negative’ for Italy’s banking industry, which is already being burdened by weak lending, elevated inflation levels and higher operating costs.

Are there any examples of windfall taxes in the banking sector?

Several European Union countries have introduced extra levies on the financial industry over the past year in response to spiraling inflation and consumer pressure.

Spain and the Czech Republic recently slapped higher taxes on their banks – a 60 per cent levy in the latter country – to fund support for citizens and companies affected by cost-of-living pressures.

Meanwhile, Hungary and Lithuania have brought in banking windfall taxes, partly to boost military spending amid the growing threat posed by Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

The UK last imposed a banking windfall tax in 1981 during Margaret Thatcher’s premiership, when a one-off 2.5 per cent levy was put on banks’ deposits after interest rates were hiked to record levels to combat double-digit inflation.

UK banks also currently face a levy on their balance sheets, most of which applies to their debts. 

Every year HMRC assesses all funds deposited in banks and taxes them accordingly.

The idea, having been conceived in the fallout of the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, is to encourage financial discipline and cut down on overly risky behaviour. 

Who supports introducing a banking windfall tax in the UK?

Neither the Conservative nor Labour Party support extending the windfall tax currently on North Sea oil and gas producers or banks, though many backbench Labour MPs have called for one.

One major proponent has been former Bank of England deputy governor Charlie Bean, who says it could raise tens of billions of pounds to help cut the budget deficit.

Outside Bean’s old workplace last week, campaign group Positive Money staged a protest against base rate hikes while calling for a windfall tax on the financial sector.

The organisation argues that lenders stand to make a killing over the coming years from the BoE remunerating them just for holding reserves at the central bank, which it points out would be partly funded by taxpayers compensating the BoE for losses from its gilt portfolio.

What would a banking windfall tax in Britain look like?

Positive Money has suggested raising the bank surcharge from 3 per cent to 35 per cent, in line with the energy profits levy. 

It claims this would raise at least £20billion from the ‘Big Four’ British banks of HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds and NatWest.

Alternatively, the group says a 4 per cent tax on unreserved deposits would generate more than £50billion per year.

Simon Youel, its head of policy and advocacy, told This is Money that the revenues raised just from the ‘Big Four’ could fund a 2.5 per cent cut in VAT whilst also lowering inflation.

He additionally said a further £2billion raised from other lenders could finance free school meals for all primary and secondary school children in England.

What are the arguments against a UK banking windfall tax?

Britain’s financial services sector already contributes a significant amount of tax: £28.8billion in 2021, according to HM Revenue & Customs.

Putting up taxes too much would drive business to other markets, piling further pressure on an industry already struggling with Brexit and a growing international preference for Wall Street over the City.  

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said the Energy Profits Levy has already caused some oil and gas companies to shelve investment.

The North Sea’s largest energy producer, Harbour Energy, is cutting jobs and shifting spending away from the UK after barely scraping a profit last year due to the levy.

On the banking sector, he said it played a vital role during the Covid lockdowns in keeping the UK economy ticking over, which given their role in the financial crisis was the ‘least they could do’.

He added: ‘Politicians need to be aware that profits not only go to shareholders, of which the government is one in NatWest, but they also help the bank funding lending to businesses, and consumers.

‘Remove the incentives to take risks, and banks will take less risk with all the damage that could with regard to funding new business and start-ups.’