Donald Trump has secured victories in nearly all the US states during the Super Tuesday Republican primaries, putting him on the verge of winning the party’s presidential nomination.
Trump won 14 out of 15 states, with his main Republican rival Nikki Haley reported to be pulling out of the race as a result. Trump is approaching the 1215 delegates needed for the nomination, but is not expected to reach that threshold until later this month.
In a speech at Mar-a-Lago, he acted as the presumptive nominee, calling for Republican unity. “We have a great Republican party with tremendous talent. And we want to have unity and we’re going to have unity, and it’s going to happen very quickly,” he said.
On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden dominated Super Tuesday, winning in all states. The results could indicate a potential rematch between Biden and Trump, setting up the first US presidential election rematch since 1956.
Former President Trump’s resurgence in the Republican primaries, despite his impeachment in 2021 and ongoing legal challenges, has underscored his popularity among the party's voters. Haley’s future in the race remains uncertain, with calls for her to support Trump.
Trump continues to deny the 2020 election results, focusing on issues including immigration and a return to pre-pandemic economic conditions.
The upcoming US election presents challenges for both prospective candidates. Trump is reliant on his base’s support, as his ability to attract moderate and swing voters remains in question. Meanwhile, Biden faces concerns about his age and handling of various issues, including the US economy, immigration, and foreign policy, including his stance on Israel’s war in Gaza.
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UK finance minister Jeremy Hunt is poised to unveil a £10bn personal tax cut as a key element of his budget due to be announced today. As reported by the Financial Times, citing Conservative Party insiders, the proposed measures also include the elimination of the colonial-era “non-dom” tax regime, which grants tax breaks to UK residents if their permanent home is deemed to be outside the country. Additionally, a new British individual savings account to promote share ownership and tax incentives for investors in UK companies will be announced.
Hunt’s goal is to convince voters of his plan to lift the UK out of recession, stimulate growth rates and reduce taxes, while aligning with the Conservative party’s priorities. The personal tax cut will feature a 2p cut in national insurance rates, benefiting approximately 27mn workers with average annual savings of £450.
While Hunt’s budget will be focused on the long-term path to reducing Britain’s tax burden, critics within the Conservative party are pushing for more headline-grabbing income tax reductions. According to the FT, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is still hoping more tax cuts will materialise later in the year.
Hunt’s budget has been cautiously billed as a “Budget for long-term growth” in contrast to his previous “Budget for growth”, acknowledging the UK’s challenging economic climate. His tax-cutting measures will be partly funded by targeted tax increases on vapes and tobacco, along with the removal of the “non-dom” rules.
Opinion polls indicate that voters would rather see improvements to public services such as healthcare over tax cuts. Conservative MPs have been urging Hunt to release money to fulfil government promises on free childcare provisions and to increase support for indebted local councils. Hunt is also expected to announce more financial support for the “levelling up” of the UK’s neglected towns and cities.
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European Central Bank staff are expressing discontent over its board’s handling of climate change concerns, particularly after executive board member Frank Elderson suggested that new hires should be “reprogrammed” to align with the bank’s green policies.
In a letter seen by the Financial Times and addressed to ECB president Christine Lagarde, the central bank’s staff committee has called for a reconsideration of the ECB’s management style, citing the “disrespectful” comments made by Elderson.
Elderson reportedly told an internal meeting, “Why would we want to hire people whom we have to reprogram because they came from the best universities but still don’t know how to spell the word ‘climate’?”
The staff representatives said, “Many colleagues were shocked by the choice of words and the viewpoints of Mr Elderson,” and found that the idea of “reprogramming” people was “in direct contradiction to the democratic values the ECB and EU stand for”.
The controversy has also drawn attention from the European parliament, which called for an investigation into Elderson’s statement to “swiftly address any suspicions of ideological bias” while emphasising the importance of the central bank’s “undeterred focus” on its primary mandate of stabilising eurozone inflation at 2 per cent.
In response to questions from MEPs, Lagarde defended Elderson while acknowledging that “words can go a little bit beyond the passion that underlines what they express”.
“Trust me that diversity will not be diluted by the passion of something that is critically important and impacts on our activity,” she said.
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UBS chief executive Sergio Ermotti has criticised European politicians and regulators, accusing them of deliberately hindering the growth and success of European banks, while allowing their US counterparts to dominate the global financial sector.
In an interview with Nicolai Tangen, the head of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund and UBS’s largest shareholder, Ermotti highlighted the contrast between Europe’s approach, which he said limits the size and success of banks, and the stance of US regulators, who promote international expansion.
Ermotti told Tangen there is “still a lot of parochial thinking in Europe about being big banks”. And each country “wants to have their own national champion, forgetting that winning the national championships doesn’t take you very far in terms of global [dominance],” as reported by the Financial Times.
Reflecting on UBS’s takeover of collapsed Swiss rival Credit Suisse last year, Ermotti said: “In banking, all the mergers that create any value are coming at moments of stress.”
“Look back at the US banks [and] how they got into their position. It’s all about them being allowed or being asked during the financial crisis to grab or put together banks that were about to fail or they were failing. It is a pity that it takes a crisis to create something that makes sense.”
