Taxes will be increased on expensive houses, allowing the government to fulfil its longer-term promise to scrap the 50p top income tax rate, Nick Clegg has said.

UK retail sales slipped 0.8% in February compared to the previous month, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Chancellor George Osborne has set out an array of business-friendly measures as he looks to the private sector to rejuvenate the nation's economy.

Chancellor George Osborne has slashed corporation tax by more than expected as part of a bold plan to stimulate Britain's economy and private sector.

Inflation hit 4.4% in February, up from 4% in January, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) - heaping more pressure on the Bank of England to hike interest rates.

Five companies involved in unscrupulous property investment schemes which cost victims over £280,000 have been forced into liquidation following a government investigation.

The Bank of England has held interest rates at 0.5% and kept its quantitative easing programme at £200bn - despite growing calls for a rate hike amid spiralling inflation.

Global was the best-selling IMA sector in January - a month which saw net retail sales fall from recent highs to reach a 12-month low.

Bank of England deputy governor Charlie Bean has defended MPC policy in the face of persistently high inflation, warning the economy could be on the verge of a "durable slowing".

The UK could be entering a "profoundly different" era of slow growth and high debt reminiscent of the economic ills engulfing Japan, says the BBC's economics editor Stephanie Flanders.