Capital Gains less taxing in Spain

So the dreaded Capital Gains Tax remains at 18% for most Brits, but the UK Budget added an extra 10% for high earners who want to sell second homes in the UK or Spain.

The tax clicks in only after the owner’s basic UK profit allowance of £10,000 has been applied along with the cost of any improvements and running costs (if renting it out).

This change is likely to encourage more Brits to buy a second home in Spain, where the capital gains tax is the same as the UK basic of 18%, but this can be offset by taking away taxes paid and other costs on acquisition and on selling and then working a multiplier based on the number of years in ownership. In Spain there is no extra percentage penalty for being a wealthier owner.

However, for official ex-Pat residents there is no CGT (Impuesto sobre Incremento de Patrimonio de la Venta de un Bien Inmeuble) payable in Spain if, within two years, you reinvest the proceeds of the permanent house sale in a replacement property and you get to deduct the buying costs from the profits when you come to sell the replacement house. Likewise for all residents over 65s.

More good news for resident house sellers in Spain is that any CGT paid can be offset against any personal income tax due for the year of sale.

Because the countries have a Double Taxation Agreement, whatever CGT a property seller who remains a UK resident has paid in Spain can be offset against what might otherwise be due in the UK, again minus the personal allowance.

Conclusion: With the abolition last year of Spain’s Wealth Tax, it is more likely property owners –resident and non resident - will pay far less CGT in Spain, but better to use a local accountant or gestor to do the sum and agree the amount with the Hacienda. They will ensure you understand your own personal obligations and liabilities and help mitigate the CGT handed over.

For serious buyers, there are many Spanish bank repossessions at bargain prices, Sterling has regained the 20% lost against the Euro since 2008, low cost mortgages of up to 90% and helpful sources like PropertyInSpain.Net who specialise in bank-owned bargains and no-hassle purchase of fully legal property in Spain.

Spain digs into their debt mountain

If you thought the new British coalition government was off to a flying start to cut the growing debt mountain and save the nation, better look at what the Spanish Government has been up to in the same period.

Two countries trading on over-priced properties and suffering from the fact the affordability level has been reached; two countries suffering from their highest unemployment levels; two countries pole-axed by Left-wing Socialist public sector overspending; two countries sharing the biggest tourism market in Europe as Brits continue their three decades relationship - and the Spanish get the lolly and the jobs.

Now the UK has seen the light and a new Government is promising to turn things around and the Spanish Government, with a general election due within the year, has seen what has happened to fellow impoverished travellers Greece and to the UK's failed Labour Government and decided enough is enough.

So there’s to be a new wealth tax on people with “high-economic capacity” as a sop to the less well off, who like their UK counterparts, are likely to be hammered under new austerity measures designed to reduce the Spanish deficit from 11.2% to 3% by 2013. Likely revenue is around EUR 2 billion, based on similar wealth tax abandoned in 2008.

The Spanish Government has got approval for a EUR 15 billion austerity package that includes wage cuts of 5% for civil servants just when the economy, like that of the UK, is just crawling out of the red. With the third largest deficit in Euroland Spain is hoping the move with have a calming effect…

Spanish banks, feeling the pain of their excessive lending in the property sector for the last decade made their first big move as four Spanish regional savings banks, led by Caja de Ahorros de Mediterraneo, reached a preliminary agreement to merge some of their operations.

The agreement, which also includes Cajastur, Caja de Extremadura and Caja Cantabria, would aim to create a joint banking group that seeks to “strengthen solvency and assets of the participating banks”. The move followed the Bank of Spain taking control of another savings bank Cajasur after trade unions blocked a planned merger with Unicaja.

Finally, there is to be a massive clampdown on motorist lawbreakers with increased on the spot fines and non payment collection extended to four years because 40% of traffic fines have never been paid in Spain. The Interior Minister said: This doesn’t mean that we think that we are going to make more money out of fines”. Where have we heard that before?

The property market is strengthening as increasing numbers of bargain hunters fly to buy in Spain and find Spanish bank repossessions at discounts of up to 50% and such outstanding loan to values that 90% mortgages are on offer.

Brit pensioners quitting Never-Never Land

Thousands of Over-50s and pensioners are in despair over their futures as they note the daily pronouncements of the ruling McBroons and wannabe Cameroons on how to fix the fiscal mess in which the UK wallows.

Likewise the decline in public service standards and a real threat to day to day living as deep budget cuts strangle services are major concerns.

Whatever the outcome of the General Election, living in Britain is going to be tough, specially for those on fixed incomes thinking about retirement. Neither McBroon, who started off by selling our gold reserves for a quarter of today’s price and has gone steadily downhill since, nor Cameroon hold a magic wand to divert us all from their Never-Never land of national debt and family hardships.

So shall we go or shall we stay is going to be the big debate?

While what happens in the UK over the next decade of paying down the McBroon borrowed billions is unknown, there is a place with a lot of “knowns” that is tempting many over 50 and retirement couples to emigrate.

Spain offers a lifestyle that attracts tourists and property owners like no other place on earth:

 Year round warm weather even during the often balmy winter months.
 Excellent sporting facilities including the favourite pastimes of golf and water sports.
 A stable and caring Spanish society that welcomes and respects others, especially the elderly and very young.
 Excellent infrastructure of roads, railways, modern free health facilities for EU citizens.
 Two-hour flights from nearly 20 UK airports to mainland Spain, a bit longer to the Balearics and Canary Islands.
 Superb local food with the Mediterranean diet becoming so popular as a healthy diet with ingredients that are fresh and plentiful.
 Very few problems for non-Spanish speakers as English is now the second language of Spain.

The above benefits are fixed and not subject to market fluctuations nor the vagaries of McBroon that have deleted the “Great” from Great Britain and messed up the lives of millions of its citizens.

Spain’s biggest mistake was allowing over capacity in its important property sector and that means a bigger choice of genuine bargains from hard-pressed developers and Spanish banks with many repossession bargains to offer Brits and other north European buyers.

Many of these villas and apartments are ideal for fulltime living or as 50-50 homes for couples wanting to avoid drab UK winters and the inevitable depressing economic climate in the dark years ahead.

Brit buyers voting with their feet

It should be a good year for property purchase in Spain and already the Russian, Scandinavian and Benelux buyers are bagging most of the bargains, priced at levels of at least five years ago.

The British, who have been sitting on their hands during the recession, seem more likely to buy in 2010, as they now realise their country is going nowhere soon, thanks to the trillions of pounds of debt incurred by the UK government that needs to be repaid over the next decade. They now accept that voting out the incompetent Labour Government isn’t likely to improve the position of most British families as fiscal hardship, increased taxes and job losses take their toll.

They see Britain’s busted economy, collapsed currency, Governmental mismanagement and lack of inward investment and realise the country is at the bottom of the G20 pile and regarded internationally as a basket-case. There has been few products to export as manufacturing has left these shores in waves, to be replaced by now disgraced banking and financial services. Profits from making cars and other consumer goods goes to overseas corporations and the associated danger of losing jobs to cheaper factories in Eastern Europe.

All this means many Brits are more likely to vote with their feet, putting a big X for Spain, their favourite destination for decades and snapping up quality holiday properties at bargain prices as bolt holes away from the ongoing economic rigours of Britain or for full-time living in the sun.

The property market may have collapsed and the Spanish economy may be in tatters but people are still interested in setting up a new life-style for themselves in Spain? They have done their research, logged the market trends and compared the results with the prospects of staying put in the UK.

Conversely, we see many people now leaving Spain and returning to the UK. They are mainly unable to make ends meet as active workers or retirees and want to get back to friends and family in the UK, where they hope their prospects will improve. For many the decline in Sterling will mean a good return on their property investment, or at worse getting all their money back if they bought in the peak years of the Spanish property market.

Specialist brokers like PropertyInSpain.Net is getting one or two of these returnees a day listing their properties on their website which is ranked by Google as the number one source for Spanish bank repossessions and bargain property in Spain, attracting 1,000s of bargains hunters every day]

Most bargains are coming from Spanish banks, who were not allowed by the Bank of Spain regulator to go anywhere near the toxic assets that blighted the US and UK banking industries. However, Spanish banks over-invested in the country’s booming property market that, at its peak, was turning out 600,000 units a years, more homes than being built in the UK, France and Germany combined.

They funded over confident developers and house-builders and together they created a housing bubble that burst within a decade, accelerated by greed, graft and corruption within many town halls. This left many buyers in legal limbo, having been lured into offplan sales of illegally built homes in places like Marbella, Costa Almeria and Costa de la Luz.

Central Government has moved quickly to resolve many of the problems, jail the conmen and to tighten up the planning regime. In Marbella, for instance, there are now volumes of records showing clearly which properties are legal and which are not and developments that are likely to become legal in the near future. Buyers and their Spanish lawyers can consult the lists and buy with new-found confidence.

Likewise the bank-owned bargains are fully legal, are discounted by up to 50% of the last valuation and come with generous mortgages built-in. A worthwhile combination for buyers wanting a great holiday homes or a fulltime move to sunny Spain…an opportune moment to make the move to secure a bargain.

Spanish property bargains window for 2010

There is still a “window of opportunity” for some bargain property purchases in Spain as that country’s economy, like that of the UK, shows little sign of recovery at the start of the New Year.

Just two months ago the European Commission assessed the fiscal state of play and stated: "Spain's weaknesses over the developing crisis reflect mainly the reversal of the continuous domestic demand expansion of over a decade, which was associated with high indebtedness of the private sector, large external deficits and debt, an oversized housing sector compared with the euro area average and fast rising asset prices, notably of real estate assets."

Some economists are likening the parlous states of Spain and the UK, the only major economies still officially in recession and deciding that “recovery over the next 12 months will be gradual and drawn-out”.

While the UK housing market remains depressed, due to a lack of buyer confidence and shortages of good mortgages, the reverse is true in Spain. There are many bargains as a result of the recession and this means loan to value deals of up to 80 percent. Many properties are now owned by Spanish banks who just want to get back any outstanding mortgages or the loans to developers and house builders.

House sales in Spain are down 25% from their peak in 2007, but that is still a whopping 300,000 a year and with some 75,000 Spanish bank repossessions dripping into the market place there are likely to be real bargains around during 2010.

There are many Spanish buyers snapping up these bargains because research (see chart) shows, despite the recession hardships, they are pretty hopeful at this point that the worst of the economic crisis is now behind them. Confidence may not be not back to its old pre-crisis level, but it is now well up from its July 2008 low point.

The Russians, Scandinavians and Dutch are in there too, often with ready cash, because they still believe Spain offers good medium term investment returns as one of the world’s leading tourist destinations and is a great place to live for those planning retirement or full-time relocation.

Brits share those views of Spain, but seem to be holding back from the bargains on offer because they somehow think prices will drop even more. Some prices probably will go down further, but only on property in inferior locations or condition. The best deals, as ever, are based on the old maxim, “Location, location, location” and these apartments and villas are going first, often with several would be buyers chasing the same bargain.

Late last year some newly confident developers actually increased prices of their key ready homes after securing a succession of sales. Sometime in 2010 this demand will start to move key ready and repossession prices upwards, widening the gaps between good, bad and indifferent properties and the window of opportunity will start to close…

Final days for the McBroons?

It’s looking like the final days of the McBroons as they scramble from saving face in the hot Afghan desert and onto snowy Copenhagen to save the world from climate change. As they have got so little right in their 12 years of mis-rule, few would give them any odds on pulling something useful out of the fire at this late stage of their decline.

McBroon and his cohorts are allowing the busted banks to pay bonuses and fund the Krafty take-over of a British chocs company; Spend money faster than they can print it on some days, while cheating on promised pension increases; providing vital helicopters after five years of military casualties while whitewashing over the vainglorious Iraq invasion… offering Third World ragamuffins billions to squander on staying green while giving nowt to Britain’s greenest van maker - who’s now gone bust.

It’s a fairy tale world the McBroons have created for themselves, but surely without a happy fairy tale ending… Hans Christian Andersen lived in Copenhagen and like McBroon he liked to travel around the world compiling imaginative stories to tell, one of which, “Only a Fiddler”, might become McBroon’s tomb-top testimonial when judged by history?

The parlous and changed state of Great Britain PLC, now Lorded over by the mortgage fiddler with more titles than Idi Amin, Saddam Hussain, Robert Mugabe and Hazel Blears, is getting many people looking for a better country to move to.

A place where their meagre pensions will go further; where the sun shines 300 days of the year and their neighbours will be friendly and more respectful in their safer neighbourhoods. The nearest place is Spain, where they can now find a nice house for less than the average price of a flat in the UK.

Spain’s in the recession too and in trouble because they built too many second homes to cater for the never-ending demand from discontented Brits, bored Benelux bods and over-rich Russians. As Spanish banks were not allowed to stray into the twilight zones of dodgy lending and toxic assets they are still around to advance good mortgages to sensible borrowers.

As McBroon has done nothing to support Sterling, the pound has crashed against the Euro, making life difficult for Brits paying mortgages in Spain. Some have had their Spanish homes repossessed, but most will go without the Sunday roast before giving up their splendid lifestyle on their favourite Costa.

Brit buyers miss out on Spanish bargains

British buyers are losing out on the amazing property bargains in Spain as the Dutch show more courage, the Belgians more muscle and even the French recognise a good deal when they see one.

These Euro-zone countries do not have the adverse currency problems of would-be Brit buyers, who now have to recognise that the once mighty Pound is worth just one Euro and is unlikely to do better than this for some years. The McBroon fiscal foul-ups have allowed sterling to decline by 30%, removing the long-held extra buying power when it comes to getting a home in sunny Spain.

But there is still a chance for Brit Over-50s, fed-up with the general decline of the UK, to realise their dream of a full-time or part-time life in Spain. In many cases the current asking prices are showing discounts that more than compensate for the currency exchange losses and with prices bottoming out right now, there is a good chance of an equity gain in future years.

The Spanish property market is bouncing back as the banks sell off their liquidation stock of key ready homes taken from cash-strapped developers in exchange for unpaid bank loans. Spanish families are getting an increasing share because they are on the spot when the best deals come up – like La Caixa bank selling 120 apartments over a weekend and Santander selling 24 properties in a single day.

But the Dutch, Belgians and French have organised themselves and are finishing up with far more bargains than the Brits who seem shell-shocked by the McBroon machinations and its effect on their life plans. They browse the Spanish bank repossessions on specialist websites like PropertyInSpain.Net, make excited inquiries but then, seemingly, decide to wait a bit longer in case the prices drop further.

A bargain costing EUR 100,000 (discounted typically by 30%) needs a cash commitment of EUR 30,000 to cover deposit and buying costs while low interest mortgage payments can be offset by summer rentals if necessary. If the market returns in 3-5 years the recovered equity of 30% equates to the initial buying costs.

That’s the way the other European buyers are seeing the deals and they are enjoying the benefits right now as prices are bottoming out. That might be the signal that gets the Brits off their butts and into the buying fray?

Brits missing out on Spanish house bargains

Spain's property market, completing a year-long readjustment that has seen house prices fall progressively to, typically, 30% below their previous value, is now offering amazing bargains for the savvy investor.

Sales are becoming brisker and one Costa Blanca agent hit the jackpot with a five-a-day sales record. Banking giant Santander, who had swapped developer debt for developer finished property, sold 350 of the key ready homes to its staff in no time at all and some developers concluded useful discounted sales runs by increasing prices of the next offerings.

That’s cheeky, but who knows what price levels will be like two years down the line. This level of confidence, with sales now running at 1,000 homes a day, has not yet been seen in the UK and other European markets so far.

Spanish property has suffered along with many other western European sectors, and has seen a fall off in the number British buyers looking for homes after a drop in the value of the pound. Now surviving developers and their banking partners are gearing for the return of Brit buyers.

However, property experts believe that UK residents are missing out on excellent property investment opportunities while investors from Russia, Scandinavia and the Benelux countries are snapping up incredible property deals. Some Spanish property firms have seen a massive increase in enquiries from UK investors since February. It is mainly from investor groups, who appear to be the only ones with funds available for multiple units.

But Brits, seeking a holiday home or future place for fulltime living, can bag their own bargains if they work with a reputable property firm offering genuine, fully legal bargains from partner banks who are happy to provide up to 90% LTV mortgages.

Not all of these repossessed and must sell properties are “cheap” because that does not allow for prime location, condition and access to airports, beaches, leisure and other amenities such as bars, restaurants and shops. They are definately the best value, specifically the brand-new, key ready apartments and villas, being sold at huge discounts by developers being pressured on their development loans by the Spanish banks.

UK buyers may decided that a good tan and relaxed lifestyle in Spain is better than being Browned-off” by the McBroon fiscal chaos and ratched-up taxation needed to remedy Britain’s economy over the next decade or so?

Why the Spanish property bubble burst

As the dust settles on the mired property markets of Europe people are beginning to question how and why such a seemingly strong investment proved to be disastrous for many investors and families.

In Spain, the reason for the Sunshine State’s property bubble and its subsequent collapse, are being discussed and the answers provided make a lot of sense and carry warnings about the future behaviour of Governments, banks, developers and property professionals.

The conclusion so far from various debates by academics and industry insiders seems to suggest the Spanish economic miracle was a mirage, because the country was dedicated to building homes that people would not have wanted to buy had they known how little they would be worth in the future.

A house is only valuable as something in which to live. And if no one wants to do so, then it is not worth anything. Spanish, British and other north Europeans have purchased flats under construction or which will be visited only a few days a year, not because buyers were eager to consume housing, but because they thought they were a store of value for the future.

Furthermore, many banks and building societies provided big loans to developers and builders, many of whom cannot repay the loans and if they are allowed to go bust, could lead to bankruptcy for banks and cajas (building societies). Municipalities have enjoyed unsustainable revenues due to land reclassification and the waste to which they have become accustomed is over.

Cars and other consumer items that households bought during the property boom years were mistakes as they could not afford to buy because they were not as rich they thought. This led a complete distortion of the fabric of the Spanish economy.

Finally, as this kind of unsustainable activity has stopped, the economy has entered recession, although there are now a lot of well-priced bargain homes from Spanish banks and anxious, must sell owners.

Why did two successive Spanish governments and the Central Bank of Spain, despite numerous warnings on over-priced housing, not attempt to stop the bubble?

First, because the construction sector is labour intensive, which is important in a country with a high unemployment rate. Secondly, because an increase in the value of housing benefits the average voter, who is the owner of his home. And thirdly, because the real estate sector generates substantial revenue for the public sector at national, regional and municipal levels.

For example, in 2004, it accounted for 60% of the budget (excluding liabilities and current transfers) of Valencia and 50% of Madrid.

Lessons for the future? The best counter measure for house price inflation has got to be accurate price monitoring and production of benchmark prices at every level of the market. The Spanish Ministry of Housing has not been a reliable, accurate source and the replacement source, the National Institute of Statistics not much better.

Recently, the property registries themselves have been publishing the notarised transactions and the figures from TINSA, the big valuations company have been accurate and true reflection of prices gained from the frontline by their 3,000 frontline valuers.

There has to be increased planning credibility to avoid the disasters of the Valencia Land Grab and homes bought in in good faith being threatened with demolition because in retrospect the “planning permissions” granted by dodgy local mayors were more about revenue than community.

And Brit buyers should commit to a property in Spain only if they want a holiday home at a realistic price and to have lots of family fun and cool-out time while seeing an investment return over a number of years.

Now would seem an ideal time to grab a bargain, enjoy the fulltime or holiday lifestyle that comes with it and spend years immersed in the sunshine and culture of Spain...

Dodgy TV show, dodgy deals

That’s television for you…the repeats are coming round faster and faster. Three months ago we had the unedifying sight of Prime Minister Brown and Chancellor Darling putting on a double act for the cameras, while trying to explain why they were handing over 37 million quid to bail out busted banks.

Today, viewers again saw the pair – visibly older, due to sleepless nights considering their fiscal foul-ups? – looking like Tweedle B and Tweedle D, apparently repeating the process as their efforts had failed first time around. This time they plan to throw ten times the amount of billions of taxpayers money at banks who are busted due to their irresponsible lending and fat cat lifestyles.

They told astonished, assembled media folk they didn’t know the final figure for this repeat bank bail-out because they didn’t have all the data on the toxic debts concealed by the banks. Tweedle B trotted out his infamous “We’ll do what ever it takes to solve this crisis” while alongside, Tweedle D spouted: “We are doing this for British families and to restore credit lines to British firms”.

“British families” are losing their homes and “British firms” are going bust every day, some even as the Tweedle B and Tweedle D Show hogged the airwaves.

Most viewing Brits would be in despair at such a pathetic performance, some would seriously ponder their future prospects under a leadership that allowed the banks to squander the deposits of, and profits made from, British families and businesses and then blame the US sub prime market for the recession.

The British Government allowed regulated British banks to stuff billions into such dodgy deals, so surely that’s how it started?

Meanwhile, over in sunny Spain, with the country teetering on the brink of recession, the leftist government has predicted unemployment may jump to 15.9% this year, compared with 11.33% registered during the third quarter of 2008.

In an interview published in El Pais yesterday, Finance Minister Pedro Solbes said the country had used up "all the public spending margin we have in tackling the economic crisis.” At least Spain had useful reserves, without calling on taxpayers to cough up for failing banks.

But there is good news for Brits in Spain and those planning to buy a property with the passing of Law 4/2008 confirming that Spanish Wealth Tax was finally abolished. Until now, non-residents have been required to present Form 214, the so-called "wealth tax return". The official name of this Form 214 is "Impuesto sobre el Patrimonio y sobre la Renta de No Residentes" ("Wealth and Income Tax Return for Non-Residents").

Following approval of this law, those non-resident individuals who have one or more properties in Spain are no longer required to pay Wealth Tax. However, while they are still required to pay the Income Tax for Non-Residents, tax handed over by Brits can be offset against UK income tax

Further good news for savers, specialist banks liked CAM in Spain are now offering non residents 5.40% interest on three month deposits – a much better deal than UK banks and ideal for would be buyers saving-up for their deposits.

Battered Brits move to Spain

The daily battering of Britain continues with 1,000s of job losses and every economic barometer shooting downwards on an almost daily basis. Lowest house sales, fewest mortgages handed out, house prices down 8%, record job losses and lowest production etc.

Not surprisingly, our wine drinking is up, taking the UK to the dubious title of leading wine importer in the world.

Waitrose customers now provide another useful state of the nation indicator. The South Woodford emporium of the upmarket supermarket chain offers three charity bins for customers to pass on their sales tokens gained at the check-outs. A charity specialising in anxiety and phobias is getting twice the amount of the rivals’ bins…

Clearly a connection between increased wine quoffing, the thousands of finance sector staff being fired and a mass anxiety over the future of Great Britain Limited. Bankers may well have superceded journalists as the traditional big drinkers of wine and it is workers in the finance sector who are in High Anxiety. They are important customers for Waitrose and contributing to the anxiety charity…

Over in Spain, the sun is shining, there is less anxiety and the number of people seeking a new life in the country has surged by 12% as Brits firmly established themselves as the country's fourth-largest immigrant community. Figures just released by the Spanish government revealed that the number of British expatriates registered as resident in Spain had risen to 352,000 at the start of 2008.

That gave Spain a bigger British population than all but eight local authorities in England, according to the most recent census figures. Strangely, the UK Government, seen as inept with statistics generally, reckons there are around one million Brits in Spain.

Although the new figures were gathered before the tumbling value of the pound began creating problems for those living off British pensions in Spain, few pundits expect numbers to start falling. Emigrants to Spain are no longer mainly pensioners. The figures show only one third of Britons living in Spain are aged over 55.

So with thousands of repossessed bargains from the Spanish banks and Must Sell developers, we can expect the figures to continue rise. Paying around half of the current valuation more than compensates for the decline in sterling against the euro - and how good is it, to have an property asset in the world’s strongest currency?

www.PropertyInSpain.Net are the Google top ranked source for Spanish bank repossessions, offering bargains across Spain direct from the banks.

Tax cashback, not pass the parcel

So after a week of the governmernt stuffing billions into banks and public bodies stuffing millions into busted banks in Iceland, the Great British Public remains unimpressed, passive and sitting on their collective hands as McBroon & Co’s revival of the Rocky Horror Show heads towards the final curtain.

Folks cannot believe that a Government will hand out taxpayers’ money to mismanaged banks, who will then refuse to lend it back to taxpayers to spend on houses, cars and flatscreen tellies – the sort of buying needed to kickstart the economy.

That’s a kind of “pass the parcel” party game, where the kid grasping the parcel when the music stops gets to keep it. The banks are certainly not letting go even as the music plays on…

Stop the game and solve the problem right now. If McBroon were to order the banks to transfer £6,000 into everybody’s bank account at a reasonable rate of interest, people would rush out and buy something at Argus, John Lewis or Dagenham Motors. Others might add the cashback to their kitty for a new house or, whisper it, buy a few shares for a rainy day.

Some Brits might spend some of their cashback at Iceland or Hamleys, as both are apparently owned by companies in busted Iceland – on condition that country hands back the millions of UK council tax funds lock-up in the country’s frozen bank accounts.

If the British banks can’t get their act together, the sensible general public should be given the chance of spending their own money, stealthed away from them over years by McBroon.

That would free up the economy in time for a bonanza Christmas.

Then when the money’s spent, we can all head off to Spain where there are now enough affordable bargain homes for everybody tired of the halfwits running Britain and its failed institutions. At least in Spain there are no signs of failing banks because the Bank of Spain kept them under a tight rein and savings are covered by an unlimited Government guarantee…