Interest relief IS on the agenda

Ed Balls said in a speech the other day that the government was not intending to clamp down on interest relief in the UK.

Speaking about private equity deals, he said, and I think the words are important;

There is, of course, nothing specific to private equity in the tax-deductibility of interest. Any kind of company can claim it, and most quoted companies do. It is also the international norm - that interest is in general treated as a business expense and deductible from taxable profits for companies in any form of ownership. We have no plans to review this principle.