Business owners still plan staff cuts due to last year’s NICs raid October 30, 2025 Nearly half of business owners are still planning to reduce headcounts in response to Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ £25bn tax hike on employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs), a new survey has indicated, pointing to the long-lasting economic effects of a brutal tax raid in her first Budget. Reeves made sweeping tax hikes last year to fund [...]
‘Unprecedented’ number of small businesses expect to shrink or close down October 30, 2025 A record number of small businesses are expecting to shrink or close down in the next year, a leading industry group has warned, amid a “vicious” cycle of low growth and fears that next month’s Budget could cause more pain for businesses. Nearly one in three of the UK’s small businesses (30 per cent) expect [...]
Pound falls to 2023 low against Euro as Budget jitters spike October 29, 2025 The Pound suffered a sharp drop on Wednesday as investors braced for an economic hit in Rachel Reeves’ forthcoming Budget. Sterling’s downturn came as the UK’s fiscal watchdog looks set to hand a hefty downgrade to the country’s productivity growth. On Wednesday morning, the pound fell 0.4 per cent against the Euro to 1.13 – [...]
Mortgage lending hits highest level since March amid pre-Budget rush October 29, 2025 Net borrowing of mortgage debt rose to the highest level since March this year, money and credit statistics published by the Bank of England have shown, in signs that Brits are rushing to buy homes before any new property taxes are announced at the Budget. Net borrowing rose by £1.2bn to £5.5bn while mortgage approvals [...]
Keir Starmer refuses to rule out income tax raid at the Budget October 29, 2025 Keir Starmer dodged questions on whether Labour would raise income tax, VAT or national insurance, the clearest sign yet that the government is looking at breaking key party manifesto commitments on taxes. During Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Kemi Badenoch grilled Starmer on whether Rachel Reeves was laying the groundwork for an income tax raid [...]
Why the ONS would survive my cull of X accounts October 29, 2025 If I had to cull the number of accounts I follow on X to just ten, @ONS would make the grade. As for the other 9, I’d be reluctant to say goodbye to @PaintingsLondon, @MattCartoonist, @createstreets or @DiaperDiplomacy but I reckon as long as I retained the Office for National Statistics I could continue to [...]
Firms brace for ‘difficult winter’ as tax burden weighs on activity October 29, 2025 Companies across the private sector are braced for a “difficult” winter as activity is forecast to downturn across UK services due to mounting tax fears, fresh research has indicated. A leading survey by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), considered to be one of the UK’s most influential business groups, has suggested that private sector [...]
Starmer: UK will not be pushed by China on embassy October 28, 2025 Sir Keir Starmer has hit back at China’s Foreign Ministry as he said a decision on its embassy proposal at the Royal Mint Court site, located just beyond the Square Mile, would be taken in a “proper way regardless of any views or pressure from anyone”. In an interview with Bloomberg, the Prime Minister defended [...]
Rachel Reeves set for £20bn OBR productivity downgrade October 28, 2025 Rachel Reeves’ ballooning fiscal black hole is set to deepen as the fiscal watchdog hands the Chancellor its final productivity forecast on Friday. The Treasury is already battling to contain public finances after a U-turn on welfare reforms ruined hopes of £5bn in savings, and a £190bn spending splurge on government departments helped erode the Chancellor’s wafer-thin [...]
Looking for growth is a lot better than hoping for it October 28, 2025 Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer like to say that economic growth is the defining mission of this government, but as the latest data shows it’s starting to resemble Mission Impossible. While the government deserves credit for addressing some of the deep-rooted issues that have held back growth for so long – whether though planning reform [...]