Starmer’s defence spending will mean ‘chunky’ tax rises, warns IFS June 2, 2025 Sir Keir Starmer’s plans to boost defence spending will require “chunky” tax rises, according to the chief of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Paul Johnson told Times Radio: “…if we’re really going to spend another £10-15 billion a year on defence, whilst inevitably we’re going to spend more and more on health and pensions [...]
Majority of Labour MPs oppose Reeves’ fiscal rules June 2, 2025 Two thirds of Labour MPs oppose Rachel Reeves’ fiscal rules, and twenty percent would prefer tax rises over spending cuts. Polling by Survation, shared with The Times, showed that 64 per cent of Labour MPs said Reeves’ rules inhibit ministers’ abilities to meet their objectives, including: raising living standards, improving public services, and combatting climate [...]
Starmer refuses to commit 3 per cent defence spending despite ‘battle-ready’ claim June 2, 2025 Keir Starmer has been criticised for failing to commit to increasing defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP. The Prime Minister vowed to put in place the “largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War,” with a 2.5 per cent share of GDP going to defence. However, the PM maintained that hitting [...]
Andy Haldane: Reeves ‘not even close’ on growth after ‘rookie errors’ June 2, 2025 The Bank of England’s former Chief Economist has slammed Rachel Reeves’ first near-full year as Chancellor as “disappointing”, with the government “not even close to doing enough” on growth. Less than two weeks out from the 11 June spending review, Andy Haldane told LBC’s Nick Ferrari that there have been “mistakes, rookie errors” that have [...]
Reform’s new crypto plan: politics ‘the driving force’ June 1, 2025 While Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was busy wooing the Bitcoin aficionados in Sin City, Las Vegas, party chairman Zia Yusuf faced the much less glamorous task of selling the UK media their new crypto plan. “This is not about turning the UK into some alt-coin scammers paradise,” Yusuf said. This follows the Reform party’s [...]
Spending review: Government poised to boost NHS and defence sector June 1, 2025 The government’s spending review is likely to focus on the UK’s health and defence sectors, a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) suggests. The spending review, which will be published on 11 June, will allocate departmental funding and budgets for the next three to four years. It has been the subject of speculation [...]
UK-Gulf states trade deal on the horizon May 30, 2025 The UK is poised to sign a trade agreement with the Gulf states, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is expected to be worth as much as £1.6bn, with hopes that the value will rise by an additional £8.6bn a year [...]
Civil service cull can save £5bn a year May 30, 2025 Civil service cull can save £5bn a year, Policy Exchange says Cutting 80,000 civil service jobs could save the Treasury as much as £5bn pounds a year, a new report has found, as the government seeks to rein in spending in a bid to stick to its fiscal rules. The research by Westminster think tank [...]
AI watchdog slams government over facial recognition rollout May 29, 2025 An artificial intelligence (AI) search body has criticised the UK government for accelerating the deployment of facial recognition technology without first establishing a comprehensive legal framework. The Ada Lovelace Institute has warned the increasing use of live facial recognition (LFR) by police and retailers across the UK is happening in a “legislative void”, raising urgent [...]
50,000 civil service jobs could be cut in Labour spending review May 29, 2025 Civil servants are facing another round of job cuts, with as many as 50,000 civil service jobs on the line in the government’s upcoming spending review. According to reports, ten per cent of civil servants, who number 500,000 in total, will be culled. The civil service swelled after Brexit and the pandemic, with 130,000 added [...]