Tax or cut? Rachel Reeves faces fiscal headache before OBR forecasts February 5, 2025 The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will publish its latest assessment of the UK economy on 26 March.
‘Rachel Reeves, you must do better’: Chancellor urged to act before hospitality’s collapse February 4, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been told to take urgent action to prevent the collapse of thousands of hospitality businesses across the UK. In an open letter Sacha Lord, who was until recently Andy Burnham’s night time economy adviser for Greater Manchester, said he no longer considers Labour to be the party of “business and growth”. [...]
Astrazeneca cancels £450m vaccine plant, blaming state funding cut January 31, 2025 Astrazeneca has cancelled a planned £450m investment in a vaccine manufacturing plant in Merseyside, saying Labour have failed to match the previous government’s offer of funding. It sees the pharmaceutical firm scrap plans to expand its existing facility in Speke, as announced by then-chancellor Jeremy Hunt at last year’s March budget, as first reported by [...]
Rachel Reeves to unveil £65m investment in EV charging firm January 29, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves will unveil a £65m investment into an electric car charging company as part of a much-anticipated growth speech on Wednesday. Morning Wire understands the new National Wealth Fund (NWF) will take an equity stake in Connected Kerb alongside Aviva Investors, the global asset management branch of Aviva Group. The NWF will commit [...]
New CMA chair to take pro-growth approach after Reeves intervention January 26, 2025 The UK’s competition regulator will get behind Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ pro-growth demands after a new coalition of Labour MPs called for a “rapid review” of all ongoing work. Labour’s Growth Group, a centrist movement of around 110 MPs and ministers, said it had written to new interim chair Doug Gurr and chief executive Sarah Cardell [...]
Dispatch from Davos 2025: Did Reeves impress? January 24, 2025 Rachel Reeves promised to "sell Britain" at Davos 2025, but did she succeed? Comms afficionado Zaki Cooper reports from the Swiss Alps.
Will Heathrow’s third runway plans be halted by Miliband, Khan and Burnham? January 21, 2025 Heathrow Airport’s long-delayed third runway plans took a major step forward this week, after it was revealed the government is prepping to give the project its backing. Chancellor Rachel Reeves will outline her support for expansion bids from three major London hubs – Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton – in a speech later this month, according [...]
The Week in Business, with Christian May: anyone got any growth ideas? January 17, 2025 This week, Morning Wire Editor Christian May looks at the government's search for growth and asks whether the UK's army of regulators are best placed to help.
Next: Lord Wolfson warns Budget will make it ‘harder’ to enter workforce January 17, 2025 The boss of retail giant Next has warned that tax rises announced in the Budget will make it “harder and harder for people to enter the workforce”. Lord Wolfson told the BBC that the government’s move to hike national insurance (NI) would disproportionately hit entry-level jobs. “The axe has fallen particularly hard on those entry-level, [...]
Business confidence plunges to lowest level since Liz Truss’s mini-budget January 15, 2025 Rachel Reeves’s tax hikes have pushed business confidence to its lowest level since the wake of Liz Truss’s calamitous mini-Budget, as firms fret over a surge in costs and slowdown in the domestic economy, a closely watched survey has suggested. Concerns over a looming tax bill and a slump in sales caused business confidence to [...]