Brutal bean-counters break the news: we’re utterly broke July 9, 2025 These are difficult times for a news organisation that likes to think of itself as being on the glass-half-full side of life. Optimism is in short supply, and whatever reserves remained after 12 months of this government were snatched away from us yesterday by those bean-counting assassins at the Office for Budget Responsibility. Once a [...]
Labour’s Mansion House will be lift-off or letdown for banks July 9, 2025 Britain’s banking sector will be keeping a close eye on Rachel Reeves’ Mansion House speech on July 15 in which the Chancellor will lay out Labour’s roadmap for financial services. Banks are set to take centre stage in the Treasury’s Financial Services Growth & Competitiveness Strategy as Reeves looks to harness the sector to power [...]
Rachel Reeves to face fresh blow with sluggish growth data July 8, 2025 The UK economy is expected to have grown by a miserly 0.1 per cent in May, consensus among City economists suggests, undermining Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ commitment to deliver higher growth. The government’s difficult two weeks could get a whole lot worse on Friday morning when the Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes data on GDP [...]
Brits back spending cuts over tax rises July 8, 2025 Voters prefer spending cuts over tax rises, fresh polling has found, putting Chancellor Rachel Reeves at odds with an electorate that has become frustrated with her economic policies. Rachel Reeves set spending pledges in stone in June when she confirmed Labour would boost day-to-day departmental and capital spending, with the NHS receiving a fresh three-year [...]
Wealth tax: City bosses warn Labour of entrepreneur exodus July 8, 2025 A wealth tax would spark a fresh exodus of entrepreneurs from the UK, according to City grandees as calls mount from within Labour to explore the policy. Sir Martin Sorrell, Sir Rocco Forte and Sir Philip Hampton warned in The Telegraph that business owners could flee Britain en masse. Hotelier Sir Rocco said: “Labour has [...]
Rachel Reeves warned against piling on small business tax pain July 8, 2025 As Rachel Reeves circles new avenues to boost tax receipts, the Chancellor has faced a fresh warning to ease the pain for small businesses. Businesses have called for Reeves to reverse her Autumn Budget tax hikes and ease the burden for firms as they suffer the crunch of economic uncertainty. One in five small- and [...]
I’m one of Britain’s highest taxpayers – a wealth tax would be the last straw July 8, 2025 Many patriotic high taxpayers like Steve Rigby accept that they work 50 per cent of their time for the government. A punitive wealth tax raiding assets that have already been taxed multiple times risks upending the social contract and driving businesses and jobs away The drumbeat for a wealth tax grows louder by the day, [...]
Rachel Reeves’ Cash ISA plans will punish Brits who just want stability July 8, 2025 The Chancellor isn't wrong to try and get Brits investing, but Cash ISA reform won't work, writes Antonia Medlicott.
OBR warns unfunded spending to damage UK finances amid ‘daunting’ risks July 8, 2025 The UK economy is set for a “daunting” year as the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has warned unfunded spending commitments and global trade tensions are likely to damage public finances. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is facing pressure to assuage Labour backbenchers by not cutting welfare spending while also upholding a pledge not to raise tax [...]
Stephen Kinnock says Reeves looking ‘very carefully’ at wealth tax July 8, 2025 Health minister Stephen Kinnock has given the strongest hint yet that a wealth tax might be on the agenda for the government after his father – the former Labour leader Lord Kinnock – intervened to push for the policy over the weekend. The junior Kinnock told LBC’s Shelagh Fogarty that the government has “already taken [...]