OBR questioned on Reeves’ flip-flopping and forecast changes November 20, 2025 The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)’s chief has been questioned on whether he dramatically upgraded forecasts midway through the Chancellor’s Budget planning, affording Rachel Reeves as much as a £10bn swing in headroom projections and allowing her to abandon plans to raise income taxes. Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride has written to Richard Hughes, chair of [...]
Andy Burnham makes £1bn challenge to Starmer and Reeves before the Budget November 20, 2025 Andy Burnham has revealed a £1bn growth plan for Manchester in a move which could be seen as a direct challenge to both Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves less than a week before the Budget. The Mayor of Greater Manchester has touted the proposals as a way to “pioneer a new [...]
UK startup growth clashes with Labour’s immigration reforms November 20, 2025 More than half of Britain’s fastest-growing startups are founded by immigrants, as global talent continues to power the UK’s entrepreneurial engine even as ministers tighten migration rules. New analysis from the Entrepreneurs Network shows that 54 per cent of the UK’s top 100 fastest-growing companies have at least one foreign-born founder, a sharp rise from [...]
Only a new leader can save Labour now November 20, 2025 Starmer and Reeves have a majority but not a mandate and are too weak to deliver anything. Only a new leader can give the markets and the OBR confidence that they have an actual plan, says Helen Thomas As Budget preparation ploughs into the final furlong, the next field is already lining up on the [...]
Is Budget speculation a bad thing? November 20, 2025 Testing measures before the big day can be helpful, but the upcoming Budget has been a feeding frenzy, making it impossible to distinguish fan fiction from genuine policy, says Tim Sarson The Autumn Budget speculation season has become rather a circus. I thought last year was unusually long and noisy but 2025 takes things to [...]
Unpopular opinion: Banks are taxed enough already November 20, 2025 Is Angela Rayner influencing the Budget from beyond the political grave? The former deputy PM and housing secretary was famously in favour of increasing the additional tax burden faced by banks. Ahead of this year’s Spring Statement, Rayner was riding high. With a confidence that turned out to be misplaced, she inserted herself into debates [...]
Our savings are lazy – the Budget must put them to work November 20, 2025 Rachel Reeves should cut the cash ISA limit and redirect savings into British equities, says Steven Fine The old saying in finance is that “money never sleeps”: but a lot of ours is lazy. Today Britain sits on nearly a trillion pounds of ISA savings, yet too little is being put to work in our [...]
Reeves to give go-ahead to DLR Thamesmead extension at Budget November 20, 2025 Rachel Reeves is set to give the green light to a proposal to extend the Docklands Light Railway to Thamesmead in a major expansion of London’s transport network. The move, which would mark the first extension to a London train line since the Overground extension to Barking Riverside in July 2022, promises to create 10,000 [...]
Cabbies spark new war against Uber on tax loophole November 20, 2025 Cabbies have demanded Chancellor Racheel Reeves close a tax loophole used by Uber. Taxi drivers have written to the Chancellor asking her to make Uber pay the same level of VAT as black cabs, blaming lobbying efforts by the company for misleading the Treasury and the UK public on its perks. The Licensed Taxi Drivers’ [...]
Reeves’ milkshake tax ‘could force me to quit UK’ November 19, 2025 Rachel Reeves’ possible ‘milkshake tax’ could force a family business to move production oversees if it is introduced in the Budget next week, its boss has warned. Global Brands chief executive Steve Perez said the rumoured changes to the Soft Drinks Industry Levy could lead to making the decision which would “be devastating for local [...]