Santander interested in TSB takeover June 18, 2025 Santander has approached its Spanish banking peer, Banco Sabadell, regarding a takeover of its UK high street bank, TSB. Britain’s fifth-largest lender is reported to have expressed interest in a deal for TSB, which follows owners Sabadell confirming earlier this week it had been approached regarding acquisitions. A formal offer is yet to be tabled, Sky News [...]
Speedy Hire swings to loss amid depot closures June 18, 2025 Speedy Hire has slumped into the red as it grapples with a challenging economic backdrop and tax hikes announced in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Autumn Budget. The London-listed firm, an equipment hire specialist, swung to a pre-tax loss of £1.5m in the year ended 31 March, 2025, down from gains of £5.1m the prior 12 months. [...]
James Dyson: Labour is killing aspiration in UK June 18, 2025 Britain’s “myopic” civil servants, politicians and judges are squashing aspiration, according to billionaire entrepreneur Sir James Dyson in a scathing attack on the current Labour government. Writing in a column in The Sun, the UK’s third richest person said that he worries that Britain “no longer has the aspiration to create the Dysons of the [...]
Inflation overshoots expectations ahead of Bank of England meeting June 18, 2025 Inflation hit 3.4 per cent in the year to May, official data has revealed, which is set to be the final set of data Bank of England officials receive before coming to an interest rates decision on Thursday. Data published by the Office for National Statistics showed services price growth, which is closely monitored by [...]
Council finances in dire straits, MPs say June 18, 2025 Councils could run out of money in 2026 due to unsustainable book balancing methods, according to parliamentarians. The hike in national insurance contributions (NIC), combined with spending on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), has squeezed local council finances, a new report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has found. Despite Reform’s DOGE campaign, they [...]
The London Stock Exchange has a Martin Lewis-shaped hole June 18, 2025 Martin Lewis has helped millions with his money-saving tips, but his views are too short-term, writes Simon Hunt. Cultural observers have been stroking their chins over a recent social trend: a growing number of Brits are going to church on Sundays, reversing decades of decline. It’s a curious phenomenon. But I would posit there’s a [...]
Tax hikes dragging investment to worst level since pandemic, CBI says June 18, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ dramatic tax hike on employment has helped push firms’ investment plans down to the worst level in five years, contributing to a downgrade in the Confederation of British Industry (CBI)’s latest economic outlook. The CBI now believe that the UK economy will only grow 1.2 per cent this year and slow down [...]
Non-dom U-turn would keep South African billionaire in UK June 18, 2025 South Africa’s richest self-made woman would cancel her plans to leave Britain if Rachel Reeves goes ahead with a change to non-dom inheritance tax rules said to be under consideration by the Treasury. Magda Wierzycka, the billionaire entrepreneur behind UK venture capital fund Braavos, had intended to join the wave of rich foreigners departing Britain, [...]
The City needs a Thatcher-style revolution June 18, 2025 Fifty years after Thatcher took charge, Canada faces a crisis of confidence and capital— and only bold, radical reform in her spirit can revive its global standing, says Tim Focas Hard to believe, but it is 50 years since Margaret Thatcher took the helm of the Conservative Party. Though her tenure as [...]
Labour is locking Britain into a high-tax, low-growth doom loop June 18, 2025 Tax, borrowing, the cost of borrowing, unemployment and inflation are all going up, while growth is going down. Yet in the face of this, Labour’s instinct is to tax more, spend more and centralise more, says Simon Clarke When in a big hole, muddle the figures so nobody can understand them. That’s what Paul Johnson [...]