UK consumer confidence is tanking warns KPMG March 25, 2025 Three in five Brits believe the UK economy is worsening, a new survey by KPMG has shown, as Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement risks failing to lift people’s spirits. Reeves is set to announce policies aimed at economic business confidence at her Spring Statement on Wednesday but a new survey suggests consumers are increasingly downbeat [...]
UK tech eyes tax moves in Spring Statement March 25, 2025 The UK’s tech sector is awaiting Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement, as businesses look for support from the government on AI investment, digitalised healthcare, and scam prevention. Industry heavyweights are urging the Chancellor to consider targeted tax incentives and upskilling initiatives. They have also called for stronger regulatory frameworks to support growth and innovation amid burgeoning [...]
‘Corporate purpose? It went too far’, says man behind Britain’s Davos March 25, 2025 John O’Brien founded Anthropy – an annual gathering of corporate and political luminaries dubbed ‘Britain’s Davos’ – to help the UK ‘build back better’ from the pandemic. On the eve of its third instalment in the Eden Project’s greenery, Ali Lyon asks the ex-army captain, “Has it failed?” It is October 2022, and a group [...]
Reeves crosses her fingers and hopes for growth March 25, 2025 Ahead of last October’s Budget, ministers allowed months of speculation as to what would be unveiled, and the never-ending drumbeat of doom and gloom talked the economy to a standstill. Largely as a result of the contents and consequences of that Budget, economic growth has since evaporated and now all eyes are on this week’s [...]
FCA chief vows to support growth agenda ‘with urgency’ March 25, 2025 The chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said the watchdog is “going so much further” on its mission to boost growth in the UK, amid pressure from the government for regulators to cut red tape. Writing in Morning Wire this morning, Nikhil Rathi said the FCA had presented the Prime Minister with [...]
Labour’s National Wealth Fund slammed for ‘completely misleading’ rebrand March 25, 2025 The government has been accused of “gaslighting the British public” over its National Wealth Fund as the Treasury committee announced on Monday it had launched an inquiry into the new body. Originally a fixture of Labour’s 2024 manifesto – the National Wealth Fund was to consolidate the British Business Bank and the UK Infrastructure Bank, [...]
Reeves will have to get real and raise taxes March 25, 2025 Despite frantic denials, the debt burden means Rachel Reeves will soon have to revisit promises she made on tax in the care-free days of opposition, says Vince Cable The Chancellor has many competing priorities on Wednesday: a big rise in defence spending; keeping the NHS afloat; honouring promises not to raise taxes on income and [...]
Will a tax raid tomorrow prove too tempting for Reeves? March 25, 2025 Emergency Budgets are a bad idea, but with the economic changing fast Reeves may not have the luxury of waiting until Autumn to raise taxes, says Tim Sarson Last autumn, after a long, long summer of speculation and rumour, our newly installed Chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves delivered what she promised would be the [...]
Rachel Reeves takes leaf out of gardening manual– but don’t expect flowery days to come March 24, 2025 Gardening is typically something career politicians only enjoy once they have retired. But Rachel Reeves appears to be paying homage to the green-fingered guru Alan Titchmarsh in the lead-up to her Spring Statement to be delivered this Wednesday. In one video viewed 111,000 times on Youtube, Titchmarsh offers a tutorial on how to get “free [...]
Property and the Spring Statement: Is anything going to change? March 24, 2025 Labour faces some tough choices with its Spring Statement: after increasing business taxes and public spending last autumn, the government now has to grapple with unhappy companies and a maxed-out credit card. The last budget was a mixed bag for the property market: there was widespread concern amongst landlords that the government would hike up [...]