UK growth outlook slashed amid tax and trade ‘double whammy’ March 5, 2025 The Chancellor’s growth agenda was dealt a fresh blow on Thursday after the British Chambers of Commerce slashed its forecast for the UK economy due to the tax and trade “double whammy” afflicting UK businesses. The business group now expects the UK economy to grow by just 0.9 per cent in 2025, a hefty downgrade [...]
Pension death tax will punish millions of savers, says advisory firm March 5, 2025 Planned government changes to pension taxes must be dropped, according to City experts. Advisory firm Blick Rothenberg has slammed the move as a “poorly conceived policy change [that] penalises prudent savers and their loved ones through double taxation.” The pension reforms – announced in October’s Budget and set to kick in from April 2027 – [...]
UK business confidence in crisis, new report says March 5, 2025 More than three quarters of bosses have low confidence in the UK business environment, according to a survey by the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) think tank. The ASI Business Confidence Survey took the temperature of 192 business leaders, who between them represent 100,000 employees – from sectors including finance, retail and manufacturing. It paints a [...]
What ever happened to levelling up? March 5, 2025 Levelling up has all but disappeared from the government's agenda. That's a big mistake for growth, writes Paul Ormerod.
Chancellor lining up billions in spending cuts as fiscal headroom wiped out March 5, 2025 The Chancellor Rachel Reeves is preparing to announce “major measures” including substantial spending cuts to a number of government departments – including welfare – in the Spring Statement. According to BBC News, sources said that “the world has changed” since the Budget, and that £9.9bn in fiscal headroom projected by the Office for Budget Responsibility [...]
Trump ‘just getting started’ as tariffs take hold March 5, 2025 In a major joint address to Congress Monday night, a defiant President Trump declared that he is “just getting started” as the backlash to the new Administration’s tariffs against Canada and Mexico intensifies. Trump gave this major speech on the day that he delivered a key campaign pledge, to impose sweeping taxes on the US’s [...]
Events, dear boy, events: Starmer’s defence challenge could be his biggest opportunity March 5, 2025 In July 2020, the then chief executive of the Environment Agency, Sir James Bevan, gave a speech to the Whitehall & Industry Group titled: ‘“Events, Dear Boy”: managing incidents before they become crises’. He told listeners: “When Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was asked what was the greatest challenge for a statesman, he replied: ‘Events, dear [...]
Government urged to back manufacturers’ growth ambitions March 4, 2025 The Government has been urged to back small and medium-sized (SME) manufacturers’ growth ambitions after fresh data showed it could give the economy an £83bn boost. Make UK and Citivas’ new report proposes that if SME manufacturers hit their targets the UK’s manufacturing sector would boom to 7th in the world. It currently stands at [...]
Starmer’s defence policy is popular, but voters still don’t rate him March 4, 2025 There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen. This quote — often attributed to history’s other murderous Vladimir, Soviet leader Lenin — could not describe the last week more aptly. The heart-sinking scene of Donald Trump and JD Vance locked in a tense, antagonistic exchange with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the [...]
Ban on new leasehold flats ‘doesn’t go far enough’ March 3, 2025 The government’s newly released whitepaper promises to ban the sale of new leasehold flats, but campaigners say the policy will not provide enough relief for current leaseholders. Labour said the plans mark the start of commonhold, rather than leasehold, being the “default tenure” in the UK. “These reforms mark the beginning of the end for [...]