Wealth and stealth: Starmer eyes fresh tax hikes July 9, 2025 Keir Starmer has refused to rule out a wealth tax or so-called stealth taxes, a day after the fiscal watchdog said unfunded spending commitments on welfare put the public finances under intense pressure. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) gave a damning verdict of the state of public finances in a comprehensive report published on [...]
London firms turn to hiring part time workers July 9, 2025 Businesses across London have turned to hiring more part-time workers ahead of a hot summer, with higher employment taxes prompting owners to offer more flexible work. A new survey by the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has found that the capital city’s economy was in recovery mode, with sales rising and cash flows [...]
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 [...]
Sir Robert Chote to leave UK Statistics Authority July 8, 2025 Sir Robert Chote has resigned as chairman of the UK Statistics Authority, which oversees official data published by a range of bodies including the Office for National Statistics. The UK Statistics Authority, an arms-length government body, has been involved in scrutinising the ONS’s troubles. Chote, who joined the UK Statistics Authority in 2022, will become [...]
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 [...]
Post Office and Fujitsu chiefs ‘maintained fiction’ on faulty Horizon system July 8, 2025 Post Office and Fujitsu managers were aware the Horizon IT system was flawed and “maintained a fiction” that the accounting data it produced was accurate. In his report on the first part of an inquiry into the Post Office scandal, chair Sir Wyn Williams said dozens of postmaster victims of “wholly unacceptable behaviour” by business [...]
Rishi Sunak will donate Goldman Sachs salary to charity July 8, 2025 Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has rejoined Goldman Sachs as a senior adviser, adding to post-government roles he holds while still sitting as an MP, though his salary from the investment banking giant will be donated to a maths charity. Sunak worked at Goldman Sachs as a summer intern in 2000 and as an analyst [...]
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 [...]