Pension transfers: Sluggish providers holding up your money March 18, 2026 Some UK pension providers and administrators are taking eighteen times longer to transfer retirement savings than their counterparts, leaving savers waiting months for their money to be moved. The fastest transfers took just five days, while the slowest took between a staggering 47 to 90 days, according to the latest analysis from Pension Bee. Some [...]
City fears Rayner’s rise as she warns Starmer that Labour is ‘running out of time’ March 18, 2026 Angela Rayner’s ascendancy to the Labour leadership has been flagged as a risk for public finances as the former deputy prime minister said the party was “running out of time”. At a rally on Tuesday night, Rayner suggested that Labour was viewed as representing “the establishment” and said the party’s survival was “at stake”. She [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Diploma leads stocks as pound ticks up; Oil dips March 18, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog. The FTSE 100 index closed up 0.8 per cent higher on Tuesday at 10,403.60p. The gains were accompanied by a stronger performance from the pound, which finished up $1.334 by the time London markets closed, compared to $1.329 on Monday. Sterling and the City were [...]
The Debate: Should we put rats on our banknotes? March 18, 2026 Churchill's been ditched from UK banknotes. Is the rat a worthy successor? We hear the case for and against in this week's Debate.
Political comfort blanket masquerading as a growth strategy March 18, 2026 Rachel Reeves has warned that we’ve entered “an age of insecurity” – and she wasn’t referring to Keir Starmer’s precarious grip on power. In declaring that “globalisation as we’ve known it is over” the Chancellor set out her response to this hard-edged new reality, focusing on regional growth, closer ties with the EU and a [...]
Is the motor finance scandal making City banks trim the fat? March 18, 2026 The motor finance scandal is reshaping the banking sector, in this week’s column Samuel Norman takes a look at how lenders are responding. In the fallout of the multi-billion pound motor finance scandal, bank bosses are getting their house in order. The landmark saga, which began with the UK’s financial watchdog’s review into the market [...]
Reeves pledges ‘strategic state’ amid end of globalisation March 17, 2026 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has promised to create an “active and strategic” state as she warned that “globalisation as we once knew it is dead”. In a flagship lecture at the Bayes Business School on her growth agenda, Reeves suggested the size of the state had been expanded since Labour took office as part of a [...]
Reeves broke “promises” on farmer inheritance tax reforms, court hears March 17, 2026 Rachel Reeves “broke promises” when she failed to consult over changes to inheritance tax (IHT) reliefs in her first Autumn Budget, a court has heard. The Chancellor’s proposed changes to agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) represent one of the biggest shifts in IHT policy in decades. In the 2024 Autumn Budget, [...]
Reform UK pledge energy tax cut in swipe at Labour March 17, 2026 Robert Jenrick has said Reform UK would strip VAT from energy bills months after the government flirted with the £2bn tax cut, deepening the party’s row with Labour. The “shadow chancellor” said Reform would strip VAT and green levies from household energy bills if it came to power, thereby saving households an estimated £200. Party [...]
Bank of England ‘should wait’ before cutting interest rates, Morning Wire Shadow MPC says March 17, 2026 The Bank of England should “wait and see” how long the war in Iran goes on for before cutting interest rates again, leading economists on Morning Wire’s Shadow Monetary Policy Committee have said. The crisis in the Middle East has pushed up energy prices and heightened fears that the UK economy is heading for a [...]