IMF upgrades UK growth outlook after sluggish year Economics UK economic growth is set to accelerate this year after it missed forecasts in 2024, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said. The global economic body slightly upgraded its growth projection for the UK in a fresh update of its influential World Economic Outlook report. The IMF said UK gross domestic product (GDP) is on [...]
FCA looks to ease consumer duty burden as Reeves pushes regulators for growth Investing The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will look to ease the burden of complying with its stringent consumer duty rules as part of a push to cut red tape in the City and unlock growth. In a letter to the Chancellor Rachel Reeves this week, FCA boss Nikhil Rathi said the regulator would drop a requirement [...]
Next: Lord Wolfson warns Budget will make it ‘harder’ to enter workforce Retail The boss of retail giant Next has warned that tax rises announced in the Budget will make it “harder and harder for people to enter the workforce”. Lord Wolfson told the BBC that the government’s move to hike national insurance (NI) would disproportionately hit entry-level jobs. “The axe has fallen particularly hard on those entry-level, [...]
Retail’s Christmas results don’t match up to the gloom in the market January 17, 2025 If you were to judge the health of the retail market solely from the last two weeks of festive trading results, you would think the market is in rude health. But that would be a significant departure from the actual sentiment in the market, which has taken on a sense of almost unrelenting gloom in [...]
UK retail sales plunged in December as Budget fallout spread January 17, 2025 UK retail sales dropped during December, despite expectations of a Christmas bounce as consumers pulled back on spending. In a worrying sign for the economy, retail sales fell 0.3 per cent in December. Analysts had pencilled in growth of 0.4 per cent. November’s retail sales growth was also revised down by the Office for National [...]
DFS: ‘Improved performance’ couched by rising national insurance, wages and rates January 17, 2025 DFS Furniture reported its group order intake was up over 10 per cent as it gained a higher than expected market share gains for both of its brands
Is the UK government right to put consumer duty on the chopping block? January 16, 2025 This morning, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds made one of this government’s targets for deregulation clear: consumer duty. “On regulation, I talk to business people every day, as you would expect, and this is the biggest thing that they raise,” said the minister on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, while being interviewed by former shadow chancellor, Ed [...]
Pressure on Reeves after more sluggish growth – but it’s not all doom and gloom January 16, 2025 Rachel Reeves’ handling of the UK economy is likely to come under further scrutiny after the publication of another set of lacklustre GDP figures. The UK was the fastest growing economy in the G7 in the first half of last year. It is now on track to be stagnant in the second half, having grown [...]
Howden: Insurance giant expands sport portfolio with SailGP sponsorship January 16, 2025 Insurance giant Howden this morning expanded their sports sponsorship portfolio, announcing a three-year partnership with SailGP team Emirates GBR. The group, headquartered at One Creechurch Place, will see Sir Ben Ainslie’s sailing team join their roster of sporting sponsorships, which include the British and Irish Lions, Ascot Racecourse, Victoria Racing Club in Australia and the [...]
Rachel Reeves – “Gilty” as charged January 16, 2025 The verdict is in. The Gilt market has found the Chancellor Rachel Reeves guilty of reckless endangerment of the country’s finances. A large electoral majority led her to think the world would happily finance what she described in her Mais Lecture as the “smart and strategic state”. Sticking to fiscal rules is for nought if [...]