UK trade deals to lift growth, KPMG says June 4, 2025 UK growth could be higher than expected due to trade deals agreed with the US and the European Union, a City consultancy has said. Most forecasters downgraded the UK’s economic outlook for the year in the wake of President Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’, with the IMF and other major forecasters warning the UK was set to [...]
Business investment could be revived in ‘promising’ sign, BCC says June 4, 2025 Business investment could soar as high as 4.8 per cent this year, a leading commercial group has predicted, bulldozing through its previous expectations of a paltry 0.6 per cent rise. Little cash has been put into making firms more effective in recent years, which has in turn stalled growth and hampered the UK’s ability to [...]
Andrew Bailey: Surveys point to weak UK economy June 3, 2025 Andrew Bailey has backed the Bank of England’s low growth outlook, highlighting dreary business surveys which indicate the UK economy looks set to weaken. In an appearance in front of the Treasury Select Committee, the Bank Governor said growth of 0.7 per cent in the first quarter of the year was a “good number” but [...]
Nato to pressure UK to spend 3.5 per cent on defence June 3, 2025 The UK will have to spend 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2035 as part of a new Nato demand, according to reports, stretching government expenditure far beyond the current 2.5 per cent commitment made by Keir Starmer. The Labour government has agreed to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent from 2027, [...]
Foreign companies drive £19bn M&A surge as UK firms ‘attractively valued’ June 3, 2025 Takeovers of British firms reached the highest level in nearly three years as several multi-billion pound transactions made by foreign companies pushed up the value of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), official data has shown. Inward M&A deals in the first three months of the year exceeded £19bn, nearly four times that seen in the last [...]
Bank of England warns pace of rate cuts ‘shrouded in uncertainty’ June 3, 2025 The pace of UK interest rate cuts is “shrouded in a lot more uncertainty” due to the “unpredictable” global economic situation, the governor of the Bank of England has said. Andrew Bailey told MPs during a Treasury Committee session that while rates are on a “glide path” downwards the Bank had “genuine concerns” about escalating [...]
OECD: Rachel Reeves’ ‘insufficient’ fiscal headroom poses risk to UK economy June 3, 2025 The OECD has warned Rachel Reeves’ wafer thin fiscal headroom poses a significant risk to the UK economy as it cut its growth outlook for Britain in 2025 and 2026. The economic organisation urged the Treasury to “step up” efforts to bolster its “very thin” fiscal headroom, expressing concern that it could cause “significant downside [...]
Reeves’ tax raids and tariff woes strain UK manufacturers June 2, 2025 British manufacturers continued to struggle in May, despite a surprise minor uptick, as tax hikes and tariffs weighed on firms. S&P Global’s latest PMI survey, which asks around 600 industrial companies about their performance, revealed manufacturers were still battling a tirade of challenges. The latest figure edged up to 46.4 in May, compared to 45.4 [...]
Rachel Reeves to set ‘binding’ pensions allocations in megafunds launch May 29, 2025 Rachel Reeves has confirmed plans to set “binding” allocations in pension funds as the government prepares for the launch of “megafunds” to encourage fresh investment into UK infrastructure and businesses. The Treasury said it would “take a reserve power” in the upcoming Pension Schemes Bill “to set binding asset allocation targets,” a move it said [...]
Which taxes could Rachel Reeves raise in the Autumn Budget May 29, 2025 Rising borrowing costs, u-turns on spending cuts and a wafer-thin fiscal headroom all point to one thing: Chancellor Rachel Reeves is widely expected to put up taxes later in the year. But given Labour’s manifesto commitment to avoid tax rises on “working people”, and the pain felt by businesses over National Insurance hikes, many are [...]