Fiscal drag pulls nearly 2 million into higher tax bracket April 28, 2025 Income tax thresholds, frozen in 2021, have pulled nearly two million Brits into higher brackets as fiscal drag bites. The number of higher rate taxpayers has increased by 1.88m, from 4.43, to 6.31m, between 2021 and 2025, according to finance specialists Rift. “Rising income taxes have been particularly punitive in recent years, as inflation reached [...]
EY: Two years of slow UK growth means ‘increased chances’ of tax rises April 28, 2025 Rachel Reeves may have to resort to reversing Labour manifesto tax pledges as UK growth fails to exceed one per cent for two years running, EY ITEM Club have said, in the latest blow to the chancellor’s fiscal plans The Chancellor has been warned by several forecasters that President Trump’s tariffs will hammer the UK [...]
Mervyn King hits out at Reeves’ ‘flawed’ fiscal rules April 25, 2025 Former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King has slammed forward-looking fiscal rules set by Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Reeves has defended her rules on spending as essential for boosting investment on infrastructure as she is given more space to borrow. But King argued today in the House of Lords that her rules in fact means extra [...]
Larry Fink: Britain is ‘undervalued’ and Yimbyism is essential April 25, 2025 BlackRock boss Larry Fink has described British assets as “undervalued” as he indicated that more investment would be pumped into the UK economy. The chairman of the world’s biggest investment company praised the urgency across Europe to deliver higher growth as he said that the UK had been “so smothered” by unnecessary regulation. “[We] have [...]
Andrew Bailey: Tariffs could push inflation down April 24, 2025 Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has suggested that President Trump’s tariffs will have a disinflationary effect on UK prices unless more retaliatory measures kick into effect. In an interview with CNBC, Bailey said tariffs would slow down UK growth whatever happens but added he would be “encouraged” by a UK trade deal with the [...]
Manufacturers accelerate job cuts as firms brace for ‘gloomy’ year April 24, 2025 Manufacturers are shedding staff at the fastest pace in more than four years, according to new data, as they wrestle with soaring energy bills and Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ tax hikes bite. The downturn in manufacturing output slightly eased in the quarter to April, a survey of hundreds of firms by the Confederation of British Industry [...]
Reeves’ taxes hammer private sector as one of ‘lowest ever’ PMIs recorded April 23, 2025 Private sector output fell in April for the first time in a year and a half as firms reported “more of a struggle” to survive after Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ tax rises kicked in, S&P Global’s flagship survey has suggested. Businesses had been preparing for Reeves’ £20bn hike to employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) for the [...]
Tax hikes would ‘take strain’ as headroom shrinks April 23, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves will likely announce a raft of tax increases to “take the strain” of higher public spending in areas including defence and health, leading economists have warned. The last Autumn Budget saw a historic rise of £40bn in taxes as the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the fiscal watchdog, said the tax burden [...]
Government borrowing in March dwarfs expectations April 23, 2025 Government borrowing overshot expectations as it hit £16.4bn in March, official data has revealed. Ballooning levels of borrowing will likely come as a blow to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who is under pressure to keep public finances in balance. Reeves left herself £9.9bn at last month’s Spring Statement as she made around £14bn of cuts, mainly [...]
IMF slashes UK growth forecast as tariffs create ‘significant slowdown’ April 22, 2025 The IMF has downgraded its UK growth forecast by 0.5 per cent this year as President Donald Trump’s trade war brings global tariff rates to “centennial highs”. The IMF said the UK economy would grow by 1.1 per cent growth this year, reflecting leading forecasters’ worries about the ongoing global trade war between US and [...]