ONS set to weigh up cost to public purse of British Steel rescue April 29, 2025 The UK’s official statistics body has begun an assessment of the cost of running British Steel since the loss-making business was rescued by the government, City AM can reveal, in what could prove to be another blow to Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ fiscal targets. The UK’s top statistician Professor Sir Ian Diamond said the Office for [...]
Labour ministers urged to be clearer on small pension pot plans April 29, 2025 The UK government needs to be more coherent and take extra care with pension schemes before it consolidates small pension pots, a leading industry group has warned. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) last week unveiled plans to ease costs by automatically combining small pots holding less than £1,000 into one scheme. Individuals will [...]
Bank of England ‘analysing’ end of dollar’s prestige April 29, 2025 The Bank of England’s stability watchdog is assessing the potential impacts of the dollar’s recent slump after President Trump’s tariffs spooked investors. Sam Woods, head of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Bank deputy governor, suggested that the first month of Trump’s global trade war had diminished the dollar’s status as a safe haven currency. [...]
Employment Rights Bill will ‘cut retail staff numbers’ April 29, 2025 Labour’s Employment Rights Bill will lead to job cuts and price hikes, a poll of 31 major retailers has found, in the latest sign the government’s legislative agenda risks harming economic growth. The legislation, which is nearing its final stages in Parliament, introduces sweeping changes to zero-hours contracts, sick pay, leave, flexible working and dismissal, [...]
Sir Jim Ratcliffe: Businesses can’t afford ‘heavy blow’ of net zero taxes April 29, 2025 INEOS founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe has slammed UK net zero policies as unaffordable and claimed carbon taxes are “killing manufacturing”. The Manchester United co-owner described payments to be made by INEOS’ Grangemouth as part of the UK Emission Trading Scheme (ETS), which puts a financial cost on carbon emissions, as “yet another tax bill” that [...]
EU youth mobility scheme exposes Labour’s immigration angst April 28, 2025 The government will not back it, the government will back it. It will grow the economy, it will make Brits poorer. It will reverse Brexit, it doesn’t bring us close enough to the European Union. It is not a youth mobility scheme, it’s a ‘youth experience’ scheme. Labour’s hokey-cokey dance around the possible introduction of [...]
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 [...]