If the world really has changed, Chancellor, then drop your tax hikes March 26, 2025 Rachel Reeves has one of the most demanding, high profile and exhausting jobs in the country, and so – at the very least – we should forgive her for taking some freebie tickets to a Sabrina Carpenter concert. She’s had very few good weeks since entering office and the least she deserves is a good [...]
Spring Statement: Reeves should abolish the OBR March 26, 2025 By strengthening the OBR, Reeves has created severe difficulties for herself. Vital decisions about our economic future should be made by politicians, not unelected quangocrats, says Paul Ormerod Later today we will know for certain what is in Rachel Reeves’ Spring statement, a budget to all intents and purposes. But as is usually the case [...]
City AM readers: Join the fight for the centre right March 26, 2025 Simon Clarke is calling on City AM readers to play their part in a once-in-a-lifetime battle for the survival of the centre right. Unless Conservatives can renew their arguments, they will be replaced by populists who only offer anger an no ideas “Strategy is an overworked and thus devalued word, and strategic thinking can be [...]
Once upon a time, Spring Statement day was fun March 25, 2025 Once upon a time, Spring Statement day was fun. Now, as an early-stage entrepreneur, it just fills me with dread, writes Michael Martins in today's Notebook.
Who’s afraid of the Liberal Democrats? March 25, 2025 With Labour sinking in the polls, there’s an increasing likelihood that whoever forms the next government will need the Liberal Democrats’ help to do it. So what kind of impact might the Lib Dems have on national politics? If a visit to their spring conference is anything to go by, very little, says Emma Revell [...]
Reeves crosses her fingers and hopes for growth March 25, 2025 Ahead of last October’s Budget, ministers allowed months of speculation as to what would be unveiled, and the never-ending drumbeat of doom and gloom talked the economy to a standstill. Largely as a result of the contents and consequences of that Budget, economic growth has since evaporated and now all eyes are on this week’s [...]
Facial recognition cameras in Croydon should alarm all Londoners March 25, 2025 The instalment of permanent facial recognition cameras in Croydon should worry us all, writes Big Brother Watch's Rebecca Vincent.
Customising reality: Will we ever see the world unfiltered again? March 25, 2025 AI and deepfakes mean the world we see through our screens is already fiction. The next step is removing screens altogether, says Paul Armstrong Reality used to be something you could trust. What you saw, heard and experienced was, for the most part, real. But as AI-driven filters, deepfake augmented reality (AR), and immersive environments [...]
Reeves will have to get real and raise taxes March 25, 2025 Despite frantic denials, the debt burden means Rachel Reeves will soon have to revisit promises she made on tax in the care-free days of opposition, says Vince Cable The Chancellor has many competing priorities on Wednesday: a big rise in defence spending; keeping the NHS afloat; honouring promises not to raise taxes on income and [...]
Will a tax raid tomorrow prove too tempting for Reeves? March 25, 2025 Emergency Budgets are a bad idea, but with the economic changing fast Reeves may not have the luxury of waiting until Autumn to raise taxes, says Tim Sarson Last autumn, after a long, long summer of speculation and rumour, our newly installed Chancellor of the exchequer Rachel Reeves delivered what she promised would be the [...]