Shadow Chancellor: For UK to succeed, London has to succeed March 5, 2021 More than 300,000 Londoners have lost their jobs since the pandemic began, and some of the sectors that most define our country’s capital – our theatres, galleries, restaurants, bars, hotels, museums and shops – have been particularly badly hit. The city missed out on £11 billion of tourist spending last year. We need a relentless [...]
Tech billionaires’ privacy brawl: Facebook’s defence of its darkest arts defies belief March 5, 2021 Facebook’s new advertisement – “Good Ideas Deserve To Be Found” – is a study in audacity, in which the company wraps its darkest arts in a cloak of moral purity. Facebook tracks its users’ behaviour, not only on its own apps but all across the web. What it learns about you in the process, it [...]
Freelance creatives could fall through cracks of Rishi budget March 4, 2021 This week Rishi Sunak announced his investment-led recovery budget, pledging an additional £408m stimulus package for the culture sector. This is fantastic news for a creative sector particularly vulnerable to the impact of the COVID pandemic. The government has divided this relief package into three parts: £300m for the Cultural Recovery Fund (supporting cultural organisations [...]
Digital Currencies: The money of tomorrow or today? March 4, 2021 Last week the Treasury-commissioned fintech Review published its agenda for the future of the UK intech sector. It recommended more government oversight, closer regulatory alignment, and perhaps most intriguingly, an embrace of digital currencies. But what would this actually look like in the UK – and why does it matter? To understand this, it helps to [...]
DEBATE: Is Universal Credit fit for purpose? March 4, 2021 Jonathan Reynolds, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions says NO Universal Credit has failed on its own terms. It is not offering a route out of hardship instead it is perpetuating a cycle of debt and destitution that is hurting our economy. The system starts people off in debt through the five week-wait, [...]
The Budget didn’t deliver a silver bullet for youth unemployment, but it’s a start March 4, 2021 This pandemic has drawn lines in society dividing outcomes by age, health condition, geography and job types, none more so than the negative economic consequences of Covid-19 for young people as they lose out on education, jobs, career progression and pay. Youth unemployment is currently around 13 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels and, according [...]
Beer boss: does Rishi Sunak’s bid to save pubs go far enough? March 4, 2021 It’s been no secret that the beer and pubs industry has been calling on the Chancellor to outline concrete support for one of the UK’s most beloved and vibrant industries. Today, we can start to see some light at the end of the tunnel and welcome the Government’s support. But is it enough or should [...]
Gaping hole in Rishi Sunak’s budget leaves young and jobless behind March 3, 2021 Rishi Sunak made clear in today’s budget that protecting and supporting jobs remains the highest priority for the Government. This reassurance is vital. As we begin to plan for the future, the costs of the pandemic are becoming clearer and clearer. The toll will be immense and there is no group that has been as [...]
Editorial: Long-term growth worryingly absent in a tax-hiking, business-battering Budget March 3, 2021 Tax hikes are one thing – but more concerning are the pedestrian growth numbers that seem to be the new normal for the British economy Conservative Chancellors do not, as a general rule, batter big business or ordinary Brits with tax hikes. But these are not normal times, and batter both Rishi Sunak certainly has. [...]
Corporation tax hike: Rishi Sunak is on the way to creating a tax environment to stifle innovation March 3, 2021 Last week, Rishi Sunak rightly said that fintech is one of the UK’s big success stories, and that the growing industry needs access to talent, finance and support. I had therefore hoped for more good news for the sector in today’s Budget. However, it’s been announced that from 2023, the rate of corporation tax, paid [...]