Chancellor lining up billions in spending cuts as fiscal headroom wiped out March 5, 2025 The Chancellor Rachel Reeves is preparing to announce “major measures” including substantial spending cuts to a number of government departments – including welfare – in the Spring Statement. According to BBC News, sources said that “the world has changed” since the Budget, and that £9.9bn in fiscal headroom projected by the Office for Budget Responsibility [...]
Trump ‘just getting started’ as tariffs take hold March 5, 2025 In a major joint address to Congress Monday night, a defiant President Trump declared that he is “just getting started” as the backlash to the new Administration’s tariffs against Canada and Mexico intensifies. Trump gave this major speech on the day that he delivered a key campaign pledge, to impose sweeping taxes on the US’s [...]
Net Zero: weak economic growth, high energy prices and stagnant productivity? March 5, 2025 How many times have we heard the argument that there is no trade-off between pursuing Net Zero and economic growth? The argument lies at the heat of the country’s economic, climate and environmental policy debate. The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, repeats the mantra at every opportunity – “clean energy and Net Zero equals good jobs [...]
Events, dear boy, events: Starmer’s defence challenge could be his biggest opportunity March 5, 2025 In July 2020, the then chief executive of the Environment Agency, Sir James Bevan, gave a speech to the Whitehall & Industry Group titled: ‘“Events, Dear Boy”: managing incidents before they become crises’. He told listeners: “When Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was asked what was the greatest challenge for a statesman, he replied: ‘Events, dear [...]
Canada and Mexico tariffs: No10 stresses ‘balanced’ trade relationship with US March 4, 2025 The UK has a “strong, fair, balanced and reciprocal trading relationship” with the United States, No10 has stressed, as US tariffs came into force against Canada and Mexico. President Trump’s tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico took effect on Tuesday, with global markets put on edge and retaliations planned by the two countries – [...]
Tory MP warns UK should ‘consider possibility Trump is a Russian asset’ March 4, 2025 A Conservative MP has warned the UK should “consider the possibility that President Trump is a Russian asset”. Graham Stuart, a former Foreign Office minister, posted the remark on X, formerly Twitter, after the US President halted military aid to Ukraine. Overnight, the White House suspended delivery of ammunition and other equipment to Kyiv after [...]
NHS delays drive demand for private healthcare to record March 4, 2025 Private healthcare market has broken yet another record, with private hospital admissions hitting their highest Q3 on record
A win on the world stage masks mounting trouble at home March 4, 2025 Keir Starmer has won plaudits for his decision to increase defence spending (albeit by less than the amount he’s given Ed Miliband to run a pretend energy company) and voters appear to be firmly behind the PM’s decision to fund this modest splurge by raiding the international development budget. The latest City AM Freshwater Strategy [...]
Starmer’s defence policy is popular, but voters still don’t rate him March 4, 2025 There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen. This quote — often attributed to history’s other murderous Vladimir, Soviet leader Lenin — could not describe the last week more aptly. The heart-sinking scene of Donald Trump and JD Vance locked in a tense, antagonistic exchange with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the [...]
Reform UK overtakes Labour in City AM poll for first time March 3, 2025 Reform UK has overtaken Labour on voting intention for the first time in City AM‘s monthly tracking of UK voters. Reform came top of the monthly voting intention tracker with 27 per cent, versus Labour’s 24 per cent and the Conservatives’ 23 per cent, according to the poll by City AM Freshwater Strategy poll. The [...]