Louise Haigh doubles down on demand for OBR overhaul February 24, 2026 Former transport secretary and vocal soft-left backbencher Louise Haigh has issued another plea for Chancellor Rachel Reeves to overhaul the Office for Budget Responsibility a week before the Spring Statement. In a swipe at the Chancellor’s management of the UK economy, Haigh argued that mandating the watchdog to produce five-year forecast windows “risks entrenching decline”. [...]
Entrepreneurs offer a plan to pull Britain out of the doom loop February 24, 2026 Entrepreneurs are problem solvers by nature, so we should welcome the fact that an esteemed group of them are turning their attention to the biggest challenge of our age: how to pull Britain out of the doom loop. Enterprise Britain launches today with a rallying cry to “reject the narrative of decline” and “reignite Britain’s [...]
UK firms ‘misallocate £10bn’ on HR departments, report says February 23, 2026 The UK’s human resources sector is twice the size of the EU’s and has led to firms misallocating as much as £10bn in capital, new research has suggested. A paper on the cost of diversity and equality agendas on businesses has argued that HR departments have grown at a disproportionate rate, with the UK having [...]
Reform vow to create new ‘wealth fund’ using pension schemes February 23, 2026 Reform UK has pledged to create a new “British Sovereign Wealth Fund” using local government pension schemes as part of Richard Tice’s first policy package as the party’s spokesman for business, trade and energy. Reform has vowed to wrap various arms of government, including housing and energy, into one office that focuses on growth, job [...]
Businesses continue to face legal uncertainty despite court ruling on tariffs February 23, 2026 When the US Supreme Court handed down a landmark judgment against President Donald Trump’s tariffs last week the ruling sent shockwaves across the world, raising questions about what is next for businesses. On Friday, the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 Conservative majority, struck down the tariffs, which could pose major financial consequences for the [...]
Police arrest Lord Mandelson February 23, 2026 Peter Mandelson has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, weeks after the police launched an investigation into the former Labour peer over his relations with Jeffrey Epstein. The Met police said in a statement they had arrested a 72-year-old man in Camden. Mandelson was pictured being taken out of his house. A [...]
Nadhim Zahawi joins equity group piling £1bn into Mayfair hotels February 23, 2026 Former Tory chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has joined the board of an investment firm piling £1.1bn into two luxury Mayfair hotels. Evolution Investment Fund, based in the British Virgin Islands, has acquired a long leasehold interest in the London Marriott Hotel in Grosvenor Square and a luxury hotel development site in New Bond Street. The fund, [...]
Tories pledge to cut ‘eyewatering’ interest on some student loans February 22, 2026 The Conservative party has pledged to slash some of the interest paid on student loans issued up until 2023 amid growing opposition around the crippling amount of student debt. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the Plan 2 loans system – which around 5.8 million took out loans under between 2012 and 2023 – “increasingly feels [...]
Meet the lawyers defending Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Peter Mandelson February 20, 2026 The former Duke of York, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, has called on his trusty lawyer following his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in a public office on Thursday. Blackfords’ Gary Bloxsome and Jennifer Richardson, alongside Matrix Chambers’ Clare Montgomery KC, have been instructed by Andrew in relation to legal troubles. When the late Virginia Giuffre filed a [...]
Private sector axes more jobs amid Reeves’ tax and wage pressures February 20, 2026 The UK’s private sectors culled jobs for the seventeenth consecutive month in February led by a significant drop in the services sector as businesses were still digesting the impact of Labour’s 2024 Autumn Budget. The latest flash Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) from S&P Global described the rate of job shedding in February as at a [...]