Wandsworth Council plans 94 per cent tax rise after Rayner’s cuts Politics Wandsworth Council has announced taxes will rise by 94 per cent for Band D residents after local leaders hit out at the government for cutting funding by £84m a year. The local authority, regularly dubbed Margaret Thatcher’s favourite council because of its historically low-levels of council tax, will make Band D council taxpayers stump up [...]
Rayner urged to resolve ‘unwelcome’ Tower of London heritage row Property Angela Rayner has been urged to resolve an “unwelcome” heritage row which could place curbs on skyscrapers in the Square Mile to protect views of the Tower of London. The housing secretary has been told that the planning dispute, which was revived by a housing minister in June, risks stalling critical investment in office space [...]
500m bricks ‘just sitting there’ as 1.5m homes target looms Property There are half a billion bricks lying unused in Britain, it has been revealed, piling fresh pressure on the government’s “stretch target” of building 1.5m homes by the next election. As many as 500,000,000 bricks – enough to build 50,000 homes – are “just sitting there” in factory yards across the country, the GMB Union [...]
Rayner warns Reform’s £72m crypto windfall could be caught by new donor rules September 13, 2026 Angela Rayner has warned Reform UK that its record £72m fundraising haul from two cryptocurrency billionaires could be caught by retrospective rules being pushed through parliament. The housing secretary said new restrictions on political donations from Britons living abroad, or those who have recently returned to the UK, would be backdated as ministers seek to [...]
Hospitality sector blasts Burnham’s uncapped tourist tax September 10, 2026 The hospitality sector has blasted proposals from Andy Burnham’s government to introduce a fresh tax on tourists. The industry has been left reeling after the government confirmed a new overnight levy on tourists that will have no upper cap. Regional authorities are set to be handed the power to introduce a levy to support regional [...]
M&G: FTSE 100 giant hits out at Rayner’s ground rent cap as it suffers loss September 3, 2026 Asset manager M&G has swung to a loss driven by the Labour government’s introduction of a cap on existing ground rents. The FTSE 100 group hit out at the government after it reported a £165m loss for the first six months of the year, driven by a £325m write-down eating into its bottom-line. In its [...]
Housebuilder shares soar on Burnham council housing plans August 25, 2026 Shares in the UK’s biggest housebuilders rose sharply on Tuesday morning after Andy Burnham revealed plans to spend an initial £10bn on affordable housing. In an announcement on Monday evening, the Prime Minister said the initial funding package would be used to build “thousands more quality council, social and affordable homes”. The funding would be [...]
New planning rules ‘could blight high streets with empty pubs’ August 18, 2026 Angela Rayner’s attempt to stop pubs being redeveloped into offices and housing could “blight high streets” with empty venues, property experts have warned. The housing secretary has unveiled reforms to planning rules which mean that developers can only turn a pub into housing or an office if there is no reasonable prospect that it can [...]
Burnham to crack down on vape and betting shops August 11, 2026 Andy Burnham is set to unveil a crackdown on vape and betting shops in a bid to boost British high streets, which the Prime Minister says have been “hollowed out” in recent decades. Burnham will on Tuesday set out plans to scrap the Blair-era “aim to permit” rule, which requires councils to accept planning applications [...]
Foxtons hits out at Renters’ Rights Act as profit halves July 30, 2026 Foxtons’ profit slipped as the London estate agency hits out at the Renters’ Rights Act, blaming the new tenant powers for causing a surge in renters cancelling their tenancies. The London-listed firm said the new law meant a higher number of tenants cancelled their rental agreements in May and June, meaning the estate agency lost [...]