Use development orders to tackle housing crisis, ministers told November 15, 2024 The UK government should use development orders to circumvent the planning regime, build homes and address the housing crisis, a new report has argued. Ministers should deploy existing powers – known as local development orders, which allow specific development in certain areas without a planning application – to turbocharge housebuilding, the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) [...]
Chancellor to cut back Right to Buy discounts in Budget October 26, 2024 The Chancellor will cut back Right to Buy discounts as part of next week’s Budget to boost council housing supply. Rachel Reeves will announce plans to consult on a new five-year social housing rent settlement and to reduce Right to Buy, which allows tenants renting local authority-owned homes to buy them at a discounted rate, [...]
Businesses paying living wage ‘do better’, Sadiq Khan says October 23, 2024 Businesses paying their staff the living wage “do better”, Sadiq Khan has argued, as he welcomed a rise in the London living wage. The Mayor of London spoke to City AM at an event marking the five per cent increase for 140,000 workers, who will see their pay increase to £13.85 an hour. Speaking in [...]
Making work pay is good for growth October 17, 2024 Don’t listen to populist outcry over the Employment Rights Bill, all the evidence shows protecting workers from exploitation is good for the economy, says Sam Fowles Labour workers’ rights reforms have prompted predictable howls of outrage. The Employment Rights Bill, apparently, “injects fear” into business and will “damage British competitiveness”. Ironically, the most hysterical wails [...]
DP World: Ministers had ‘conversation’ to salvage investment after row October 13, 2024 Ministers were forced to “have a conversation” with executives from DP World to secure its investment after a senior minister referred to one of its subsidiary P&O Ferries a “rogue operator”, the business secretary has said. Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the investment – which was reportedly put in jeopardy following the scathing criticism of [...]
Labour seeks to balance P&O criticism after Starmer slaps down call for boycott October 12, 2024 A Labour MP has sought to balance criticism of P&O Ferries after reports the Transport Secretary’s call for a boycott of the company could have jeopardised a £1bn investment in the UK. Keir Starmer has said Louise Haigh’s call for a boycott of the ferry firm was “not the view of the Government”. Liam Byrne [...]
Labour pulls back from ‘day one’ protections as it unveils workers’ rights overhaul October 10, 2024 Labour has pulled away from its pledge to give employees protection from unfair dismissal from the first day in a job, according to reports, as it unveils its long-awaited package of employment reforms today. The Employment Rights Bill, which Labour promised to introduce within its first 100 days, is set to be laid before Parliament [...]
Rayner reviews decision to block development of Marlow Film Studios October 9, 2024 Angela Rayner has launched a review of the decision to block the construction of Marlow Film Studios, opening up the possibility that the £750m project could still be approved.
A ‘New Deal’ for fewer jobs and worse pay? October 8, 2024 Labour’s promise of a ‘New Deal for Working People’ is deliberately worded to evoke the era of Roosevelt, when major federal interventions supposedly shook America out of the Great Depression and conclusively demonstrated the benefits of Keynesian economics. But even Keynes knew it was more complicated than this. Alongside stimulus, he wrote that reversing a [...]
Pay tax on your gifts, top accountancy firm warns politicians amid Labour row September 26, 2024 Politicians should pay tax on gifts in the same way that other industries and individuals do, a leading accountant has said. Currently, firms and workers in sectors where gifting is commonplace and an element of their profession – such as the media industry or online influencers – are made pay to income tax and, in [...]