UK growth outlook slashed amid tax and trade ‘double whammy’ March 5, 2025 The Chancellor’s growth agenda was dealt a fresh blow on Thursday after the British Chambers of Commerce slashed its forecast for the UK economy due to the tax and trade “double whammy” afflicting UK businesses. The business group now expects the UK economy to grow by just 0.9 per cent in 2025, a hefty downgrade [...]
Rachel Reeves must act now to save pubs, City broker warns February 20, 2025 Peel Hunt has become the latest broker to issue a warning that British pub culture is at risk due to structural pressures and tax hikes. Hospitality was the biggest driver of economic growth in both November and December, according to the latest government figures. But tax rises in the October budget “halted and reversed a [...]
‘Rachel Reeves, you must do better’: Chancellor urged to act before hospitality’s collapse February 4, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been told to take urgent action to prevent the collapse of thousands of hospitality businesses across the UK. In an open letter Sacha Lord, who was until recently Andy Burnham’s night time economy adviser for Greater Manchester, said he no longer considers Labour to be the party of “business and growth”. [...]
FCA looks to ease consumer duty burden as Reeves pushes regulators for growth January 17, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will look to ease the burden of complying with its stringent consumer duty rules as part of a push to cut red tape in the City and unlock growth. In a letter to the Chancellor Rachel Reeves this week, FCA boss Nikhil Rathi said the regulator would drop a requirement [...]
‘Budget hasn’t worked’: Reeves defends China trip as Stride says Brits ‘deserve better’ January 14, 2025 Rachel Reeves has defended her trip to China amid economic turmoil in the UK as MPs argued her Budget “hasn’t worked” and insisted: “The British people deserve better.” The Chancellor appeared in the House of Commons for the first time since last week’s bond market shock threw her public spending plans and fiscal rules into [...]
CBI chair Rupert Soames: Reeves has created a ‘hole in the trust of business’ January 13, 2025 Rachel Reeves has created a “hole in the confidence and trust of business” by using the private sector to fill a £22bn hole in the government’s finances, the chair of the UK’s top business body has said. Rupert Soames, chair of the Confederation of British Industry, said the Chancellor had “bruised” British companies after rolling [...]
A ‘painful sequel’ to the Budget may be coming, Deutsche Bank warns January 7, 2025 Businesses should brace for a “painful sequel to the autumn Budget” this year as lacklustre growth raises the threat of further tax hikes from Rachel Reeves, Deutsche Bank has warned. In a note to investors, the investment bank warned that growth was likely to slide below the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) projections in October [...]
Cabinet Office to make hundreds of Civil Service redundancies December 12, 2024 Hundreds of jobs are set to be cut by the Cabinet Office, it has been confirmed, in a move which the government department said will create a “smaller, clearer structure”. A total of 400 jobs have been placed at risk at the department which is responsible for a range of functions across government. The Cabinet [...]
Starmer refuses to rule out further tax rises or more borrowing November 27, 2024 Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out further tax rises or additional borrowing when challenged to repeat his Chancellor’s pledge not to “come back with more”. During Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Conservative opposition leader Kemi Badenoch asked Starmer about Rachel Reeves’ words. She said: “At the Confederation [...]
Retailers ‘right’ to warn of Budget job cuts, says Bank of England governor November 19, 2024 The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, has said a group of retailers were “right” to warn of sweeping job cuts as a result of Labour’s punishing £40bn tax raid at the Budget. A group of Britain’s biggest supermarkets and retail chains, including Tesco, M&S, Boots and B&Q, wrote to the Chancellor Rachel [...]