Reform UK: Kent local authority poised to hike council tax Politics Reform UK-run Kent County Council is likely to raise council tax next year, with a cabinet member suggesting that a five per cent hike is on the cards. Diane Morton, the council lead for adult social care, told the Financial Times: “We’ve got more demand than ever before and it’s growing.” “We just want more [...]
British banking chiefs take a leaf from Elon Musk’s DOGE Banking The chiefs of the UK’s Big Four banks are taking a leaf out of the Elon Musk playbook in their strident bid to slash costs. Natwest’s Paul Thwaite, Lloyds’ Charlie Nunn, HSBC’s Georges Elhedery and Barclays’ CS Venkatkrishnan are in the midst of major cost-cutting endeavours that bear similarities to Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency [...]
Britain doesn’t need government efficiency, it needs excellence Opinion Elon Musk’s Doge assumed that cheaper government was better government. that’s the wrong way round: a better run government is a cheaper government, says Andrew Greenway Democracies around the world are facing a big problem. They don’t deliver well enough. In Britain, we have a housing crisis, a fraying health service and the interminable sagas [...]
Trump threatens to deport Elon Musk amid spending bill feud July 1, 2025 President Donald Trump has escalated his public feud with Elon Musk, suggesting the country’s immigration enforcement system could be turned against the Tesla and Space X chief. This was triggered by Musk’s renewed attacks on the Republican-backed tax and spending ‘one big beautiful bill’ currently under Senate debate. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday while heading [...]
Reform UK: Zia Yusuf hits back at ‘far left’ non-dom policy critics June 24, 2025 Reform UK’s DOGE chief has hit back at criticisms of the party’s newly-unveiled ‘Robin Hood’ non-doms policy from tax experts, which he described as “drivel”. In a ten-post thread on X, Zia Yusuf embarked on a detailed critique of tax commentator Dan Neidle, after the Tax Policy Associates founder said that there were “several significant [...]
Spending Review: IFS chief suggests Treasury ‘making up numbers’ over DOGE-style Whitehall cuts June 12, 2025 The Ministry of Defence and Department for Health and Social Care are slated to see billions cut in Whitehall budgets in what a DOGE-style body within the Treasury described as “efficiency gains” – despite both departments set to see a real terms increase in spending between 2026 and 2029. A new government document has revealed [...]
Elon Musk says his Trump attacks “went too far” June 11, 2025 Elon Musk said on Wednesday he regrets a series of social media posts attacking US President Donald Trump, suggesting a potential truce in what had become one of the most volatile public splats between two of the Republican party’s most powerful influencers. “I regret some of my posts about President Donald Trump last week. They [...]
In Musk v Trump, the markets will win June 6, 2025 City AM columnist Rainer Zitelmann has been predicting a rift between Musk and Trump ever since the two started working together. Now that this has happened, the French daily newspaper L’Express has spoken to him again. The interview was conducted by Thomas Mahler. “I never believed that the alliance between Elon Musk and Donald Trump would last,” [...]
Reform lost their businessman – what does this mean for the party? June 6, 2025 Barely a week ago, Zia Yusuf was hosting journalists in the City, trying to sell them on Reform’s crypto plan. But things quickly went awry for the Reform party chairman. On Wednesday, Yusuf publicly contradicted Reform MP Sarah Pochin’s call in Parliament for a burqa ban. On Thursday, he resigned. The chairman announced he was [...]
Trump and Musk: Explosive row engulfs Washington June 5, 2025 The relationship between US President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk has descended into threats, abuse and accusations. A disagreement over the merits of Trump’s tax and spending legislation has turned into a dramatic feud, with Trump saying he was “surprised” at Musk’s criticism of his “big, beautiful” bill. “Elon and I had a great [...]