Fiscal drag to the rescue – but Healey still faces £35bn inflation headache Economics Soaring inflation could force the Chancellor to commit to more government spending and tax hikes, posing a worse Budget headache than a narrowing fiscal headroom, a top think tank has warned. John Healey might have to top up department budgets by as much as £35bn by the end of the decade to stop the real-terms [...]
Big-spending Chelsea sign up crypto firm Circle as shirt sponsor Sport Business Chelsea have tapped the crypto industry in their search for a new main sponsor by agreeing a one-year front-of-shirt deal with Circle Internet Group. The New York-listed company is best known as the issuer of stablecoin USDC, which is pegged 1:1 to the US dollar and will also appear on the shirts of Chelsea’s men’s, [...]
Singapore on Thames or the Sick Man of Europe?: The Economics of Brexit Ten Years from the Referendum Opinion Paul Johnson, former director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and Robert Johnson of the Centre for Cities analyse the economic impact of Brexit and its promise of deregulation and growth Since the Brexit referendum of 2016, and since actually leaving the EU in January 2021, the UK’s economic performance has been feeble. On a [...]
IFS and Chelsea reaffirm partnership but AI firm won’t be front-of-shirt July 6, 2026 Industrial AI firm IFS has reaffirmed commitment to its global partnership with Chelsea but will not remain the Premier League club’s front-of-shirt sponsor. IFS appeared on the front of Chelsea’s shirts for the latter part of last season, having signed a three-year contract with the US-owned West London side in February. But their expanded partnership, [...]
Making the jump to self-employment could damage your pension savings June 11, 2026 Employees making the leap into self-employment could put their retirement at risk, with many unlikely to continue saving into a pension upon leaving auto-enrolment. Roughly one in five self-employed workers save into a private pension, compared with around four in five employees, leaving those working for themselves at greater risk of having insufficient savings upon [...]
Wealth tax would ‘create unfairness’, IFS says April 27, 2026 Annual wealth taxes would create “complexity, distortions and unfairness”, a new Institute for Fiscal Studies report has said, as policymakers have been advised to consider the trade-offs involved in addressing forms of inequality. The IFS’ Deaton Review, which involved research conducted over six years, found that an annual levy on wealth would have “serious drawbacks” [...]
14 charts reveal the massive challenges facing UK and NATO defence spending April 7, 2026 Defence spending is casting a shadow over Downing Street. Military officers are in a state of despair. The choices facing Sir Keir Starmer are stark. The political calculus for the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has become more complicated than ever as the Iran war puts public finances in danger. Their difficulties go back to February 2025 [...]
Will AI replace gambling as Premier League front-of-shirt preference? March 29, 2026 AI companies have set their sights on sports. The Premier League already has competition-wide AI deals with Microsoft and Adobe, and recently Chelsea FC cut a front of shirt deal with industrial AI company IFS. These firms are in an extraordinary period of growth, and they have deep pockets to elevate their brands. They know [...]
Living standards to be ‘far bleaker’ after 2026 despite Reeves’ claims March 4, 2026 UK living standards are projected to drop in the two years before the next General Election as economists warned people were heading for “far bleaker” times ahead, turning up the heat on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to deliver on a commitment to ease the cost of living. Economists at the Resolution Foundation, the left-leaning Westminster think [...]
Rachel Reeves warned ‘dysfunctional’ fiscal rules are hammering economy February 19, 2026 Rachel Reeves has been dealt a scathing assessment of her economic policy by a top think tank, which likened her approach to a driver who was “watching the speedometer” while ignoring other conditions. The Chancellor is facing calls to scrap the self-imposed fiscal rules that prevent her from borrowing to pay for day-to-day spending and [...]