The debate: should voting be compulsory? Opinion Andy Burnham is said to be considering voting reform. Two writers go head to head on whether Britain should introduce Australian-style compulsory voting YES: Everyone’s vote should count, not just those who turn up British politics has a turnout problem. Just three in five registered voters went to the polls in the 2024 general election. [...]
Investor visa proposed by Labour-aligned think tank Politics Investor visas should be offered to 100 applicants each year, who would offer £3m in an upfront cash injection in return for residency rights in the UK, a think tank favoured by Labour has said. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), which has had a number of policy recommendations adopted by Labour, said the [...]
Gilt rout sparks calls for Bank of England to slow ‘unusual’ bond sale programme Economics The Bank of England should slow the pace of its costly approach to unwinding quantitative easing, which is pushing up government borrowing costs and weakening the public finances at a time when both are under significant pressure, several top economists have said. The calls follow the UK’s sovereign debt being swept up in a dramatic [...]
Local elections 2026: City awaits ‘significant’ event for Labour leadership May 7, 2026 City giants have warned today’s local elections will be “significant” for market pricing, with traders keeping a close eye on possible leadership moves made by the likes of Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham. Several financial behemoths have lined up to warn investors that results across the country over the coming days could be unusually important [...]
Nigel Farage: Reform will tax the banks even if they don’t like it January 22, 2026 Nigel Farage has confirmed Reform will slap a tax on the UK’s banking giants in the latest dramatic escalation of his party’s tensions with the City. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in the Davos, Farage said: “This will be tough for banks to accept but I am sorry – the drain on public finances [...]
Three quarters of Brits think UK ‘heading in wrong direction’ as Budget looms November 12, 2025 The UK is heading in the wrong direction, most Brits believe, in the latest sign of rising gloom about the state of the country’s economy. A City AM/Freshwater Strategy poll has shown that 76 per cent of voters are pessimistic about the future of the country, the highest level of pessimism recorded since our polling [...]
Left and rightwing think tanks join to call for ‘pro-growth’ tax reform November 5, 2025 Several think tanks from across the political divide have joined forces to call for sweeping tax reforms in a report that seeks to prioritise productivity growth and fairness in the wider system. Economists and policy officials from the left-leaning IPPR, the right-leaning Centre for Policy Studies and the likes of the Adam Smith Institute and [...]
Paddy Power founder: Bookies ‘scaremongering’ over tax hike damage October 28, 2025 The betting sector is “scaremongering” over the potential damage of a tax raid on gambling, according to the retired co-founder of Paddy Power, who said he had led similar industry warnings of job losses and store closures before other mooted tax changes. Stewart Kenny, who served as chairman and chief executive at the Irish gambling [...]
Pat McFadden says lifting two-child benefit cap must be budgeted September 24, 2025 Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden has conceded that any plans to lift the two-child benefit cap must be “budgeted” amid growing calls from key Labour figures for the Tory-era policy to be scrapped. McFadden warned Labour backbenchers that any commitment to lift the cap would have to be funded by higher government revenue. “Everything [...]
UK growth to suffer from interest rates hold, industry warns June 19, 2025 The UK economy stands to suffer from high borrowing costs, leading industry figures have warned, after the Bank of England held interest rates at 4.25 per cent on Thursday. The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) indicated that interest rate cuts could come in the coming months after a recent 25 basis point cut in May. [...]