Trump poised to announce US trade deal with UK May 8, 2025 President Trump will announce a US-UK trade deal today, according to a New York Times report which has since been backed up by Sky News. In a post on X, Sky News’ Sam Coates said that the claims are “substantive”, and that the announcement today would be “a ‘heads of terms’ agreement rather than the [...]
Andy Haldane: Government’s bid to cut red tape ‘has little chance of success’ May 7, 2025 The government’s call for regulators to slash red tape “has little chance of success” unless watchdogs’ mandates are changed in law, according to the Bank of England’s former Chief Economist Andy Haldane. Speaking at the City AM Awards in London’s Guildhall, Haldane criticised the government’s policy of seeking regulatory reform “via exhortation and press release” [...]
What a trade deal with India means for the UK May 7, 2025 The UK government is heralding a “new era” for British business: after three years of negotiations, a free trade agreement has been signed with India. This is the third agreement the UK has brokered since Brexit and it is also the biggest of them all, given India is the largest single economy that the UK [...]
Winter fuel payment U-turn not enough to win back support, Labour MPs say May 6, 2025 The government is under increasing pressure from its backbenchers to reverse winter fuel cuts amid warnings that even a U-turn would not go far enough to restore trust with voters. There is talk that senior government officials are reconsidering government’s earlier decision to restrict winter fuel payments to pensioners who qualify for income-related benefits, which [...]
Government signs landmark billion-pound trade deal with India May 6, 2025 Billions of pounds in extra trade could soon flow between India and the UK after the two nations signed a landmark free trade agreement, ending years of protracted negotiations. The deal, which the UK government said was the most “economically significant” free trade agreement signed since Brexit and the “best deal India has ever agreed”, [...]
How to shield your pension from Labour’s inheritance tax raid May 6, 2025 According to new analysis by Quilter, just two per cent of estates subject to inheritance tax (IHT) are currently taking advantage of surplus income gifting to reduce their tax liabilities. Based on freedom of information (FOI) requests carried out by the wealth management firm, just 1,490 estates are currently taking advantage of the rules, but Quilter expects [...]
UK services sent into decline amid ‘market turbulence’ May 6, 2025 UK output was sent into decline by “market turbulence” in April for the first time in one and a half years, prompting fears that Chancellor Reeves’ £40bn tax raid last autumn was damaging the country’s services economy. The services sector, which is seen as the engine behind UK growth, had been on a 17-month winning [...]
Home Office to clamp down on visa overstays amid pressure from Farage May 6, 2025 New Home Office rules would put curbs on work and study visas from nationalities most at risk of overstaying and going on to claim asylum as part of Labour’s push to reduce net migration. Applications from Pakistanis, Nigerians and Sri Lankans are among those set to be restricted, according to a report in The Times. [...]
Tories take note: Reform will come at Labour from the left May 6, 2025 As the dust settles on the local elections, party leaders will be busy trying to identify the right lessons. For the Conservatives, the picture is both clear and complicated. As Kemi Badenoch put it, her party faced a “bloodbath” in councils across the country. That’s the clear bit. The complicated bit concerns what she should [...]
Starmer speaks to Australian counterpart after ‘historic election win’ May 4, 2025 Sir Keir Starmer has spoken to Anthony Albanese after the Australian leader won a second term with his centre-left government. The Prime Minister congratulated Albanese on Sunday morning for his “historic election win” after he became the first Australian prime minister to win a second consecutive three-year term in two decades. “Australia and the UK [...]