FCA clarity on defence investment and green rules welcomed by MPs March 11, 2025 MPs have welcomed a move by the financial watchdog, clarifying that defence investments aren’t constrained by green or sustainability rules. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released a statement on Tuesday morning clarifying their position on sustainability and defence investments. A spokesperson said: “Our sustainability rules do not prevent investment in or finance for defence companies. [...]
Planning bill will ‘avoid bat tunnels’, housing minister claims March 11, 2025 The government hopes its planning reforms will “avoid bat tunnels”, the housing minister has said. It comes as Labour unveiled major changes to the UK’s planning permissions system – as part of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill – with measures to overhaul how developers meet environmental obligations, replacing site-specific schemes with a general fund. Speaking [...]
Labour’s growth agenda? Necessary but not sufficient. March 11, 2025 Ministers will be deeply frustrated at the lack of economic growth, though they ought not to be surprised. Their own missteps have been well covered in this newspaper, and week after week new survey data reveals the extent to which government policies have dampened spirits, reduced hiring and spooked confidence. However, while their opening salvo [...]
The Editor’s Interview: Should the Tories be afraid of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK? March 10, 2025 In this episode, we see top Tory Andrew Griffth MP grilled by City AM Editor Christian May on the threat posed to the Conservatives by Nigel Farage's Reform UK.
Will Rachel Reeves end up being a right-wing Chancellor by accident? March 10, 2025 With poor growth and pressure on defence spending, Rachel Reeves faces having to make welfare cuts the likes of which haven’t been since the days of Nigel Lawson. But unlike Lawson, her spending plans are not being driven by a programme of reform, but by panic, says Eliot Wilson Rachel Reeves cannot have expected it [...]
Government to hit regulators with performance targets to drive innovation March 10, 2025 Regulators will be slapped with new performance targets in an effort to stimulate technological innovation and drive investment in the UK. According to Lord Patrick Vallance, the science minister, the benchmarks will be designed to accelerate innovation. Lord Vallance has suggested that this drive for innovation could result in commercial delivery drones, self-driving vehicles, and [...]
More than 300,000 businesses plan job cuts as Reeves’ Budget starts to bite March 10, 2025 More than 300,000 businesses are expected to lay off workers, as a flurry of data reveals a jobs market slowdown following the government’s Budget measures on employment. The £25bn rise in national insurance contributions (NICs) announced by the Chancellor in October is set to kick in next month, while businesses are also reportedly spooked by [...]
Harriet Harman appointed UK special envoy for women and girls March 8, 2025 Labour grandee Baroness Harriet Harman has been made the new UK special envoy for women and girls. The former minister will “co-ordinate efforts across the globe” to push for the protection of rights over reproductive health, access to education and freedom from gender-based violence, the Foreign Office said. But concerns have been raised in the [...]
Employment reforms “highly damaging” to investment, warns CBI chief March 7, 2025 The government’s proposed reforms to employment law would be “highly damaging” to business investment in the UK, according to CBI president Rupert Soames. Writing in The Times, Soames argued that this week’s U-turns on more controversial aspects of the legislation – from changes to statutory sick pay, to tweaks to protections for agency workers and [...]
Chancellor facing £10bn headache in Spring Statement March 6, 2025 Rachel Reeves faces a tax and spend nightmare at the Spring Statement, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank. In a lengthy report, the IFS says Reeves is snookered between the realities of a bleak economic environment and her own self-imposed fiscal rules, resulting in what could amount to a £10bn tax [...]