Angela Rayner on the brink: Deputy PM underpaid stamp duty on purchase of £800,000 property September 3, 2025 Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has referred herself to the standards watchdog after she admitted to underpaying stamp duty on her second home in Hove. A spokesperson for Keir Starmer has refused to confirm the date Rayner informed the Prime Minister about her tax dealings, raising questions on when he found out about new tax [...]
Starmer ‘proud to sit alongside’ Rayner despite stamp duty row September 3, 2025 Keir Starmer said he was “very proud to sit alongside” Angela Rayner as the deputy prime minister referred to herself to the standards watchdog over unpaid stamp duty on her second home. Minutes before PMQs began, Angela Rayner admitted she failed to pay the right amount of stamp duty tax on her second home. Rayner [...]
Reform is gathering in Birmingham this week – with plenty to celebrate September 2, 2025 Amidst widespread economic pessimism and the rising salience of immigration, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government faces a collapse in public support as polls show Nigel Farage’s Reform UK surging to a commanding lead, writes Matthew Lesh Last month, Keir Starmer’s family summer escape to Scotland was abruptly cut short by an urgent dash across [...]
What should the City make of eco-populist Zack Polanski ? September 2, 2025 The new leader of the Green Party once claimed he could increase a journalist’s breast size through hypnotism. Now Zack Polanski says wealth taxes can fix climate change. William Atkinson casts a sceptical eye In the 1980s and 1990s, the German Green Party was riven by a split between the Fundis and the Realos. The [...]
Keir Starmer’s approval rating sinks to record low September 2, 2025 Keir Starmer’s approval ratings have hit a record low, a City AM/Freshwater Strategy poll has shown, as pressure mounts on the government ahead of the Budget. Research by City AM and the advisory firm Freshwater Strategy has highlighted the growing discontent among voters over the UK government’s poor performance after a year in office. Starmer’s [...]
Kemi Badenoch doubles down on North Sea oil drilling pledges September 2, 2025 Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch will pledge to make North Sea oil a “cornerstone” of the UK economy amid concerns producers have “much more to do” to reduce carbon emissions in the coming decades. In a speech to the Society of Petroleum Engineers Offshore Europe conference in Scotland, Badenoch will tell industry officials that she [...]
Kemi is right: markets not ministers should determine energy policy September 2, 2025 The UK’s policy of using massive subsidies to support politically-favored green technologies has resulted in some of the highest energy prices in the developed world, and the government should instead foster a competitive, technology-neutral market to drive down costs and encourage innovation, says Matthew Bowles “We are in the absurd situation where our country is [...]
Home Office wins appeal to keep asylum seekers in Epping hotel August 29, 2025 Asylum seekers will be allowed to stay at a hotel in Epping, after the Court of Appeal overturned a previous ruling from the High Court. The decision from the second highest court in the UK means that the 138 men currently housed at The Bell Hotel in the Essex town can stay put. Earlier in [...]
Gloomy Brits now think Reform is the party of business August 5, 2025 Almost three quarters of voters (72 per cent) say that they are not confident in the government’s plan to achieve economic growth, and a majority (53 per cent) believe things are set to get worse for the UK economy over the next 12 months, says Matthew Lesh In 1997, Tony Blair promised that things can [...]
Voters say Nigel Farage’s Reform is the ‘party of UK business’ August 5, 2025 Reform UK is now seen as the most pro-business party in Westminster, fresh polling produced for City AM has found, in one of the first major signs the public is warming to Nigel Farage’s economic policies. Political parties have long battled to present themselves as a pro-business party, with Labour’s Chancellor Rachel Reeves wooing company bosses [...]