Labour warned tightening inheritance tax would ‘stymie growth’ August 13, 2025 Plans to tighten inheritance tax rules on gifting and passing assets on to family members before death would damage UK growth and could lead to “regret” within the government, Labour has been warned. Treasury officials are reportedly considering changing rules which allow Brits to pass on assets to younger family members over seven years before [...]
Inheritance tax: Reeves could change thresholds and crack down on gift rules August 13, 2025 Rachel Reeves is exploring measures to extract more revenue from inheritance tax (IHT) ahead of the Autumn Budget, as she looks to plug a massive fiscal blackhole without breaking Labour election promises on tax. According to a report in The Guardian, the Treasury is looking into changes to thresholds as well as tightening the rules [...]
Shoe Zone shares booted as Labour’s budget tax raid weighs August 13, 2025 Footwear retailer Shoe Zone has slashed its profit target in half for the full-year citing an overhang from Rachel Reeves’ 2024 Autumn Budget. The London-listed firm said in a trading update on Wednesday it expects pre-tax profit for the financial year ending September 2025 to be around £2.5m. This marks a stark drop from previous [...]
Balfour Beatty receives profit boost from government contracts August 13, 2025 Infrastructure group Balfour Beatty recorded a jump in profit for the first half of the year after a bumper performance in its UK construction. The London-listed firm posted a £20m rise in pre-tax profit for the first six months of the year to £132m, up from £112m last year. It came as the business’ UK [...]
Third of young Brits favour authoritarian leader over democracy August 12, 2025 A third of young adults said they would back an authoritarian system if leaders could take decisions more quickly, a new poll has said, in signs new voters believe the UK’s social contract is breaking down and belief in the principles of democracy are fading. In fresh research led by Adam Smith Insights, a sister [...]
Why business confidence is all over the place August 12, 2025 Kemi Badenoch looked aghast but Keir Starmer was defiant. Business confidence was at a nine-year high, the prime minister declared in the House of Commons in mid-July. The Conservative Party leader was not having any of it. Neither were many economists and analysts watching from the City. What Starmer claimed was not false, per se. Research [...]
Wage growth hits five per cent as more jobs shed August 12, 2025 Wage growth hit five per cent June as more jobs were shed due to higher labour costs introduced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, official data has revealed. Pay growth excluding bonuses in the three months to June was the same as the month before, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in a caution to [...]
UK economy expected to rebound August 11, 2025 The UK economy is expected to have returned to growth in June after two consecutive months of declines amid concerns about the impact President Donald Trump’s tariffs have had on the economy. Economists polled by Bloomberg expect the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to post UK growth of 0.2 per cent for June when the [...]
UK fintech investment slumps despite push from Rachel Reeves August 11, 2025 Fintech investment across the UK suffered another downturn in the first half of the year despite Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ bold ambitions for the sector. Total UK fintech investment fell to $7.2bn (£5.36bn) – a drop of five per cent from the same period in 2024. The decline, revealed in KPMG’s bi-annual Pulse of Fintech report, [...]
Economy faces ‘midlife crisis’ as benefit claimants hit new high August 10, 2025 The economy faces a “midlife crisis” after a fresh study revealed the number of jobless benefit claimants aged 50 or older has reached nearly two million for the first time. A new report from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has shown the number of 50 to 64-year-olds who are out of work and claiming [...]