British Business Bank set on delivering Labour’s growth ambition June 28, 2025 Arguably one of the biggest winners from Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ latest spending splurge, the British Business Bank had its lending capacity beefed up and pledged to back the UK’s innovators with its expanded range. The bank had its funding capacity increased to £25.6bn in the Spending Review from near £15.6bn as it targets eight key [...]
Will banks be able to escape a Reeves’ tax raid this Autumn? June 27, 2025 As Rachel Reeves watches her fiscal headroom crumble with every Labour U-turn, the Chancellor may return to her budget mantra that those with the “broadest shoulders should bear the heavier burden”. Lenders managed to skirt a tax raid in the 2024 budget after lobbyists warned it could damage the sector’s international competitiveness, but renewed fiscal [...]
Kemi Badenoch: I’ll only support welfare bill if government pledges no tax rises June 27, 2025 Kemi Badenoch has said she would only support Labour’s welfare bill if the government pledges not to raise taxes further at the next budget. More than 100 Labour MPs had threatened to vote against the bill in its original form amid concerns over a reduction in personal independence payments to their constituents. The government has [...]
Reeves may need larger fiscal buffer to ‘build credibility’ June 27, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves may need to make her headroom larger than £9.9bn in the autumn to restore credibility and fund policy U-turns, an economics think tank has warned, prompting warnings that “unpopular tax hikes” are coming down the line. Proposed welfare reforms saved the government £4.8bn at the Spring Statement in a last minute rush [...]
Labour’s welfare U-turn spikes fears of tax hikes June 27, 2025 The Labour government has confirmed its latest U-turn with a significant retreat on welfare reform dealing a crushing blow to Rachel Reeves’ waning fiscal headroom. The bill initially targeted restrictions on personal independence payments (PIP) and limited the sickness-related element of universal credit in a bid to shed £5bn from the welfare budget by 2030. Under [...]
Heathrow eyes earnings crunch as national insurance hike weighs June 27, 2025 London Heathrow airport expects its earnings for 2025 to take a hit as it weighs the cost of Labour’s hike to employer’s national insurance contributions. The airport expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) to decrease by three per cent to near £1.98bn over the year due to higher operating costs brought on [...]
Jeremy Hunt ‘made mistake’ in taxing non doms June 27, 2025 Former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was wrong to target non doms as part of efforts to raise more government revenue from tax, shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith has said. Hunt abolished a special tax status for non-domiciled residents in his last Budget, then raising £2.7bn, before Rachel Reeves went further by removing a carve-out that allowed [...]
Reeves urged to unfreeze income tax or risk entrenched damage June 26, 2025 Rachel Reeves has been given another stark warning of the implications of extending the freeze on income tax thresholds. The Chancellor has vowed to not repeat the scale of tax rises in last year’s autumn Budget, but has not addressed whether she will stand by her promise to unfreeze income tax thresholds from 2028. Reeves [...]
Berenberg: Labour welfare row will lead to tax hikes and higher interest rates June 26, 2025 Divisive party politics at the top of the Labour government stand to prevent the Bank of England from making further interest rate cuts, given struggles to curb spending, a leading City broker has warned. The government is embroiled in another row over spending cuts, as £4.8bn in welfare budget savings look set to be watered down following a [...]
Week in Business: Is the jobs market in crisis? June 26, 2025 Entry level and graduate jobs are down while AI is coming for professional roles, all while businesses contend with tax hikes and red tape.