HS2: Transport secretary confirms two-year delay after ‘shambolic mess’ June 18, 2025 Transport secretary Heidi Alexander has confirmed that HS2 will be delayed by at least two years, slamming previous handling of the project as an “appalling” and “shambolic mess”. The embattled high-speed rail link will be pushed back beyond 2033 following a “litany of failures” outlined in two reports by HS2 boss Mark Wild and KPMG’s [...]
James Dyson: Labour is killing aspiration in UK June 18, 2025 Britain’s “myopic” civil servants, politicians and judges are squashing aspiration, according to billionaire entrepreneur Sir James Dyson in a scathing attack on the current Labour government. Writing in a column in The Sun, the UK’s third richest person said that he worries that Britain “no longer has the aspiration to create the Dysons of the [...]
Council finances in dire straits, MPs say June 18, 2025 Councils could run out of money in 2026 due to unsustainable book balancing methods, according to parliamentarians. The hike in national insurance contributions (NIC), combined with spending on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), has squeezed local council finances, a new report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has found. Despite Reform’s DOGE campaign, they [...]
Labour is locking Britain into a high-tax, low-growth doom loop June 18, 2025 Tax, borrowing, the cost of borrowing, unemployment and inflation are all going up, while growth is going down. Yet in the face of this, Labour’s instinct is to tax more, spend more and centralise more, says Simon Clarke When in a big hole, muddle the figures so nobody can understand them. That’s what Paul Johnson [...]
Secure Trust Bank taps Labour donor tied to cronyism scandal as new boss June 17, 2025 An ex-Treasury director who was at the heart of Labour’s “cronyism” scandal has been tapped to take the helm at specialist lender Secure Trust Bank. Ian Corfield, who also spent nearly a decade as chief commercial officer of New Day, will replace retiring chief executive David McReadie. Corfield stepped down from his civil servant role [...]
Rachel Reeves mulls inheritance tax U-turn as non-doms flee June 17, 2025 Rachel Reeves is reportedly mulling over changes to inheritance tax (IHT) on non-doms for assets held around the world, as pressure has ramped up from the City. That’s according to a report in the Financial Times, with “tweaks” to current rules to stem the UK’s haemorrhaging of non-doms. This potential U-turn follows pressure on the [...]
Welfare, debt and the NHS: Our public finances are on the road to ruin June 17, 2025 Portugal is a fine country with plenty going for it, as an increasing number of Brits seem to be discovering. Just under 50,000 people moved there from the UK in 2023/34, up from 45,000 the previous year. These expats may or may not be aware that the country they’ve moved to (well-functioning, democratic, competitive and [...]
84 per cent of Brits want Iran blocked from developing nuclear weapons June 16, 2025 A huge 84 per cent of Brits say that Iran should be stopped from developing nuclear weapons, with 44 per cent supporting UK military efforts to intervene, according to polling from think tank More in Common. The overwhelming strength of public concern and the relative backing of intervention is at odds with Sir Keir Starmer’s [...]
Business rates to hammer the West End: ‘This whole policy is nuts’ June 16, 2025 A rise in business rates for more expensive properties is set to hammer valuable areas like London’s West End, a leading investment firm has warned. The policy, which aims to bring down business rates for small properties by raising them for large properties, has been slammed as “unlikely to save the high street” and likely [...]
Car crash interview: City minister trips up over £10bn infrastructure project June 16, 2025 City minister Emma Reynolds was flummoxed by a series of questions about the government’s recent infrastructure announcements in a variously tense and cringe-inducing interview on LBC on Monday morning. Just seconds into the exchange with Nick Ferrari, Reynolds misspoke and called the Dartford Tunnel – in Kent – the Dartmouth Tunnel – in Devon – [...]