Courtroom challenges to planning decisions to be limited, No10 announce January 23, 2025 Courtroom challenges to infrastructure planning decisions are set to be limited, No10 has announced in what they framed as a bid for growth. Attempts to challenge major infrastructure schemes via the judicial system, such as nuclear plants, train lines and windfarms, will be restricted, Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed. The Prime Minister said the measure, [...]
Rachel Reeves: UK won’t be Trump tariff target due to trade deficit January 22, 2025 Rachel Reeves has argued that the UK won’t be a target for Trump’s trade tariffs because we have a “trade deficit” with the US. The Chancellor argued President Donald Trump was “concerned about the trade surpluses” with various countries around the world, but stressed that was “not the case” with the UK. It comes after [...]
‘Pension death tax’ raid attacked by Hargreaves Lansdown and AJ Bell January 22, 2025 Britain’s biggest wealth management firms have mounted a coordinated attack on Rachel Reeves’ plans to slap inheritance tax on undrawn pension pots today, describing the proposals as “flawed and potentially damaging” to grieving families. In a letter to the Chancellor, the bosses of Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell, Interactive Investor and Quilter, which collectively manage some [...]
Heathrow: Starmer won’t say if he backs London airport expansion January 22, 2025 Sir Keir Starmer has refused to say whether he would back the expansion of Heathrow Airport after voting against a third runway in 2018. The Prime Minister said would not be “comment on speculation” on the issue, as emphasised the government is “committed to growth” when asked about reports ministers could be set to approve [...]
Inheritance tax: Bill for Britain’s ‘most hated tax’ hits record January 22, 2025 HMRC collected £6.3bn in inheritance tax in the last nine months, but with changes to the code announced in Budget, this bill is expected to get bigger.
Davos: Reeves defends fiscal rules and says Heathrow expansion is ‘pro-growth’ January 22, 2025 Rachel Reeves has insisted the UK would continue to meet her “fiscal rules”, describing them as the “bedrock” of the stability she aims to restore to the economy and public finances. The Chancellor spoke at a Bloomberg event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public sector [...]
JD Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin calls on Starmer to reduce pub taxes January 22, 2025 Wetherspoons chairman Tim Martin has once again called on the government and Keir Starmer to reduce the tax gap between supermarkets and pubs in his company’s latest trading update. Martin said following the government’s decision to hike the national minimum wage, business rates and employers’ national insurance, costs at Wetherspoon will increase by around £60m [...]
Spending review: No new cash unless departments cut by five per cent January 21, 2025 Government departments won’t receive any cash for new projects unless they meet the Treasury’s requirement of a five per cent spending cut, Darren Jones has said. The chief secretary to the Treasury spoke at the Institute for Government (IfG) think tank’s conference on Tuesday about the need for a “reckoning” with state spending. Jones wrote [...]
Reeves wades in to motor finance scandal in bid to soften £30bn payout January 21, 2025 Shares in some of Britain’s biggest motor finance lenders have surged today after the Chancellor Rachel Reeves revealed plans to intervene in a mis-selling scandal which could cost the industry billions of pounds. A court judgement handed down in October sent shockwaves through the motor finance sector and has opened the door to what analysts [...]
Davos: Reeves to meet Trump allies in search for UK growth January 20, 2025 Rachel Reeves is expected to meet Donald Trump’s allies at Davos in a bid to talk up the UK’s growth prospects. The Chancellor is set to attend the World Economic Forum in Switzerland in the days following the US President’s inauguration and in the wake of turmoil in the UK bond markets. It follows a [...]