UK growth to suffer from interest rates hold, industry warns June 19, 2025 The UK economy stands to suffer from high borrowing costs, leading industry figures have warned, after the Bank of England held interest rates at 4.25 per cent on Thursday. The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) indicated that interest rate cuts could come in the coming months after a recent 25 basis point cut in May. [...]
Week in Business: Non-dom tax U-turn makes sense but what about the rest of us? June 19, 2025 The Chancellor is scrambling to hang on a few non-doms, but what about the tax bomb dropped on the rest of the country?
Sir James Dyson is right to warn on Labour’s damaging policies June 19, 2025 Sir James Dyson knows a thing or two about how to build a business. In an impassioned piece in The Sun yesterday he reflected on his own entrepreneurial experiences, saying “It took me 5,127 prototypes, each made by hand…I was on the brink of bankruptcy before I found success.” He set out his concerns that [...]
Labour must not overlook London when it comes to infrastructure spending June 19, 2025 The Spending Review saw investment in Scotland, the Midlands and the North but this not come at the expense of London, which is essential to the growth of the entire nation. The infrastructure strategy is a chance to correct the course, says Peter Hogg As the economic heart of the United Kingdom, London plays an [...]
Labour’s National Wealth Fund a misnomer, MPs told June 18, 2025 Labour’s National Wealth Fund faced renewed calls for clarity on Wednesday as the Treasury Committee continued its inquiry into the government’s new body. The government’s rebrand of the National Wealth Fund (NWF) from the UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) in October 2024 has raised questions amid confusion of the two bodies’ remits. Academics and think tank [...]
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 [...]