Being ‘the grown ups in the room’ won’t cut it with investors October 14, 2024 At today’s International Investment Summit, ministers must recognise that businesses want concrete assurances about the kind of returns they can expect, says Eliot Wilson Today is the government’s long-anticipated International Investment Summit, which will bring together potential investors from abroad and within the United Kingdom and is intended to show, in the business and trade [...]
DP World: Ministers had ‘conversation’ to salvage investment after row October 13, 2024 Ministers were forced to “have a conversation” with executives from DP World to secure its investment after a senior minister referred to one of its subsidiary P&O Ferries a “rogue operator”, the business secretary has said. Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the investment – which was reportedly put in jeopardy following the scathing criticism of [...]
Reynolds refuses to rule out raising employer national insurance rate October 13, 2024 Jonathan Reynolds has refused to rule out raising employers’ National Insurance (NI) contributions in the Budget.
Labour seeks to balance P&O criticism after Starmer slaps down call for boycott October 12, 2024 A Labour MP has sought to balance criticism of P&O Ferries after reports the Transport Secretary’s call for a boycott of the company could have jeopardised a £1bn investment in the UK. Keir Starmer has said Louise Haigh’s call for a boycott of the ferry firm was “not the view of the Government”. Liam Byrne [...]
Workers’ rights: Business secretary defends ‘rushed job’ bill October 10, 2024 The business secretary has defended the government’s plan to overhaul workers’ rights after a lobby group branded it a “rushed job, chaotic and poorly planned”.
Labour’s arrogance is disrespectful to business October 10, 2024 When it emerged that Boris Johnson reportedly muttered “f**K business” during a meeting as Prime Minister, he was rightly castigated. For many people it marked an emphatic break in the relationship between government and the private sector. We might not be able to point to any similarly totemic moment in Keir Starmer’s first three months [...]
Labour pulls back from ‘day one’ protections as it unveils workers’ rights overhaul October 10, 2024 Labour has pulled away from its pledge to give employees protection from unfair dismissal from the first day in a job, according to reports, as it unveils its long-awaited package of employment reforms today. The Employment Rights Bill, which Labour promised to introduce within its first 100 days, is set to be laid before Parliament [...]
Sketch: PMQs falls flat – do Sunak and Starmer not get the rules? October 9, 2024 With the Tories immersed in a leadership contest and Labour emerging from weeks of freebie headlines and internal drama, Westminster watchers will have turned to this week’s PMQs for a much needed injection of drama. Grab your popcorn, it’s box office time. Surely the acting leader of the Conservative Party could at least muster up [...]
NHS pension tax grab could see ‘return to strikes’, government warned October 9, 2024 Plans to reduce the tax-free lump sum savers can withdraw from their pension could see NHS workers mount a “return to pay unrest and strikes”, the government has been warned. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is reportedly mulling plans to cap withdrawals at £100,000 in the Budget on 30 October in a bid to shore up the [...]
Nightmare fuel: Have Labour’s first 100 days proved a shaky start? October 9, 2024 During Liz Truss’ short-lived premiership, my friend confessed the then-Prime Minister was actually living out a recurring nightmare she occasionally had. The ‘plot’ of said nightmare? “The idea that you think yourself capable of something and you get to the top and you’re on the front page of every newspaper, and every news channel and [...]