Government’s pension pot raid risks leaving millions underfunded June 8, 2025 Government plans to allow companies to extract cash from final salary pension schemes have come under fire after fresh analysis found the policy could put millions of retirees’ savings at risk. The Pension Schemes Bill, introduced last week, creates new rules allowing employers to remove “surplus” cash from defined benefits (DB) pension schemes, which are [...]
Cut net zero and welfare spending instead of police budget, Tory MP blasts June 8, 2025 The shadow home secretary has slammed the Labour government amid mounting speculation police budgets are on the chopping block in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ spending review. Chris Philp told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg he believes police funding should be protected from cuts following concerns of a shrinking workforce. “I think I’m very concerned that [...]
Reeves mulls taxpayer-funded subsidy to cut manufacturers’ energy costs June 8, 2025 Rachel Reeves is looking at plans for a £1bn taxpayer-funded annual subsidy to bring down the energy costs for manufacturers after warnings the UK faced “rapid deindustrialisation” without intervention. The Chancellor is facing mounting pressure to lower energy costs for industry with fears high prices are holding back investment opportunities and stifling the country’s competitiveness. [...]
Reeves to unveil £86bn science and technology funding in spending review June 8, 2025 Research into drug treatments and longer-lasting batteries will receive new funding as part of an Chancellor Reeves’ £86bn package for science and technology set to be announced in next week’s spending review. Regions will be handed up to £500m with local leaders given powers to decide how investment is targeted in their communities, the Department [...]
Free Thinking: Is Nigel Farage the real prime minister? June 6, 2025 With everyone in Westminster dancing to Nigel Farage's tune, we have to ask: is the Reform UK leader the real prime minister?
Tory immigration policy: Kemi Badenoch unveils review into leaving ECHR June 6, 2025 Kemi Badenoch has used a major speech on immigration to announce a review into the UK leaving the European Court of Human Rights. In a speech at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in Westminster, the Conservative leader announced a “lawfare commission” whilst slamming “a legal culture that’s become more interested in political activism than [...]
‘A tax burden without precedent in the 21st Century’: Pub chain McMullen’s blasts government tax hikes June 6, 2025 One of Britain’s biggest pub chains has taken aim at the government’s “damaging” tax hikes, warning they will lead to lower demand and investment and have forced the hospitality sector to “bear the brunt” of rises in government spending. Hertford-based McMullen’s, which operates around 120 pubs in London and the home counties, including the Old [...]
Wise’s London listing snub shows the need for urgent City reform June 6, 2025 The loss of the primary listing of the fin tech Wise from London is another body blow to those seeking to reboot its fortunes as the international market where the best ideas find the best capital, writes shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith. Coming on the eve of London Tech Week it’s a real downer and [...]
Is the government right to ban water company bonuses? June 6, 2025 It is safe to say the water industry is not in the government’s good books. Decades of underinvestment and mounting debt have led to a sewage spill crisis, sparking immense public outrage. Thames Water, the UK’s largest water supplier, has come to symbolise the sector’s woes as it teeters on the brink of administration. US [...]
The high-profile non-doms that have quit Britain since the Budget June 6, 2025 If the pleas of wealth advisers and tax lawyers are to be believed, since the Chancellor’s Autumn fiscal crackdown, non-doms have been leaving Britain in droves. We’ve listed the most high-profile departures since the Budget. Having made it almost exactly halfway through her maiden Budget, the UK’s first female Chancellor was beginning to find her [...]