Use development orders to tackle housing crisis, ministers told November 15, 2024 The UK government should use development orders to circumvent the planning regime, build homes and address the housing crisis, a new report has argued. Ministers should deploy existing powers – known as local development orders, which allow specific development in certain areas without a planning application – to turbocharge housebuilding, the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) [...]
Get rid of ‘mongrels and wasters’ by paying government advisors more November 15, 2024 Sue Gray’s salary as chief of staff attracted controversy for all the wrong reasons: it was too low, not too high. Across government, we should be prepared to pay serious money for serious talent, says Patrick King Staffing appointments by the new government have led to cries of cronyism, with hand-wringing about civil service politicisation. [...]
Whisky Business: Scotch Whisky exports take a hit November 14, 2024 City AM’s monthly look at trends in the world of Scotch Whisky. Scotch Whisky is one of the UK’s most successful sectors, but it’s facing increasing headwinds from challenges both at home and overseas. According to the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), the value of Scotch exports topped £5.6bn in 2023, supporting 66,000 jobs across the [...]
‘Not the 1970s’: Minister slaps down four-day week calls from civil servants November 14, 2024 Civil servants won’t get a four-day working week as we’re “not living in the 1970s”, the pensions minister has said. Emma Reynolds slapped down the demand from Whitehall bureaucrats on Times Radio, after it emerged staff at one department claimed the policy could save the government millions. Workers at the Department for Environment, Food and [...]
Reeves eyes £80bn investment with pension ‘megafunds’ November 14, 2024 The Chancellor Rachel Reeves will unveil plans to consolidate the UK’s sprawling £400bn local authority pension schemes today in a bid to unlock a wave of investment into the UK. In her first Mansion House speech in the City, Reeves is expected to announce a new Pension Schemes Bill to be introduced next year, aiming [...]
Exclusive: Reeves to reveal new mutual council with Nationwide and Co-op November 14, 2024 Chancellor Rachel Reeves will set out plans for a new mutual council today made up of some of Britain’s biggest customer and member-owned firms, including Nationwide, Royal London and the Co-op Group, City AM understands. In her maiden Mansion House speech, Reeves is expected to set out a growth plan for mutually owned business as [...]
Badenoch claims Reeves’s Budget was designed to ‘milk private sector’ November 13, 2024 The Labour government’s “ideological” Budget was “designed to milk the private sector”, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has claimed. Quizzing Sir Keir Starmer during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) today, the Conservative leader accused the Labour leader of “having nothing to offer but platitudes”. She said: “Their ideological Budget was designed to milk the private sector and [...]
Streeting rolls out health service league tables to boost efficiency November 13, 2024 NHS trusts should be “turned into businesses”, a free market think tank has argued, amid Wes Streeting’s announcement of health service league tables in a bid to boost efficiency. The health secretary has confirmed failing hospitals will be named and shamed in league tables and managers sacked if they don’t improve patient care and take [...]
Working mothers will pay for Labour’s tax rises November 13, 2024 Employers’ national insurance hikes will increase the cost of childcare and put nurseries out of business, making life for working mothers even harder than it already is, says Alys Denby Governments are notoriously bad at picking winners, but Britain is about to find out what happens when leaders are more interested in picking losers. From [...]
Business groups warn of jobs market slowdown following Budget November 12, 2024 Alexandra Hall-Chen, principal policy adviser for employment at the Institute for Directors (IoD) said the figures point to a "concerning trend" in the labour market.