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.
Reeves has placed an uncertainty premium on the British economy January 22, 2025 Rachel Reeves promised to restore economic stability, but the outcome of her various actions has been to increase uncertainty, says Paul Ormerod Daniel Ellsberg, who died in 2023 in his 90s, was a true Renaissance Man. After a stellar career as an economics student at Harvard, he served in the Marines before working for the [...]
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 [...]
UK economy: Does Labour’s economic hotchpotchism matter? January 21, 2025 Although gilt jitters have eased, the embattled Chancellor now faces a new and far more serious criticism.
Skills gap has ‘passed its peak’ but experts warn of a ‘hiring recession’ January 21, 2025 This was the first time since 2014 that the number of firms suffering from a scarcity of well-qualified candidates declined.
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 [...]
‘Unsustainable’ sickness benefits cost UK more than defence, Lords warn January 20, 2025 The UK is spending more on “financially unsustainable” sickness benefits than defence, and “urgent” reform to the welfare system is needed to rein in costs, a group of Lords has said. In a letter to the work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, the cross-party Lords Economic Affairs committee said the current benefits system penalises people [...]
Contactless train ticketing finally coming to London Stansted Airport January 20, 2025 The government has outlined its plans to roll-out contactless ticketing at nearly a hundred UK train stations in 2025, including London Stansted Airport, with a start date less than a fortnight away The Department for Transport (DfT) said on Monday some 47 stations across the South East would be able to use tap-in and tap-out [...]
FCA chair: Our growth push will test UK’s risk appetite January 20, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) push to slash red tape and unleash growth in the City will test the UK’s appetite for risk, its chair has warned, accepting that two of its new proposals could open the door to more fraud and mortgage defaults. Writing in City AM today, Ashley Alder said the FCA will [...]