Labour to introduce new licensing rules to boost high street venues July 26, 2025 The Labour government has pledged to simplify the opening process for new high street venues in a bid to ramp up British hospitality prospects. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said new licensing framework, which comes as part of Labour’s overhaul on planning, plans to fast-track permissions for al fresco dining, helping to “protect pavement pints”. The [...]
Labour’s OpenAI deal lacks transparency July 24, 2025 The Labour government’s newly announced partnership with OpenAI has positioned the UK at the centre of a global discourse on the future of artificial intelligence in public services. The memorandum of understanding (MoU), signed on Tuesday by tech secretary Peter Kyle and OpenAI chief Sam Altman, sets out a framework for collaboration across sectors like [...]
Rachel Reeves is lost in space July 24, 2025 Rachel Reeves said was steering the economy past a black hole but her calculations are off and we’re heading for the abyss, says Helen Thomas One year ago, the new UK Chancellor declared that upon taking office she had discovered a £22bn fiscal black hole. She told parliament in her first big speech, “If left [...]
Labour’s plan to gerrymander London’s mayoral election will backfire July 24, 2025 Giving the vote to teenagers may be getting the headlines, but Labour are also planning to rig London’s mayoral elections by restoring supplementary voting. It’s a plan based on dangerous assumptions, warms James Ford Labour is clearly panicking. There is a very real fear that, come 2028, the combination of a deeply unpopular Labour government [...]
Goldman Sachs boss: London finance lead ‘fragile’ July 23, 2025 London’s position as a global financial centre is at risk from years of anti-business policies that are pushing talent and capital abroad, the boss of Goldman Sachs has warned. David Solomon highlighted a damaging combination of Brexit, the UK’s tax burden, constrictive regulation, and the recent decision to abolish the non-dom regime have all harmed [...]
Starmer must face down the self-righteous clowns on his back benches July 23, 2025 Keir Starmer’s attempt to select compliant MPs has backfired, producing a rebellious and ill-informed parliamentary party that has already successfully vetoed its own government’s economic policy, says Paul Ormerod A fundamental feature of the social and economic world is that intentions are not the same as outcomes. Morgan McSweeney and his colleagues exercised very close [...]
Rachel Reeves: It’s not progressive to pay off US hedge funds for debt July 22, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said there is “nothing progressive” about paying off US hedge funds which hold government bonds, hours after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed debt interest payments in June were double levels seen at the same time last year. In a hearing at the Economic Affairs Committee, Rachel Reeves said she [...]
Brits back tax incentive plan to stop wealthy investors fleeing UK July 22, 2025 Two thirds of Britons support offering rich investors tax incentives to stop them leaving the UK, according to a new report, as the government has been urged to design a special scheme to boost UK growth. In a new paper by Onward and the Adam Smith Institute, around 67 per cent of the British public [...]
Angela Rayner pushes for new tourist tax to fix black hole July 22, 2025 Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner is pushing Chancellor Rachel Reeves to give more power to councils to tax tourists amid worries that local governments are struggling to keep finances in check. Rayner has suggested that councils should be able to tax tourist hotel stays and take advantage of a rise in visitors, rather than taxing [...]
Rachel Reeves oversees higher government borrowing than expected July 22, 2025 Government borrowing has overshot predictions, putting Rachel Reeves under more pressure to take control of public finances. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public sector borrowing hit £20.7bn in June, higher than market expectations which pencilled in just over £17bn in borrowing. Borrowing in June this year was some £6bn more than at the [...]