If the world really has changed, Chancellor, then drop your tax hikes March 26, 2025 Rachel Reeves has one of the most demanding, high profile and exhausting jobs in the country, and so – at the very least – we should forgive her for taking some freebie tickets to a Sabrina Carpenter concert. She’s had very few good weeks since entering office and the least she deserves is a good [...]
Average price of pint to surge above £5 due to April cost hikes, say beer bosses March 24, 2025 The average price of a pint of beer is set to surge past £5 for the first time due to cost hikes hitting the sector next month, according to industry bosses. Pub sector chiefs have warned that prices for customers will have to increase in order to help keep venues running in the face of [...]
Chancellor’s £40bn tax raid blamed for manufacturing slump March 21, 2025 Manufacturing has seen a faster fall in output at the beginning of this year as Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ £40bn tax raid means businesses are “conserving funds”, research by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) suggests. The sector is seen as crucial to the Labour government’s growth plans as it pushes for a rise in technology [...]
Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber’s theatre empire braced for Reeves’ tax hike March 18, 2025 Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber’s theatre empire has warned it is bracing for the “notable impact” the hike in employer’s National Insurance contributions (NICs) when it comes into force next month. Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in her Budget in October 2024 that NICs would rise by 1.2 per cent from April to 15 per cent in [...]
This is how UK small businesses are managing despite rising costs March 12, 2025 According to the latest Sage small business tracker, rising operational costs, mounting financial pressures, and pivoting business strategies are creating a challenging economic landscape for SMEs. But despite growing headwinds and challenges, such as higher costs and economic uncertainty, small businesses across the UK are adapting to the changing environment. Profit slows as costs rise [...]
High street firms facing extra £1bn tax bill next month as relief slashed March 10, 2025 Shops, restaurants and pubs across England are facing an extra £1bn in taxes when a discount is cut next month, adding to a “tsunami” of rising costs hurtling toward the sector, according to new analysis. Businesses in London will be hit hardest by changes, tax and software firm Ryan found. Firms in the retail, leisure [...]
Bosses fear workers’ rights overhaul more than National Insurance hike March 3, 2025 Employers are more worried about the government’s upcoming reforms to workers’ rights than the widely condemned National Insurance rises announced in the October Budget, a fresh poll has revealed. More than a third (34 per cent) of bosses cited the far-reaching overhaul to employment rights as the biggest challenge facing their organisation in 2025 despite [...]
Small businesses forced to raise prices ahead of national insurance jump March 3, 2025 The price of small businesses’ goods and services is set to be the latest victim of Rachel Reeves’ national insurance hike, a new survey has revealed. More than four-in-ten of the UK’s small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) have said the government’s increase in National Insurance Contributions (NIC) for employers will negatively impact them. Nearly a [...]
Manufacturing job cuts accelerate ahead of national insurance hike March 3, 2025 Activity in the UK’s manufacturing sector dropped to its lowest level in fourteen months, a new survey has revealed, with lower demand and weak confidence plaguing the industry. The S&P’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) showed downturns deepened as firms braced for changes made in the Government’s budget to be enacted. The index stood at [...]
Spring Statement 2025: Rachel Reeves should be courageous and favour economics over ideology, says Interactive Investor boss March 3, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves needs to be “quite courageous” and not “allow ideology to get in the way of economics” when she delivers her Spring Statement on 26 March, the chief executive of Interactive Investor has said. Richard Wilson, speaking on an up-coming episode of City AM‘s Boardroom Uncovered podcast, added that the government’s growth agenda [...]