Minister denies Labour’s tax hikes behind youth unemployment Politics The Labour government’s £25bn hike in taxes paid by employers is not the main driver behind rising youth unemployment, a government minister told City AM. Baroness Jacqui Smith, the skills minister, said that changes in NICs and minimum wages have not been the main drivers behind a rise in unemployment rates for people under the [...]
Bring ‘punishing’ high street taxes in line with banks, Healey urged Retail John Healey has been urged to bring down the “punishing” tax burden facing the retail and hospitality industries, which is higher than any other sector. Hospitality businesses pay 82p in taxes for every pound and retail pays 72p, compared to the 40p paid by banks, according to new analysis by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) [...]
Top business group urges Healey to cut NICs to ‘solve Neets crisis’ Economics One of Britain’s most influential business bodies has urged Chancellor John Healey to cut taxes for employers at the Budget in order to “solve” the crisis facing Neets, who are young people not in employment, education or training. In a report published on Tuesday, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said Britain’s youth unemployment crisis [...]
‘Cost of business crisis’ as government drives up overheads by 70 per cent in a decade August 11, 2026 British companies are facing a “cost of business crisis” as a string of controversial government policies have pushed up an average firm’s expenses by 70 per cent in a decade, one of the country’s largest industry bodies has found. A typical-mid-sized firm is now paying roughly £827,000 more a year than they were in 2016 [...]
Jenrick vows to partly undo Reeves’ £25bn employer NICs rise – for Britons June 15, 2026 Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick has said the party would undo Rachel Reeves’ £25bn tax rise on employers’ national insurance contributions – but only when employers hire British workers. Jenrick said Reform was set to put “British workers first, migrant workers second” by reforming tax to treat Britons differently to workers taken from overseas.” Reform’s Treasury [...]
‘Tipping point’: CBI boss slams £345bn business tax burden amid ‘cost of doing business’ crisis June 4, 2026 The boss of the UK’s most influential business group will use a landmark speech to warn that the heavy business tax burden is nudging British firms towards a “tipping point”, directly linking the Labour government’s troubles to cost pressures on firms. At a speech for the Confederation of British Industry (CBI)’s business dinner, chief executive [...]
Hollywood Bowl boss: ‘Incredibly painful’ tax hikes make it harder to hire May 27, 2026 The boss of Hollywood Bowl has hit out at Labour’s “incredibly painful” hikes to national insurance and the minimum wage for making it harder to employ workers. Stephen Burns, chief executive of the UK’s largest tenpin bowling operator, told City AM that Labour policy has made it “significantly more expensive to employ somebody than it [...]
Heathrow ‘under pressure’ amid rising costs December 19, 2025 Heathrow Airport has warned that rising employment costs and the government’s controversial business rates overhaul will wipe out the additional revenues generated from a record number of passengers passing through the west London hub. In an update to bondholders, the UK’s largest airport revealed its profit had plummeted by 38 per cent in the nine [...]
Firms’ inflation fears highest in two years amid interest rate hold November 6, 2025 Firms’ long-term inflation fears are at their highest level since the end of 2023, a Bank of England survey revealed on Thursday, prompting the majority of Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members to vote for interest rates to be held. On an average reading in the three months to October, business leaders’ inflation expectations for the [...]
Business owners still plan staff cuts due to last year’s NICs raid October 30, 2025 Nearly half of business owners are still planning to reduce headcounts in response to Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ £25bn tax hike on employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs), a new survey has indicated, pointing to the long-lasting economic effects of a brutal tax raid in her first Budget. Reeves made sweeping tax hikes last year to fund [...]