Financial services brace for more job cuts as clouds gather July 7, 2025 Financial services firms are expecting a rapid increase in jobs losses over the coming months as investment plans and optimism levels sink to fresh lows. The sector’s activity fell at the fastest rate since December 2023 in the three months to June, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). This marked the first time [...]
Personal guarantees ‘overuse’ holding UK growth back July 7, 2025 The “overuse” of personal guarantees in borrowing arrangements is holding businesses back and stifling UK growth, innovators have warned, with only a small minority of companies claiming they would borrow from banks with their personal savings or assets on the line. A new survey of some 1,400 small business owners by the Federation of Small [...]
Rachel Reeves urged to rip up ring-fencing in banking growth push July 7, 2025 Rachel Reeves is facing renewed pressure to scrap the ring-fencing regime imposed on British banking giants in a bid to bolster the sector’s international competitiveness and bolster economic growth. The Chancellor has been lobbied by top banking chiefs to ditch the “redundant” 15-year-old legislation, which requires major banks to separate their retail banking operations from [...]
In defence of crying at work July 7, 2025 Was Rachel Reeves really too emotional, or have we just got a gender issue when it comes to leadership, Anne Francke asks.
Scottish Widows owner: Pension funds deal risks making UK like China July 7, 2025 Labour’s flagship deal with pension funds risks making the UK economy more like China, the boss of Lloyds Banking Group has warned after its subsidiary Scottish Widows chose not to sign up to the agreement. Chancellor Rachel Reeves won the support of 17 pension funds which agreed to invest at least five per cent of [...]
Hiring confidence worst in 13 years as businesses brace for further tax hikes July 7, 2025 Appetite for hiring among employers has fallen to lows not seen since 2012, as bosses bring up the drawbridge following bruising hikes to business rates and more tax rises looming at the next Budget. Research from the BDO Business Trends barometer found that firms are “holding back recruitment” despite indications of a summer recovery. Employment [...]
Hospitality jobs slump as Reeves’ National Insurance hike bites July 6, 2025 The UK hospitality industry has shed 69,000 jobs since chancellor Rachel Reeves’s rise in employers’ national insurance contributions took effect – a stark reversal from the 18,000 roles created in the same period last year under the previous government. The figures, sourced from the Office for National Statistics, or ONS, mark the steepest peacetime job [...]
Reeves warns ministers tax rises are coming after loss of ‘low hanging fruit’ July 5, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has warned ministers that taxes will have to rise after the government U-turned on its welfare bill, despite repeated pledges not to increase the taxes of working people. Reeves told ministers on Tuesday that raising the tens of billions pounds she needs would be a “big challenge” given her lack of options, [...]
Get ready for £30bn tax raid, City analysts warn July 5, 2025 Top City economists have warned welfare U-turns and President Trump’s damage to growth prospects will lead to tax hikes worth £30bn this autumn. Chancellor Rachel Reeves suggested last year’s £40bn tax raid on businesses, homeowners and investors was a “once in a parliament reset” while Keir Starmer has suggested the UK could not “tax [its] [...]
Economists urge fiscal discipline after ‘rollercoaster’ week for bond market July 4, 2025 Economists have called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to exercise fiscal discipline after a “rollercoaster” week in the bond market exposed the precarity of the government’s finances. Yields on 10-year gilts briefly rose more than 20 basis points, the highest intraday rise since the ill-fated Liz Truss minibudget in 2022, after Reeves appeared distraught in the [...]