Lawyers warn ’employment claims have become a costly burden for businesses’ February 7, 2025 Lawyers urge businesses to stay ahead of law changes after a report revealed employers are devoting more than a month to deal with employment claims
Week in Business: Growth hammer blow means Reeves must change course February 7, 2025 If the Chancellor was still on a high from last week’s big growth-focused speech, the Bank of England has just pulled her back down to earth and, for good measure, poured a bucket of cold water over her. This is a time for hard truths and none harder than the hammer-blow fact that the Bank [...]
Stagflation: Chancellor Rachel Reeves faces mess of her own making February 7, 2025 The Bank now expects the UK economy to grow 0.7 per cent this year, cut from a previous estimate of 1.5 per cent. Inflation, meanwhile, will hit 3.7 per cent later this year.
Why the Bank of England slashed its growth forecasts February 6, 2025 The Bank of England delivered Chancellor Rachel Reeves a mixed blessing on Thursday. Alongside cutting interest rates by 25 basis points, Bank officials halved the UK’s expected growth rate in 2025 to 0.7 per cent from a previous estimate of 1.5 per cent. This will come as a blow to Reeves, who has staked her [...]
FTSE 100 surges after Bank of England cuts interest rate February 6, 2025 The FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 surged higher today after the Bank of England moved to cut interest rates to 4.5 per cent in a bid to breathe life into Britain’s ailing economy. All of the Bank’s nine-strong monetary policy committee voted in favour of a reduction in rates, with two members of the group [...]
Bank of England cuts interest rates despite looming inflation surge February 6, 2025 The Bank of England cut interest rates by 25 basis points on Thursday, even though rate-setters expect to see a significant rise in inflation over the coming year. Seven members of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) backed the decision, while two – Swati Dhingra and Catherine Mann – voted for a larger 50 basis [...]
UK construction activity falls sharply as confidence plunges February 6, 2025 UK construction activity fell sharply in January, ending a 10-month streak of expansion as higher borrowing costs, gloomy economic prospects and weak client confidence hit the sector. S&P Global’s UK Construction Purchasing Managers Index fell to 48.1 last month, down from 53.3 in December and well below the 53.4 expected by analysts. “The overall construction [...]
Cut taxes for BP and Shell to protect UK from Trump’s trade war, Rachel Reeves told February 6, 2025 Oil giants such as BP and Shell who operate in the North Sea should be given huge tax breaks to help protect the UK against Donald Trump’s burgeoning trade war, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been told. Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce is calling on the UK government to reduce the 78 per cent tax [...]
Is Reeves heading for a fiscal car crash? February 6, 2025 Rachel Reeves has a deep respect for officialdom and institutions and was aghast at the way Liz Truss simply ignored the Office for Budget Responsibility when putting together her doomed ‘mini Budget.’ Cast your mind back to the early days of the Truss administration (which, as it turned out, weren’t very far from the final [...]
To understand Labour’s challenge on investment, look to Saint Matthew February 6, 2025 Why are all the infrastructure projects the Chancellor wants to invest in in the South? James Nations says the answer can be found in Matthew’s Gospel: “for to everyone who has, more shall be given”… With the Chancellor wanting to move the conversation on from last year’s doom and gloom, she might be pleased to [...]