Winter fuel U-turn could lead to ‘unfair’ and ‘complex’ tax system June 9, 2025 Treasury calculations on savings made from a means-tested winter fuel payment for nine million pensioners may be significantly reduced due to a “new complexity in the tax system”, an economics think tank has warned. The government has claimed that £1.25bn budgeting for winter fuel payments represents a cost reduction of up to £450m compared to [...]
London ‘left out’ of Reeves’ spending review June 9, 2025 London will find itself low on the chancellor’s agenda in the upcoming spending review, reports suggest. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has been lobbying for extending the DLR to Thamesmead, and the Bakerloo line to Lewisham. However, getting the requisite funding to grow the transport system is looking unlikely. Bringing the Bakerloo line further south is anticipated [...]
Voters fear Reeves tax U-turn after Spending Review splash out June 9, 2025 UK voters are worried Chancellor Rachel Reeves will betray Labour manifesto pledges not to hike income tax, a new poll has suggested, as the government looks set to ramp up investment at Wednesday’s spending review. Sir Keir Starmer has declared that the government cannot “tax [its] way to growth” while ministers have said the spending [...]
Winter fuel payments to return for 9m pensioners in £1.3bn Labour u-turn June 9, 2025 The winter fuel payment will be handed out to 9m pensioners whose income falls below £35,000 a year, the Treasury has revealed, in a £1.25bn blow to Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ chances of keeping her £9.9bn headroom intact.
Reeves should use the Spending Review to make pay conditional on performance June 9, 2025 If the public sector had matched the productivity improvements of the private sector over the last 15 years or so, Keir Starmer would have £100bn more to spend this year. Instead of reheated policies, it’s time for real reform, says Tim Knox Keir Starmer, to his credit, has been making the right diagnosis. Six months [...]
Spending review: Rachel Reeves in standoff over police budgets June 9, 2025 Just 48 hours out from the government’s spending review on Wednesday, Rachel Reeves faces a tax and spend tug-of-war between senior Cabinet ministers and the realities of the public finances. Yvette Cooper looks to be the major remaining holdout, with substantial cuts to Home Office funding expected at the spending review and no funding deal [...]
London suffering from UK economic malaise, NatWest data suggests June 9, 2025 Businesses in London saw output decline for the second consecutive month in NatWest’s growth tracker – yet there is some optimism that the capital’s economy could resurge. Firms widely reported Chancellor Reeves’ tax hikes and a rise in energy bills, which kicked into effect in what has been dubbed ‘Awful April’, contributed to a decline [...]
This is what London needs in the spending review June 9, 2025 We need radical action if we’re going to hit the target of building 88,000 homes a year, more powers for the Mayor and improvements to productivity to get London out of the cycle of spending cuts and tax rises, says John Dickie In less than a week, the Chancellor will fire the starting gun on [...]
Government’s pension pot raid risks leaving millions underfunded June 8, 2025 Government plans to allow companies to extract cash from final salary pension schemes have come under fire after fresh analysis found the policy could put millions of retirees’ savings at risk. The Pension Schemes Bill, introduced last week, creates new rules allowing employers to remove “surplus” cash from defined benefits (DB) pension schemes, which are [...]
Businesses should dictate on burka ban, Badenoch says June 8, 2025 Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said employers should be able to decide if their staff can wear burkas in the workplace. Badenoch also said people who come to her constituency surgeries must remove their face coverings “whether it’s a burka or a balaclava”. Badenoch posted a video on X of part of her interview with [...]