Farage’s Reform UK backtracks on key benefits policy to support pubs February 3, 2026 Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has ditched its backing of Labour to support the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap as it set out policies to back pubs facing rising costs. In May last year, Farage said the party backed lifting the two-child benefit cap as part of a string of proposals to boost birth rates [...]
Rolls-Royce: FTSE 100 giants shares eye all-time high in tariff comeback February 3, 2026 Shares in aerospace giant Rolls-Royce were back on the march to an all-time high after a tariff salvo from the US sent the City giant’s stock tumbling. The FTSE 100 titan’s stock was up 1.6 per cent to 1,250.50p on Tuesday morning, making it one of the top risers on the blue-chip index. The Derbyshire-headquartered [...]
Tories gain on Reform in polls yet Badenoch struggles for approval February 3, 2026 The Conservatives have slightly narrowed Reform UK’s polling lead though Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch suffered a setback with a sharp decrease in approval ratings over the last month. The Tories now lead Labour by five percentage points and trail Nigel Farage’s party by eight points in City AM/Freshwater Strategy’s monthly poll. Reform UK enjoy 30 [...]
GDP set to soften in 2026 as tax hikes bite February 2, 2026 The UK is set for another year of soggy growth, according to new forecasts from EY, with the government’s tax hikes and ongoing worries about a global trade war hamstringing momentum. The Big Four firm predicted that GDP would rise 0.9 per cent in 2026, slower than the 1.4 per cent recorded last year, as [...]
Salons could ‘pull down shutters for good’ as business rates bite February 2, 2026 The British Beauty Council has urged the government to extend support on business rates to hair and beauty salons, or watch firms up and down the country “pull down their shutters for good”. Victoria Brownlie, chief policy and sustainability officer at the British Beauty Council, warned that the profitability of beauty salons has been “hollowed [...]
UK payments stuck with ‘bolted on’ European regulation, says PSR boss February 2, 2026 The boss of the UK’s payments regulator has said the body’s consolidation with the City watchdog will allow it to ditch overhanging red tape from Europe. David Geale, who heads up the Payments System Regulator (PSR) and leads on payments at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said: “There are bits of payments regulation that have [...]
Urban Pubs and Bars defies hospitality gloom with doubling of profit February 2, 2026 One of London’s biggest pub chains has defied hospitality gloom after posting a more than doubling of profit. Urban Pubs and Bars, which operates more than fifty venues across the capital including The Wren in Bank, the Commercial Tavern in Spitalfields and the Punch Tavern in Fleet Street, saw pre-trax profit climb to £1.7m for [...]
Hundreds of Treasury jobs at risk in civil servant cost-cutting shakeup February 2, 2026 Rachel Reeves wants to slash about 300 of her department’s roughly 2,100 staff by 2030, as HM Treasury plans to offer officials up to £100,000 to take voluntary leave.The proposed cuts to the Treasury are part of a wider drive to reduce Whitehall’s administrative costs by 16 per cent, according to the Financial Times. The [...]
Betfred brothers, Alex Gerko, Mike Ashley: Top UK taxpayers revealed January 31, 2026 Betting entrepreneurs Peter Done and Denise Coates, traders Alex Gerko and Chris Rokos, and high street kingpins Tim Martin and Mike Ashley are among the top taxpayers in the UK, new analysis has revealed. Betfred founders Fred and Peter Done paid the most cash into HMRC over the past year, according to The Sunday Times’ [...]
‘Absolutely bonkers’: Labour minister hits back at Trump’s criticism of China trade January 30, 2026 A Labour minister has hit back at comments from President Donald Trump that trading with China was “very dangerous” for the UK. Sir Chris Bryant, who has served as trade minister since September 2025, said it would be “absolutely bonkers” for the UK not to do business with China. “You have to challenge China on [...]