Shop prices fall again but ‘inflation is coming’ April 1, 2025 Shop prices fell again in March but a retail body has warned higher business taxes mean inflation is on the horizon. Retail prices have been in deflation since August 2024, primarily driven by deep discounting by non-food retailers. Shop price deflation was 0.4 per cent year on year in March, against a decline of 0.7 [...]
Rachel Reeves’ tax hikes will cost me £1m – Hooch tycoon March 31, 2025 The founder of the alcoholic drinks empire behind the likes of Hooch and VK has warned the tax hikes announced by Rachel Reeves will cost him an extra £1m. Steve Perez, the boss of Derbyshire-headquartered Global Brands, added that the Chancellor has “stacked the odds” against businesses like his and that he has “no choice” [...]
Week in Business: Who will Rachel Reeves blame for higher taxes in Spring Statement? March 6, 2025 City AM Editor Christian May looks at the biggest business stories in his weekly video, today focusing on the UK economy and upcoming Spring Statement.
Week in Business: Will more defence spending mean higher taxes? February 27, 2025 Cutting the international aid budget to boost defence spending – sounds like a fair exchange in a time of war and hazard – but there’s more to this announcement than meets the eye. The Prime Minister was deadly serious when he stood up in the Commons this week to declare that the country faces a [...]
Andy Burnham slammed for Manchester tourist tax plans February 21, 2025 Andy Burnham has been slammed by the chief executive of UKHospitality after backing plans for a new tourist tax to be introduced in Manchester. The mayor of Greater Manchester said earlier this week that tourists visiting the city region should pay a “proper” mandatory “tourist levy”. He added that he wanted to see Manchester city [...]
Public service reform is pro-business, pensions minister argues February 20, 2025 Reforming Britain’s public services is a pro-growth and pro-business policy, the pensions minister has argued. Torsten Bell, who was appointed in the mini-reshuffle following City minister Tulip Siddiq’s departure from government, has said it’s not possible to have a “failing state and a growing economy”, in an interview with the Guardian. The former Resolution Foundation [...]
Budget policies coming home to roost February 18, 2025 With each passing day, the government’s insistence that economic growth is its “number one priority” sounds more and more offensive. Just a few days ago, the Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said he believes that “good policy, good strategies, and good government working hand-in-hand with the private sector, can make a difference.” This may be true, [...]
‘This is Keir Starmer’s Poll Tax’: Labour warned inheritance tax protests won’t stop February 17, 2025 The Labour government’s reforms to farmers’ inheritance tax announced in the Autumn Budget has been branded as “Keir Starmer’s Poll Tax”. William Lees-Jones, who owns and runs Manchester-based JW Lees, which has produced real ale since 1828, added that the Prime Minister is “losing the argument and feeling rattled”. The pubs boss has liked the policy, which [...]
Reeves is in a fiscal trap and spending cuts are the only way out January 14, 2025 Rachel Reeves’ Budget created a vicious circle whereby higher taxes increased borrowing costs, squeezing the public purse and further and tempting the Chancellor into further tax rises to meet fiscal targets. There is another way, says Darwin Friend Rachel Reeves is trapped in a vicious fiscal circle of her own making. Her high-tax budget, billed [...]
CBI chair Rupert Soames: Reeves has created a ‘hole in the trust of business’ January 13, 2025 Rachel Reeves has created a “hole in the confidence and trust of business” by using the private sector to fill a £22bn hole in the government’s finances, the chair of the UK’s top business body has said. Rupert Soames, chair of the Confederation of British Industry, said the Chancellor had “bruised” British companies after rolling [...]