Why HMRC is huge Premier League transfer window tax headache August 8, 2026 Is HMRC the biggest barrier stopping a healthier Premier League football transfer system, Alistair Culverwell asks. Another World Cup ended after high drama on the pitch and off the pitch,it was the scene of high stakes deal-making as clubs negotiated with agents to secure the most sought after talent – particularly players who shone. And [...]
Britain needs a new Richard Branson August 5, 2026 Richard Branson continues to be the best champion the UK has as a place to do business despite founding his first business decades ago. Branson is a global success, but he should have a successor by now, says Philip Salter A few months after England lifted the 1966 World Cup, Sir Richard Branson started working [...]
Royal London hits assets record amid pension push August 5, 2026 Royal London recorded a new record high for assets under management, as the group was buoyed by resilient market activity and an influx of pension wealth. Assets under management (AUM) climbed to £212bn, up from £199bn at the end of the last financial year, driven by positive market movements and investors taking the “Iran war [...]
Big bank bosses on alert as tax noise gets louder under Burnham August 5, 2026 Banks have delivered booming profits for the first half of the year. In this week’s column Samuel Norman takes a look at how the calls for a tax rise on the sector will get louder under the new Prime Minister. “The saxophones are getting louder” is the internet’s new saying to depict growing anxiety. If you [...]
Rupert Lowe axes pensions triple lock and pledges tax cuts in economic plan August 4, 2026 Rupert Lowe, the hard right leader of the Restore Britain party, has said he would back scrapping the triple lock pension and ordering three-year freezes on departmental budgets. Lowe, who has mainly focused on the issue of immigration since breaking from Reform UK over a year ago, published a pamphlet outlining his new party’s economic [...]
Natwest hikes targets again after jump in profit July 31, 2026 Natwest has upgraded its income targets for a second quarter running as the bank posted better than expected profit and dished out a bumper dividend to investors. The blue-chip lender reported a 20 per cent jump in pre-tax profit in the first six months of 2026 to £4.3bn, up from £3.6bn the year prior and [...]
Lloyds beats profit target as bank sets sights on more cost-cutting July 30, 2026 Lloyds Banking Group beat its profit forecast for the first half of the year as the bank’s top boss laid out plans to make further cost savings in the years ahead. The FTSE 100 lender – which owns the Bank of Scotland and Halifax – recorded a £4.3bn pre-tax profit in the first half of [...]
‘Difficult decisions’ – Burnham looks at new tax on workers to fund social care overhaul July 29, 2026 Andy Burnham has pleaded for opponents to engage in a cross-party discussion over sweeping adult social care reform as he warned that “difficult decisions” would have to be taken to fund the plans. In a press conference from a Jewish care centre in North London, Burnham indicated he wanted social care to be funded on [...]
Burnham won’t be bold enough to make devolution shift the dial on growth July 28, 2026 Within a year of Cornwall abolishing the 45p additional rate of income tax and reducing corporation tax to 15 per cent, hundreds of entrepreneurs and businesses, including dozens of major financial and professional services firms, had relocated to the county. The influx of private sector dynamism delivered an astonishing economic boost to a region that [...]
Andy Burnham will find there is a limit to tax rises July 28, 2026 Since tax increases are constrained by adverse behavioral responses and public resistance, the government must prioritise improving long-stagnant public sector efficiency, says Paul Ormerod A brand new Cabinet is in place, with ministers eager to introduce new spending plans to demonstrate that they are making an impact. To pay for these, a range of potential [...]