Lord Walker calls for Healey to cut business taxes August 30, 2026 Iceland boss Lord Richard Walker has urged Andy Burnham and John Healey to cut taxes for businesses and to stop focusing on the cost of living. Walker, who backed Labour at the last election, said Healey should ease costs for employers. The supermarket chief was the cost of living tsar under Sir Keir Starmer’s government [...]
Reform to slash HMRC officials’ pay if taxpayers wait too long August 26, 2026 HMRC officials would be fined and dismissed if they keep taxpayers waiting too long to deal with government services under a Reform UK government. If Nigel Farage becomes Prime Minister, customer services officers at the tax collector would have their pay tied to performance levels and be required to keep waiting times to below 30 [...]
Burnham pledges to tackle ‘cost of business’ as firms fear Budget tax raid August 26, 2026 Andy Burnham has pledged to help tackle the “cost of business” as he looks to head off fears that the private sector will be hit with another punishing tax raid at the Budget. Burnham said he wants to “make life easier” for people and businesses as he prepares for his first Budget under the new [...]
‘We’d love an apprentice – but the government has made it too expensive’ August 26, 2026 Small companies around Britain are facing a cost of business crisis. Bowers & Jones, an award-winning manufacturing firm, tells City AM that changes to the minimum wage have priced it out of employing apprentices. When Jane Somerville led a management buyout of her manufacturing firm and shifted its entire factory across the West Midlands in [...]
Budget 2026: Which taxes will Burnham and Healey hike? August 25, 2026 With interest rates on course to remain elevated and a new government keen to win over sceptical voters with cost-of-living measures, economists think tax rises at October’s Budget are all but guaranteed. But where will the new Chancellor look for revenue? Ali Lyon and Mauricio Alencar examine the most likely revenue raisers. Speak to any [...]
An overly complicated tax system is holding the UK back August 25, 2026 Tax simplification should be integral to the government’s growth agenda, writes BDO head of tax Adam Frais.
John Caudwell and Stuart Rose blast ‘tax creep’ August 24, 2026 Billionaire political donor John Caudwell and retail bigwig Lord Stuart Rose have hit out at the “creep of taxes” hitting businesses across the country. The influential business veterans have joined a campaign led by entrepreneur group Helm calling on the government to “stop the creep of taxes on wealth creators”. A letter, which has been [...]
HMRC mansion tax inspectors to target homes for property valuations August 23, 2026 HMRC will send mansion tax inspectors to homes across the UK to determine whether homeowners should pay more tax under the new levy. The taxman will deploy valuation agents who will be able to demand entry to properties in order to assess whether they are worth over £2m and therefore fall under The High Value [...]
AIM-Listed Pulsar Group hit with High Court petition by HMRC August 18, 2026 Pulsar Group, a UK-based technology company listed on AIM, and its media matchmaking subsidiary, ResponseSource, face a winding-up petition from HMRC. The group, formerly known as Access Intelligence, provides SaaS solutions for the global marketing, public relations and journalism sectors. A petition filed with the London High Court on Friday named it. Additionally, ResponseSource, the [...]
The UK’s cost stack is choking business growth August 18, 2026 Much of the UK has faced a summer of sweltering temperatures as the country hasbounced from one unrelenting heatwave to another. Businesses know all too well that unrelenting feeling. A decade of constant cost pressures from domestic policy decisions has been hugely damaging. It’s a cost stack is chocking business growth. Before a pound of [...]