AIM boss: Inheritance tax sums don’t add up June 19, 2025 As AIM celebrates its 30th anniversary the market’s boss is eying a crucial birthday present from the Treasury: tax clarity. AIM shareholders were thrust into the tax spotlight last month after a leaked memo revealed Angela Rayner proposed Chancellor Rachel Reeves slap a series of taxes savers. Scrapping the inheritance tax exemption for AIM shares [...]
Reform UK: Treasury should intervene on Bank interest rates decisions June 18, 2025 Reform UK has suggested the Treasury should be allowed to contribute to the Bank of England’s interest rates decision in what would represent an intervention on its independence for the first time in nearly 30 years. Deputy leader Richard Tice told The Times ministers should have greater power over the Bank’s key decisions while it [...]
Non-dom U-turn would keep South African billionaire in UK June 18, 2025 South Africa’s richest self-made woman would cancel her plans to leave Britain if Rachel Reeves goes ahead with a change to non-dom inheritance tax rules said to be under consideration by the Treasury. Magda Wierzycka, the billionaire entrepreneur behind UK venture capital fund Braavos, had intended to join the wave of rich foreigners departing Britain, [...]
Tories: Labour desperate to use bookies tax to bail out Rachel Reeves June 17, 2025 Shadow sport and gambling minister Louie French has ripped into the Government over its plans for gambling taxes so soon after a sector white paper, describing them as a threat to bookies and horseracing. The Conservative MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup said Labour were “desperate” to find “easy tax rises to bail out Rachel [...]
Natwest top pick to acquire TSB June 17, 2025 British banking juggernaut Natwest Group has been pegged as the “most likely acquirer” of TSB Bank. Natwest returned to private ownership last month, ending a nearly two-decade-long banking saga and setting the lender up for a deals spree. The bank has purchased over £5bn worth of shares from the Treasury as part of its directed buyback [...]
Secure Trust Bank taps Labour donor tied to cronyism scandal as new boss June 17, 2025 An ex-Treasury director who was at the heart of Labour’s “cronyism” scandal has been tapped to take the helm at specialist lender Secure Trust Bank. Ian Corfield, who also spent nearly a decade as chief commercial officer of New Day, will replace retiring chief executive David McReadie. Corfield stepped down from his civil servant role [...]
Welfare, debt and the NHS: Our public finances are on the road to ruin June 17, 2025 Portugal is a fine country with plenty going for it, as an increasing number of Brits seem to be discovering. Just under 50,000 people moved there from the UK in 2023/34, up from 45,000 the previous year. These expats may or may not be aware that the country they’ve moved to (well-functioning, democratic, competitive and [...]
Car crash interview: City minister trips up over £10bn infrastructure project June 16, 2025 City minister Emma Reynolds was flummoxed by a series of questions about the government’s recent infrastructure announcements in a variously tense and cringe-inducing interview on LBC on Monday morning. Just seconds into the exchange with Nick Ferrari, Reynolds misspoke and called the Dartford Tunnel – in Kent – the Dartmouth Tunnel – in Devon – [...]
Israel-Iran conflict to dominate G7 meeting as Starmer calls for restraint June 16, 2025 The escalating conflict between Israel and Iran is likely to be high on the agenda as world leaders gather in Canada on Monday. Sir Keir Starmer said that the G7 meeting in Alberta would provide an opportunity for allies to make the case for de-escalation in the “fast moving” situation in the Middle East, with President Trump [...]
‘You’ll have to wait and see’: Reeves’ deputy can’t rule out autumn tax rises June 15, 2025 Treasury chief secretary Darren Jones refused to rule out further tax hikes in the autumn budget on Sunday. Asked on GB News whether he would rule out tax rises later this year, Jones said “that will be subject to the OBR forecasts… it’s right that we take these types of decision in an orderly way.” [...]