Monzo: The rockstar fintech setting the City abuzz June 3, 2025 Monzo has dominated City chatter in recent months with its hotly anticipated IPO, and now the fintech unicorn’s latest financial results indicate the talk is only going to get louder. The UK fintech veteran broke another milestone in the last 12 months after topping £1bn in annual revenue. Behind the surge in takings was a [...]
Starmer’s defence pledges will trigger a tax bombshell June 3, 2025 Here’s a cracker of a pub quiz question for you: what links mega-rich non-doms, nuclear-powered submarines, congestion in Wigan and the Bank of England’s former chief economist? The answer, as so often appears to be the case, is tax. On the day that Keir Starmer unveiled a Strategic Defence Review that calls for nearly £70bn [...]
Starmer’s defence spending will mean ‘chunky’ tax rises, warns IFS June 2, 2025 Sir Keir Starmer’s plans to boost defence spending will require “chunky” tax rises, according to the chief of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Paul Johnson told Times Radio: “…if we’re really going to spend another £10-15 billion a year on defence, whilst inevitably we’re going to spend more and more on health and pensions [...]
Majority of Labour MPs oppose Reeves’ fiscal rules June 2, 2025 Two thirds of Labour MPs oppose Rachel Reeves’ fiscal rules, and twenty percent would prefer tax rises over spending cuts. Polling by Survation, shared with The Times, showed that 64 per cent of Labour MPs said Reeves’ rules inhibit ministers’ abilities to meet their objectives, including: raising living standards, improving public services, and combatting climate [...]
Starmer refuses to commit 3 per cent defence spending despite ‘battle-ready’ claim June 2, 2025 Keir Starmer has been criticised for failing to commit to increasing defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP. The Prime Minister vowed to put in place the “largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War,” with a 2.5 per cent share of GDP going to defence. However, the PM maintained that hitting [...]
Reeves’ tax raids and tariff woes strain UK manufacturers June 2, 2025 British manufacturers continued to struggle in May, despite a surprise minor uptick, as tax hikes and tariffs weighed on firms. S&P Global’s latest PMI survey, which asks around 600 industrial companies about their performance, revealed manufacturers were still battling a tirade of challenges. The latest figure edged up to 46.4 in May, compared to 45.4 [...]
Andy Haldane: Reeves ‘not even close’ on growth after ‘rookie errors’ June 2, 2025 The Bank of England’s former Chief Economist has slammed Rachel Reeves’ first near-full year as Chancellor as “disappointing”, with the government “not even close to doing enough” on growth. Less than two weeks out from the 11 June spending review, Andy Haldane told LBC’s Nick Ferrari that there have been “mistakes, rookie errors” that have [...]
Monzo: Fintech unicorn tops £1bn in revenue on road to landmark IPO June 2, 2025 UK fintech giant Monzo reported its second consecutive year of profitability on Monday after the neobank’s revenue climbed above £1bn for the first time. The firm’s revenue increased 48 per cent to £1.2bn as it reported huge expansion across business arms amid rising expectations for a London flotation in the coming months. Customer deposits jumped [...]
Reform’s new crypto plan: politics ‘the driving force’ June 1, 2025 While Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was busy wooing the Bitcoin aficionados in Sin City, Las Vegas, party chairman Zia Yusuf faced the much less glamorous task of selling the UK media their new crypto plan. “This is not about turning the UK into some alt-coin scammers paradise,” Yusuf said. This follows the Reform party’s [...]
Spending review: Government poised to boost NHS and defence sector June 1, 2025 The government’s spending review is likely to focus on the UK’s health and defence sectors, a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) suggests. The spending review, which will be published on 11 June, will allocate departmental funding and budgets for the next three to four years. It has been the subject of speculation [...]