Jobs market saw March boost ahead of ‘Awful April’ April 17, 2025 Job postings steadily increased in March in signs that employers have built some resilience ahead of tax hikes and sweeping cost rises in what has been labelled ’Awful April’. Active job postings grew by 3.3 per cent compared to the month before as London saw the second highest increase across the country, according to the [...]
The government is facing a wave of summer strikes – how will it respond? April 17, 2025 Public sector strike action is always tricky territory for Labour politicians to navigate, particularly when the party is in opposition. When strikes plagued the previous Tory government (teachers and junior doctors in particular) Labour MPs – including Keir Starmer – were quick to condemn the government while trying hard not to criticise the unions, with [...]
City Hall skills bootcamps to receive £27m funding boost April 17, 2025 City Hall is set to receive a funding boost of £27m for a skills bootcamp programme for Londoners, Sir Sadiq Khan has announced. The mayor of London has welcomed the funding from the Department for Education (DfE) which represents a 25 per cent annual uplift for the programme of flexible courses, across some 7,700 trainees, [...]
Trump’s tariffs to tip world over into ‘recessionary phase’ April 16, 2025 A locking of horns between the US and China over tariffs could tip the world economy into recession as soon as this year, a closely-watched forecast has suggested, as businesses wrestle with the fallout of declining global trade volumes. Global growth is set to slow to 2.3 per cent this year, according to projections by [...]
Tourist tax: Lisa Nandy says Labour may ‘explore’ restoring VAT free shopping April 16, 2025 Lisa Nandy has said the government “could explore” restoring VAT free shopping after hearing “very loud and clear” the calls from the industry to scrap the so-called tourist tax. The culture, media and sport secretary told Elle UK magazine that fashion was in the “soul of the nation” and ministers recognised its “centrality” to the [...]
FCA to rip 140 pages out of handbook in deregulation drive April 16, 2025 The UK’s financial watchdog has vowed to rip scores of pages from its handbook as it slashes red tape in a drive to boost growth. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said as many as 140 pages will be removed from the lengthy handbook, as it opened a consultation on scrapping data collection requirements. The move [...]
Stealth income tax hike will hit millions of over 60s April 16, 2025 Millions more Brits, including a significant percentage of over 60s, will be dragged into paying income tax in the coming months as Rachel Reeves squeezes the spending powers of lower earners with a freeze on tax bands. Official data suggests that around 11m Brits will begin paying the basic rate of income tax by 2028. [...]
Government scrambles to swerve Trump pharma tariffs April 16, 2025 A race against time is underway to shield the UK pharmaceutical sector from potentially swinging Trump tariffs on imported drugs. As it stands, there is an exemption for pharmaceuticals on the baseline 10 per cent tariffs for goods coming into the US. However, President Trump has warned that there will be tariffs on imported pharma [...]
Inflation eases in March amid looming Bank decision April 16, 2025 Inflation remained stubbornly high at 2.6 per cent in March, official data has shown, leaving Bank of England policymakers with a difficult decision to make on interest rates early next month. The year-on-year increase in consumer price inflation (CPI) was lower than the 2.7 per cent figure forecast in a Bloomberg poll of economists. The [...]
Firms scramble to ‘protect bottom line’ amid low growth April 16, 2025 Firms across the UK are putting in “hard work” to limit cost pressures and maintain profits amid low growth, one of the country’s biggest banks has said. Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s aggressive tax hikes at her last Autumn Budget have piled higher employment costs on businesses large and small, threatening to kill off some companies by [...]