Tariffs: Starmer commits to fiscal rules and not raising income tax and VAT April 7, 2025 Sir Keir Starmer has stressed his commitment to the government’s fiscal rules and reiterated he would not increase national insurance, VAT or income tax, despite Donald Trump’s tariffs upending government economic policy. The Prime Minister called for “cool heads” as global markets plunged in response to the US President’s sweeping global import taxes, and said [...]
Rachel Reeves approval rating one point above Trump with UK voters, poll finds April 7, 2025 Rachel Reeves’ approval ratings have slumped since March leaving her just one point more popular than US President Donald Trump with UK voters, a poll has found. The Chancellor’s net approval ratings have declined by 12 points since delivering her Spring Statement last month, leaving Reeves at net -43, just one point above Trump on [...]
Seven in 10 UK voters worried about impact of Trump‘s tariffs, polling finds April 7, 2025 Seven in 10 UK voters are worried about the impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on the British economy, a new poll has revealed. Some 69 per cent of those surveyed say they are very or somewhat worried about Trump’s new global import tariffs in the UK, according to the latest City AM/Freshwater Strategy [...]
IFS boss: We’re screwed with or without trade deals April 7, 2025 The director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has suggested the UK could be heading for a recession as a trade deal may not be enough to revive crumbling markets or prevent a slump in economic growth. Paul Johnson, who is set to leave the leading economics think tank in the summer, told Times [...]
How will the tariff turmoil affect your mortgage? April 7, 2025 The fallout from President Donald Trump’s decision to impose wide-ranging tariffs on the world has left no stock market unscathed, but it’s possible Brits’ mortgages will benefit from the upset. The decision, which placed a minimum tariff of 10 per cent on all countries (including the UK), and higher tariffs on many more, has increased [...]
More Brits ‘in financial strain’ as Trump frightens UK voters April 7, 2025 Nearly two in five UK voters are either cutting their spending or are unable to pay essential bills due to ‘financial strain’, according to the latest City AM/Freshwater Strategy poll, as President Trump’s tariffs are set to send Chancellor Reeves’ growth plans into disarray. The Chancellor said at her Spring Statement in March that Brits [...]
Voters’ economic gloom worsens as tariff fears bite April 7, 2025 UK voters are increasingly downbeat about the economy as President Trump’s tariff announcements have further dampened Brits’ confidence, according to the latest City AM/Freshwater Strategy poll. The global economy is still reeling from the President’s Rose Garden speech, where Trump announced sweeping tariffs on countries around the world, with markets nosediving across Asia and Europe [...]
UK services sector ‘driving force’ behind growth, BDO says April 7, 2025 The UK’s services sector is the “driving force” behind marginal growth gains, research by the consultancy BDO has suggested, as other sectors’ performance has become increasingly lacklustre. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been urged to ease cost pressures on firms as her £25bn national insurance tax hikes, coming into effect this week, have weighed down on [...]
Tariff response: slash red tape and lure the non-doms back April 7, 2025 Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith on the five steps the government should now take A few years before he died, Henry Kissinger described Trump as “one of those figures in history who appears from time to time to mark the end of an era and to force it to give up its old pretences”. It [...]
Nearly half of UK companies say tax increase is impacting hiring April 6, 2025 Nearly half of all companies across the UK are scaling back hiring plans in response to an increase in employment taxes and labour costs. New research has found that 46 per cent of firms thought recruitment decisions would be impacted, with many reporting that they were already not hiring or postponing recruitment, according to Reed. “Everyone understands that [...]