Cut tax for under 35s or watch them leave the country July 30, 2025 The most pressing choice I faced over the past week was whether to swim in the pool or the sea. We lounged our way from lazy lunch to long dinner, occasionally mustering the energy to stroll to the boulangerie. As I put the key in the front door of our south London home last night [...]
IMF upgrades world economy’s growth forecast as Trump’s tariffs reduced July 29, 2025 The world economy will not suffer as badly from President Trump’s tariffs as previously thought, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted. Global growth is set to be three per cent this year, the IMF said, which is higher than its previous 2.8 per cent forecast made in April. The world economy will grow by [...]
Smart Pension invests £330m into Octopus Energy fund as Mansion House Accord bears fruit July 29, 2025 Smart Pension has made a £330m investment into two funds managed by Octopus Energy in an early sign the Chancellor’s Mansion House Accord is beginning to bear fruit. The pensions firm, which has more than £7bn in assets under management, said the commitment will represent 5 per cent of the portfolio of its default fund, [...]
JP Morgan: Rachel Reeves could slash headroom to avoid large tax rises July 29, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves is poised to reduce her wafer-thin £9.9bn headroom even further at the Autumn Budget to avoid making sweeping tax rises, analysts at one of the world’s biggest banks have predicted. Leading think tanks and City analysts have warned that Rachel Reeves will look to raise as much as £30bn in taxes later [...]
Barclays joins FTSE 100 peers in warning against bank tax hike July 29, 2025 Barclays has become the latest banking giant to send a firm warning to Rachel Reeves to avoid bank tax hike as the Chancellor scrambles to maintain her wafer-thin fiscal headroom. The FTSE 100 giant’s boss CS Venkatakrishnan, known as Venkat, said the government’s mission for growth would not align with slapping a tax increase on [...]
Rachel Reeves at odds with Bank of England over Revolut licence bid July 29, 2025 Rachel Reeves has clashed with the governor of the Bank of England after trying to support Revolut in its protracted regulatory process to secure a full banking licence. The Chancellor is reported to have attempted to secure a meeting between financial watchdogs and Revolut in hopes of pushing forward its banking licence bid. But the [...]
Trump hails relationship with Starmer – but no steel exemptions yet July 28, 2025 In a Scottish golfing holiday that has swiftly given way to a multi-sided international summit, Keir Starmer has held a bilateral meeting with Donald Trump which has spanned from the UK-US trading relationship to immigration policy and international conflicts. Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds had tempered expectations of immediate steel tariff progress ahead of the meeting, [...]
FCA names interim FOS chair after abrupt leadership shake-up July 28, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority has named a new interim chair of the Financial Ombudsman Service after its initial recruitment campaign “proved unsuccessful”. The City regulator appointed Liam Coleman as the watchdog’s temporary chair, which comes as controversy surrounds the departures of former leadership. Coleman will replace Baroness Zahida Manzoor who abruptly announced in February she [...]
Goods now make up just 40 per cent of UK exports July 28, 2025 The proportion of UK exports made up of goods has sunk to a record low, with the economy ever more dependent upon services. That’s according to analysis done by the Financial Times based on Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, which found that goods now account for just 40.8 per cent of exports. Back in [...]
Trump secures ‘big win’ in EU trade deal after Brussels retreats July 28, 2025 President Donald Trump has achieved a “big win” after inking a trade agreement with the European Union following a months-long standoff between two of the world’s largest economic titans. The US President met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Scotland to continue trade discussions as part of his four-day private visit to [...]