Noble intentions are not enough. Reeves must fess up to mistakes March 30, 2025 Reeves's good intentions mean nothing against rising inflation, meagre growth and falling employment, writes shadow secretary Helen Whately.
US tariffs: UK ‘reserves right to respond’ after carmakers meeting March 28, 2025 The UK reserves the right to respond to American tariffs, Sir Keir Starmer has said, after US President Donald Trump’s decision to slap a 25 per cent import tax on cars. The Prime Minister said his government was involved in ongoing discussions with the White House aimed at “mitigating the impact” of any levies but [...]
No10 communications chief to quit after nine months March 28, 2025 Sir Keir Starmer’s director of communications, Matthew Doyle, is set to quit No10 Downing Street after nine months in the job. Doyle, who served as the Prime Minister’s communications chief in opposition, is understood to be stepping down immediately after feeling he had stabilised the government’s communications strategy after a rocky first few months in [...]
Spring Statement 2025: Rachel Reeves’ popularity nears Kwasi Kwarteng levels March 28, 2025 Rachel Reeves’ popularity rating as Chancellor has neared Kwasi Kwarteng levels after the mini-Budget, following the Spring Statement on Wednesday. She set out £14bn in welfare and spending cuts in the House of Commons, including a £4.8bn squeeze on benefits, to restore the £9.9bn headroom she had at the Autumn Budget, which would otherwise have [...]
Rachel Reeves has already lost half of her £9.9bn headroom March 28, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has had £5bn wiped off her headroom less than 48 hours after she delivered her Spring Statement, a calculation by Bloomberg Economics has suggested. Chancellor Reeves has received several warnings from leading economists at the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) that her headroom risks getting [...]
UK growth nearly stagnant in last quarter of 2024 March 28, 2025 The UK economy barely grew in the final quarter of 2024 as estimates remained unchanged, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has vowed to deliver growth “further and faster”. But Reeves has faced a rocky start as GDP only grew by 0.1 per cent between October and December. Previous [...]
Retail sales beat expectations as Brits keep shopping March 28, 2025 Retail sales volumes beat expectations in February as British shoppers seemed to loosen their spending habits, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Retail sales rose one per cent month-on-month after rising 1.4 per cent in January. Markets had expected a decline of 0.3 per cent. Annual retail sales growth came in at 2.2 [...]
Steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal to ditch UK after non-dom crackdown March 28, 2025 Steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal is set to leave the UK, as a direct result of a government crackdown on non-domiciled residents, in favour of more tax-friendly destinations such as the United Arab Emirates, Italy and Switzerland, the FT has reported. The businessman, a former Blair-era Labour donor and Sunday Times Rich List number seven, is [...]
Employers still nervous as £20bn tax rise ‘hangs over like a fog’, survey says March 28, 2025 Employers remain pessimistic about hiring new staff as businesses “hoped for more” from the Spring Statement, according to the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC). Chancellor Rachel Reeves‘ Spring Statement saw multi-billion pound spending commitments on defence and construction as she vowed to “kickstart economic growth”. But a new survey of more than 700 UK employers [...]
US tariffs: Trade secretary won’t rule out cuts to digital services tax March 27, 2025 Jonathan Reynolds has refused to rule out cutting the digital services tax on major tech firms, amid the prospect of looming US trade tariffs. The business and trade secretary insisted the UK government was “committed to ensuring tech companies pay a fair amount of tax in the UK”, but added that the digital services tax [...]