Pound sterling continues to sink as UK economy ‘clearly on very shaky ground’ January 9, 2025 Pound sterling has continued to sell off this morning, and UK government bond yields have ticked higher as UK risk assets remain under pressure. The pound fell below $1.23 against the dollar in early trade and is currently down 0.7 per cent against the dollar and 0.6 per cent against the euro. Meanwhile, the domestically [...]
Disastrous school reform agenda is a solution in search of a problem January 9, 2025 A long time ago I got involved in a battle to help a school leave council control and become an academy. This was shortly after Michael Gove, as education secretary, continued the reforming efforts of his Labour predecessors to inject more choice and freedom into the state education sector. The local council, faced with losing [...]
UK will launch sanctions against people smugglers, David Lammy to say January 9, 2025 The UK government is set to launch sanctions against people smugglers in a bid to disrupt irregular migration, David Lammy will announce. Ministers are launching a new sanctions regime designed to cripple the people smuggling crime rings and starve them of illicit finance fuelling their operations. Described as a world-first, it will aim to prevent, [...]
A New Year’s resolution for government: Stop setting targets January 9, 2025 From HS2 to Net Zero, governments have a habit of setting ambitious long-term goals and failing to deliver. Instead of targets, we need long-term plans to fix the nation’s problems, says John Oxley The New Year almost always brings with it talk of resolutions, intentions and targets. This is true of governments too . In [...]
PMQs: Siddiq ‘acted appropriately’ by referring herself to adviser, Starmer says January 8, 2025 Sir Keir Starmer has insisted Tulip Siddiq has “acted appropriately” by referring herself to the independent adviser on standards and said he would not give “running commentary” of the recently announced probe into her finances. The City minister referred herself to Sir Laurie Magnus, the Prime Minister’s Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests on Monday, for [...]
Starmer: Funding rules may be changed amid Musk’s interest in Farage’s Reform January 8, 2025 The government will look at potential reforms to political party funding, Sir Keir Starmer has said, as0 the Liberal Democrats raised the “spectre” of Elon Musk’s possible donation to Reform UK. Leader Sir Ed Davey asked the Prime Minister to change the rules around party funding amid the US businessman’s continued interest in British politics [...]
Investors ‘are losing confidence’ in the UK economy January 8, 2025 The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilt, which reflects the cost of borrowing, hit 4.78 per cent on Wednesday afternoon, a post-financial crisis high.
Freedom and parental choice are under threat from school reforms January 8, 2025 The government’s schools bill will undo all the progress that’s been made in English education and had power over our children’s futures to unions and activists, rather than the people who know best, says Mark Lehain English schools really are better now than 35 years ago, by any number of measures. Things improved by design, [...]
Budget employment law changes fuel increased job insecurity January 7, 2025 Around one in seven workers said that they feel insecure about their job at this time, particularly among those with a lower income, according to new polling
Majority of people want inheritance tax cut exclusive poll finds January 7, 2025 Research from Freshwater Strategy showed that 54 per cent of voters think the controversial tax should be set at a lower level.