SEN children at the heart of legal fight over VAT on private school fees April 1, 2025 Children with SEN are at the heart of one group challenging the government's VAT policy on private schools today
Business leaders ‘remain depressed’ as employment costs spiral April 1, 2025 Business leaders remain disheartened about their organisations and the wider UK economy amid an escalating global trade war and higher employment costs, according to a new survey of over 600 directors. Confidence among company directors collapsed after Labour took office last year. Now the Institute of Directors (IoD)’s latest update to its monthly survey suggests [...]
Labour’s own policies undermine their ‘welfare to work’ agenda April 1, 2025 The government has made many mistakes since coming to office, but the Chancellor deserves some credit for not breaking her fiscal rules at the first opportunity. The demands from various groups (and various wings of her own party) for more borrowing or exempting certain measures from the fiscal rules were ruthlessly ignored at the Spring [...]
US tariffs: UK expects to be hit by Trump taxes this week, No10 admits March 31, 2025 The UK expects to be hit by Donald Trump’s tariffs this week, No10 has said, amid frantic discussions to secure an exemption for UK businesses. The government has been trying to negotiate to spare British exports from the taxes on imports into the US which are set to come into force later this week on [...]
Poor co-ordination was ‘open invitation’ for small boats, Starmer says March 31, 2025 Poor co-ordination between policing and intelligence agencies was an “open invitation” to people smugglers transporting arrivals in small boats, Sir Keir Starmer has claimed. The Prime Minister has said his government “inherited this total fragmentation between our policing, our Border Force and our intelligence agencies” and warned there were “gaps in our defence, an open [...]
Labour’s Employment Rights Bill is a howler that will hammer jobs March 31, 2025 Employment rights is always a balancing act between businesses and workers, but Labour’s legislation swings too far in one direction, says Karen Jackson As an employment discrimination lawyer I’ve devoted my legal career to protecting the rights of workers from discrimination and harassment in the workplace. I see the harsh reality of what really goes [...]
Tax paid by companies has nearly doubled in 10 years March 31, 2025 Businesses account for over a quarter of all UK tax receipts, according to new research by Thomson Reuters. Chancellor Rachel Reeves said Labour would become more “pro-business” than previous governments in the run-up to last year’s election. But new data by Thomson Reuters raises questions about the Chancellor’s record in office as companies face an [...]
Starmer and Trump to continue trade talks ‘at pace’ March 31, 2025 Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump discussed “productive negotiations” to advance a UK-US trade deal and agreed they will “continue at pace” in a phone call on Sunday night, Downing Street has said. The UK is trying to negotiate an exemption from tariffs on imports into the US. Negotiations are said to be intense, with moves [...]
Are Brits getting richer? It depends how you measure growth March 30, 2025 Wobbly growth is the opposite of what Rachel Reeves would have hoped for in her first six months as Chancellor. While the headline figure on Friday morning said the UK economy had only expanded by 0.1 per cent in the last quarter of 2024, economists suggested that there was a more pressing matter at hand. [...]
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.