MPs demand changes to inheritance tax raid on farms Politics Plans to levy inheritance tax on farmland threaten the future of British agriculture and should be paused while its ill effects are properly examined, an influential committee of MPs has said. In a damning report on the state of British farming, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee argued there was a “considerable risk” [...]
Conservative MP charged with two sexual assaults at London Club Politics Conservative MP Patrick Spencer has been charged with two counts of sexual assault alleged to have taken place at The Graucho Club in central London. The charges relate to two alleged incidents involving two different women at the Soho members’ club, both in August 2023, according to a statement from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). [...]
Wheat and see: Farmers fear trade deal impact on bioethanol and beef markets Economics Ministers and commentators heralded the UK’s trade deal with the United States as a political coup that will save thousands of jobs at British automakers. But changes to beef and bioethanol trade rules have left an already bruised agricultural sector fearing the worst, writes Ali Lyon. When he’s not slavishly editing clips for the hundreds [...]
Santander rejected £11bn Natwest bid for UK business May 9, 2025 Santander rebuffed an £11bn bid for its UK retail banking division from Natwest earlier this year because it was was too low. The two lenders are no longer in negotiations, according to people familliar with the matter cited by the Financial Times, despite consistent speculation about the fate of the Spanish financial juggernaut’s UK business. [...]
Office for National Statistics chief resigns over ‘health issues’ May 9, 2025 The head of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has resigned because “ongoing health issues” mean he could not give the organisation the “full commitment” required to drive it forward. Sir Ian Diamond, who was appointed the UK’s national statistician in 2019, has stepped down with immediate effect, the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) said in [...]
Bailey: Benefits of UK-US trade deal will depend on other agreements May 9, 2025 Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey has heralded the trade deal struck between the UK and US as “good news”, but cautioned that the UK’s economic prospects will still depend on agreements the US reaches with other trading partners. Speaking at an event in Reykjavik, Bailey welcomed the partnership announced by Donald Trump and Keir [...]
‘Imperative’ that Oxford Street pedestrianisation includes hospitality May 9, 2025 The Mayor of London’s plan to pedestrianise Oxford Street must offer visitors “a mix of hospitality, leisure and retail” if it is to be successful – including eating and drinking spaces scattered through the middle of what used to be the road – the UK’s top hospitality lobby group has said. Writing to Sir Sadiq [...]
WFH: Blackrock orders managing directors to work full week from office May 8, 2025 Blackrock is ordering its most senior staff to work from the office five days a week in the latest example of financial institutions abandoning the flexible working from home (WFH) policies many adopted in the wake of the pandemic. The investment juggernaut will tell its workers that all of its approximately 1,000 managing directors across [...]
Are we witnessing the slow death of advertising holding companies? May 5, 2025 The feted founder of AKQA, Ajaz Ahmed, has launched a new agency that promises to take on the “slow, bureaucratic” ad groups that since the pandemic have have been labouring under stagnant revenues and falling share prices. Ali Lyon asks: “Are those holding companies on borrowed time?” Ajaz Ahmed is not a man to shy [...]
Kevin McCloud: Housebuilder ‘oligopoly’ needs urgent reform May 2, 2025 Britain’s housebuilding industry is a cartel-like oligopoly that needs root and branch reform in order for the UK is to build enough high-quality homes to solve its housing crisis, Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud has said. In a withering assessment the track record of major housebuilders, McCloud said the UK construction sector’s supply chain had [...]
