Sunak under pressure to drop NI rise in wake of Ukraine invasion March 6, 2022 Rishi Sunak is under increased pressure to drop his 1.25 percentage points increase of National Insurance next month in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It is expected the war will lead to higher inflation than expected due to Europe’s large reliance on Russian gas and Ukrainian agricultural products, like wheat. Annual growth in [...]
Major UK insurers call on government to extend pension auto-enrollment to young workers March 4, 2022 A group of major British insurance firms and pension funds have called on the government to extend the UK’s pension auto-enrollment terms to include young and low-wage workers. The group sent a letter to Rishi Sunak yesterday to call on the government to “level up pensions for everyone” by abolishing the “lower earnings limit and [...]
City minister says UK changes to EU financial services rules will not be a ‘big bang’ March 2, 2022 Overhauling the EU’s financial services rulebook post-Brexit will not be a “big bang” moment and could take several years, according to UK City minister John Glen. Glen told Westminster’s Treasury Select Committee today that the push to reform EU regulation will be an “iterative” process and that any intervention will not “overnight change the competitiveness [...]
Chancellor fails to respond to MPs’ claims NI hike will stoke inflation March 2, 2022 Chancellor Rishi Sunak has not responded to accusations from a group of MPs that scrutinises the government’s fiscal plans that the national insurance hike will stoke inflation. In a response to the Treasury Select Committee’s report on the October budget, Sunak recognised the UK’s public finances are “vulnerable to changes in macroeconomic conditions such as [...]
Reforming fiscal regime is no taxing issue March 1, 2022 Amid the surplus of analysis devoted to improving the UK tax system, debate over whether the government’s current and future level of spending sometimes slips by. With interest rates expected to climb as the Bank of England leans even further into hawkish policy and inflation already hitting near 30-year highs, the cost of borrowing will [...]
CBI: Permanent investment relief needed to unlock economic growth March 1, 2022 Creating a permanent tax relief on business investment will unlock a well of productivity hidden in the UK economy, according to Britain’s biggest business group. The government should strengthen incentives for businesses to ramp up capital spending by using the super deduction as a model to create a permanent investment scheme, the Confederation of British [...]
Russia’s economy plunges into chaos as Western sanctions bite February 28, 2022 Russia’s economy has been plunged into chaos after Western sanctions triggered a collapse in the country’s currency today. The value of the rouble tumbled as much as 30 per cent against the dollar today, dropping to its lowest ever level against the global currency benchmark. The sharp and sudden weakening in the rouble prompted Russia’s [...]
UK to launch world’s ‘most attractive’ visa system for entrepreneurs February 28, 2022 Upcoming changes to the UK's visa system will make it the "most attractive" in the world for high-skilled workers and entrepreneurs.
Rishi Sunak to outline argument for tax cuts in keynote speech February 23, 2022 Rishi Sunak will promise to cut taxes in a keynote speech today, with the chancellor to hit out at “flippant” calls for him to slash taxes immediately without considering the effect on planned spending. The chancellor will say at the annual Mais lecture that “I am going to deliver a lower tax economy, but I [...]
Labour: Starmer to take swipe at Corbyn’s economic legacy in Huddersfield speech February 23, 2022 Sir Keir Starmer will further outline what Labour’s economic policies would look like in government and take a shot at the direction of the party under former leader Jeremy Corbyn in a keynote speech tomorrow. Starmer will say that a Labour government will ensure “Britain will once again grow” and “build an economy of prosperity, [...]