Lord Frost to head up IEA think tank November 7, 2025 David Frost has been made the director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in a move the right-leaning think tank has said will herald a “new chapter” for the organisation. Lord Frost, the former cabinet minister best known for spearheading the UK’s Brexit negotiations under Boris Johnson, will be responsible for driving the [...]
Reeves has learned nothing from her last Budget November 7, 2025 Amidst market uncertainty caused by her delayed and vague budget “context” speech, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is now expected to introduce a raft of significant tax increases on income, property, and businesses to address a national debt she helped exacerbate, says Jamila Robertson This week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered a speech to set the context for [...]
Reeves may reassure the markets, but her political future is at risk November 6, 2025 Reeves’ speech was intended to steady nerves but instead will ignite the internal struggle that defines Labour’s next phase in power, says Helen Thomas With just over three weeks to go until the Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has decided she can’t wait any longer. The pitch has to be rolled, the ground prepared, and the [...]
Rachel Reeves blames everyone – apart from herself November 5, 2025 The Chancellor’s speech yesterday was really very odd indeed. It benefited from all the gravitas of a Downing Street address to the nation, but was remarkably thin on substance. She created an atmosphere of high drama but left her audience with nothing but questions to which she was unable or unwilling to provide an answer. [...]
Farage’s speech was light on detail, but his instincts are right November 3, 2025 For all its “rabble-rousing” flourishes, Nigel Farage’s speech showed he understands that the City isn’t a London vanity project, it’s the bedrock of the entire UK economy, says Matthew Bowles Britain’s economic situation is hard to sugar-coat. Taxation is at some of the highest levels since Attlee’s day, and parts of the British economy are [...]
British SMEs locked out of trade deal benefits as red tape bites November 3, 2025 Britain’s small businesses are failing to reap the rewards of the government’s post-Brexit trade deals, as red tape, tariffs, and weak confidence leave exports flatlining and financial distress mounting across SMEs, according to a new report. New figures from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) show that 84 per cent of firms with fewer than [...]
Britain must stop dithering over digital finance November 3, 2025 Crypto and stablecoins are now mainstream. The race to set the rules is already on – and it’s being run in dollars, not pounds, says Kulveer Ranger Last week in Washington DC, I was reminded that while the United States may not have all the answers on digital assets, it is already writing the questions [...]
Will the Autumn Budget push up inflation? October 30, 2025 For a few weeks, there was one thing Rachel Reeves appeared to speak about more than anything else: inflation. Earlier this month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirmed inflation hit 3.8 per cent in the year to September, nearly double the Bank of England’s target rate. The IMF and the OECD said the UK [...]
Tories call for Starmer to sack Rachel Reeves October 30, 2025 The Tories are calling for Keir Starmer to sack Rachel Reeves as Chancellor for breaking the law. In a ratcheting up of the political pressure on Reeves, the opposition party has said the Chancellor should be fired for failing to register her family home when she rented it out before moving to Downing Street. In [...]
Mel Stride rules out electoral pact with Reform October 30, 2025 Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride has insisted the Conservatives will not strike an electoral deal with Reform UK due to their “completely ruinous” economic agenda. In an interview with a new online magazine led by the centre-right think tank Bright Blue, Stride said his party should avoid “indulging in populist politics” and focus on calling out [...]