Reeves to meet US Treasury Secretary ‘shortly’ in trade deal race April 8, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said she plans to meet US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent as President Donald Trump is yet to offer allies any reprieve from his tariff policy. The UK is facing ten per cent tariffs on its goods exports to the US, putting the government under pressure to agree a deal that protects [...]
Arbuthnot: Lender has ‘key advantage’ ahead of Bank of England rate cuts April 8, 2025 Arbuthnot Banking Group is well-positioned for further interest rate cuts from the Bank of England, according to analysts despite its profit dropping by more than £10m during its latest financial year. The lender booked a £35.1m pre-tax profit in its full-year results – a drop of over £10m from 2023. Arbuthnot’s net interest margin – [...]
Four interest rate cuts this year pencilled in by markets April 7, 2025 Markets are betting that the Bank of England will make up to four interest rate cuts this year, double what had been predicted in late March. President Trump’s tariffs are set to drag UK growth back by up to one percentage point, according to various forecasters, while their impacts on inflation remain ambiguous, leading investors [...]
Barclays goes ‘overweight’ FTSE 100 amid global rout April 7, 2025 Barclays strategists have upgraded their position on the FTSE 100 to ‘overweight’ in the face of the extreme rout of global stocks after Trump’s swingeing global tariffs. Despite suffering its worst two-day trading period since the pandemic, London’s blue-chip index has outperformed its international peers in recent days, falling just under 10 per cent since [...]
The Last Supper: Gordon Warnecke on the perfect jerk chicken April 7, 2025 Star of 1980s movie My Beautiful Laundrette, Gordon Warnecke tells us what he would eat for his last meal on earth My mum wasn’t a very good cook. My first memories of food are of her making quite traditional British stuff. She came over from Guyana in South America, where she was the youngest of five siblings – [...]
Trump’s tariffs to push UK prices up, survey suggests April 7, 2025 Tariffs will significantly harm British exporters that trade with the US, according to a survey by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), as a global trade war risks battering the UK economy. President Trump today doubled down on his controversial economic policies that include a ten per cent tax on all UK goods exported to [...]
How will the tariff turmoil affect your mortgage? April 7, 2025 The fallout from President Donald Trump’s decision to impose wide-ranging tariffs on the world has left no stock market unscathed, but it’s possible Brits’ mortgages will benefit from the upset. The decision, which placed a minimum tariff of 10 per cent on all countries (including the UK), and higher tariffs on many more, has increased [...]
More Brits ‘in financial strain’ as Trump frightens UK voters April 7, 2025 Nearly two in five UK voters are either cutting their spending or are unable to pay essential bills due to ‘financial strain’, according to the latest City AM/Freshwater Strategy poll, as President Trump’s tariffs are set to send Chancellor Reeves’ growth plans into disarray. The Chancellor said at her Spring Statement in March that Brits [...]
Reeves’ £25bn national insurance tax raid has arrived. What happens now? April 6, 2025 Sorry, Lionel Richie. Businesses aren’t feeling easy like a Sunday morning. The new tax year is here. And Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ £25bn national insurance tax raid has fallen on thousands of firms. From today, employers will pay a tax rate of 15 per cent on salaries above £5,000, down from £9,100 previously. This secondary threshold [...]
Reeves’ £25bn tax grab to become ‘toxic reality’ for British business, firms suggest April 4, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ £25bn tax grab from employers will become a “toxic reality” for British businesses from Sunday as higher costs risk stunting firms’ income, one of the UK’s largest industry bodies has warned. Reeves’ has pinned her hopes for improving the state of public finances on growing the UK economy but more firms have [...]