Reeves ends Budget week with more unanswered questions than she started with November 29, 2025 It was supposed to be the week that ended months of uncertainty. But Rachel Reeves has finished Budget week with more questions to answer than she started with. Not all of it was bad. Increasing the fiscal headroom was prudent. Cutting back motability spending was sensible. Removing a loophole that allowed private hire firms to [...]
‘We’ve been lied to’: Hospitality in uproar over business rates overhaul November 28, 2025 A 5p reduction in business rates for hospitality and retail was held up by the Chancellor as a sign the government was listening to their concerns. But – writes Ali Lyon – as business owners calculated what it meant for their bottom line, they discovered that the devil was in the detail. It was supposed [...]
To reduce inequality and build wealth, we need to solve financial literacy November 28, 2025 Everybody recognises the stark inequalities that exist in income and wealth across society. Increasingly, these gaps shape far more than the size of a pay cheque. They influence our prospects for social mobility, health, wellbeing and even life expectancy. They determine whether children grow up able to shape their own future or remain constrained by [...]
Reeves to rush pension tax raid into law to calm nervous markets November 28, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves is to rush through laws to enact her Budget, in a bid to reassure nervous markets that tax increases will be implemented even if they are not set to take effect for several years. Legislation to raise tax on pension contributions made through salary sacrifice schemes is expected to be introduced before Christmas, according [...]
Prem Rugby should consider radical shake-up of player transfer market November 28, 2025 The best thing about the football off-season is the transfer speculation, deal agreements and player announcements. Watching teams bid £100m for a player is somewhat grotesque but it is also addictive, and transfer deadline day is some of the best live sports news around. Rugby has none of this. That’s mostly because players tend to [...]
On this day: The resignation of Margaret Thatcher November 28, 2025 On 28 November 1990, Margaret Thatcher left Downing Street for the last time, leaving the United Kingdom in a very,very much better state than when she came there, writes Eliot Wilson I doubt I am alone in remembering the day clearly, though I had only recently turned 13. Margaret Thatcher gave a short and emotional [...]
Labour U-turns on workers’ rights manifesto pledge November 27, 2025 The government has reversed its contentious plans to hand all new staff protection from unfair dismissal from day one, after months of warnings about the workers’ rights package from industry and fierce political resistance from the House of Lords. Under revised proposals announced by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) on Thursday, the protection [...]
Budget crackdown on football image rights ‘incredible’, say tax experts November 27, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been accused of disproportionately targeting football for tax rises after the Budget laid out plans for a raid on image rights earnings. Top footballers benefit from setting up image rights companies which are taxed at a lower rate than their salaries, but the government says it will legislate “to ensure that [...]
UK government denies brain drain due to high tax burden November 27, 2025 The UK government has denied that more Brits are leaving the country because of a higher tax burden. The Prime Minister’s spokesman denied suggestions that tens of thousands of Brits were fleeing the country due to higher taxes after the Budget raised the burden by another £26bn to a historic high. City AM analysis showed [...]
Young professionals are the hardest-hit by this punitive Budget November 27, 2025 For anyone still tempted to believe Rachel Reeves has stuck to her manifesto promise not to put taxes up on working people, let me disabuse you of the notion. As the OBR pointed out yesterday, by 2030 there will be more than 10m people dragged into paying higher rates of income tax compared to 2023, [...]