Public sector makes wage growth higher than expected August 18, 2026 Wage growth was higher than expected as pay offers in the public sector far outweighed growth in the private sector, new data has revealed. Official statistics have shown that wage growth, including bonuses, reached 4.1 per cent between April and June compared to a market forecast of four per cent. This was still lower than [...]
Domestic policies are choking UK businesses August 18, 2026 The last decade of domestic policy decisions has created a towering cost stack that is choking business growth, writes Shevaun Haviland.
The UK’s cost stack is choking business growth August 18, 2026 Much of the UK has faced a summer of sweltering temperatures as the country hasbounced from one unrelenting heatwave to another. Businesses know all too well that unrelenting feeling. A decade of constant cost pressures from domestic policy decisions has been hugely damaging. It’s a cost stack is chocking business growth. Before a pound of [...]
Labour backbencher adds to criticism of stamp duty on shares August 17, 2026 A Labour backbencher with experience in the financial services sector has urged Healey to reconsider stamp duty on shares in UK trading. Callum Anderson, the Labour MP for Buckingham and Bletchley, set out a list of growth policies for Healey to prioritise at the Budget. The proposals break from some of the party’s current economic [...]
The Expensify Visa® Commercial Card Brings New Proactive Spend Controls to 14 Countries August 17, 2026 New admin-defined spend rules let businesses control how, where, and when every card is used, stopping the wrong spend before it happens instead of cleaning it up after.
Boomtown 2026 review: Surely the best party in the world August 17, 2026 Boomtown 2026 review and star rating: ★★★★★ Pirates are squaring up to one another, clenching their jaws as they prepare to strike blows. Hundreds are jeering around the ring, where the crowd have been whipped into a feverish mob. Villagers are peering from the rooftops to get a glimpse of the fight. But before long, [...]
JP Morgan boss issues bank tax warning to John Healey August 17, 2026 The boss of JP Morgan has issued a bank tax warning to John Healey as the Chancellor gears up to deliver his first Budget in October. Jamie Dimon, who has led Wall Street’s biggest bank since 2006, held a call with Healey on Thursday where the bank chief emphasised “getting public policy right” as crucial [...]
Back bookshops in bid to rebuild high streets, Burnham urged August 16, 2026 Leading authors have called on Andy Burnham to roll out emergency support to the UK’s small bookshops as part of his pledge to save Britain’s high streets. The bestselling writers, along with 200 booksellers, have written to the Prime Minister, urging him to set out a business rates relief package for bookshops as they contend [...]
Nigel Farage wins in Clacton – and triggers investigation August 14, 2026 Nigel Farage’s re-election has triggered a parliamentary investigation into his financial affairs after he swept to victory in the Clacton by-election. The Reform UK leader won with over 11,000 more votes than the novelty candidate Count Binface, who was the main opposition after every other major party refused to take part in the poll. The [...]
War and tax: How the UK economy could get knocked off course August 13, 2026 Labour ministers may have some reason to be cheerful about the UK economy’s performance. Torsten Bell, the pensions minister who has long desired top jobs in the Treasury, lambasted “gloomsters” shortly after official data revealed growth in the second quarter of the year was 0.4 per cent. Even Rachel Reeves, who has remained largely silent [...]