Reeves’ taxes push inflation to 3.5 per cent in ‘Awful April’ May 21, 2025 Inflation bounced back up to 3.5 per cent in April, official data has revealed, underlining the cost burden firms are taking on after Chancellor Reeves’ tax hikes on employers and rise to the national living wage came into effect. Consumer price inflation rose by 1.2 per cent on a month-on-month basis, higher than the last [...]
What do Labour-Reform switchers want? It’s not what you think May 15, 2025 Voters who have left Labour for Reform are more pro-European than the general public with nearly three quarters wanting a much closer relationship with the EU, finds Praful Nargund Tough rhetoric and tighter rules from the Prime Minister are all designed to neutralise one of the most volatile issues in British politics: immigration. But behind [...]
Green belt homes ‘needed’ to solve housing crisis, Sadiq Khan says May 15, 2025 London is suffering a chronic housing shortage. Lacklustre rates of housebuilding have helped push up the cost of a home to well beyond the reach of ordinary Londoners. The price of an average terrace house in Camden has roughly tripled compared to twenty years ago to more than £1.5m today, Land Registry data shows, while [...]
UK living standards have worsened since Labour took power, voters say May 12, 2025 Nearly half of UK voters believe that living standards have deteriorated over the last 12 months, a new poll has suggested. The Labour government is approaching a full year in office in a matter of weeks after an electoral campaign in which it promised to boost people’s personal finances. But a new poll by Freshwater [...]
Brick Lane curry houses could ‘go bust’ due to net zero push May 12, 2025 The drive to reach net zero has transformed the way most Brits live. But when Brick Lane restaurant owner Guljar Khan opened his first curry house with his brother more than two decades ago, he never imagined that it might one day change the way tandoori chicken is cooked. Khan has seen his mini empire [...]
Bank of England cuts interest rate in split decision May 8, 2025 The Bank of England has cut interest rates to 4.25 per cent in a split decision dividing hawks and doves. The Bank’s policymakers suggested that President Trump’s aggressive tariffs on China were “more likely to be disinflationary than inflationary”, with price growth expected to level off to its two per cent target by the end [...]
UK services sent into decline amid ‘market turbulence’ May 6, 2025 UK output was sent into decline by “market turbulence” in April for the first time in one and a half years, prompting fears that Chancellor Reeves’ £40bn tax raid last autumn was damaging the country’s services economy. The services sector, which is seen as the engine behind UK growth, had been on a 17-month winning [...]
Businesses, get back to work! WFH is harming young people April 25, 2025 If you care about young people, get your workers back to the office. WFH is hindering their development, writes Joanna Jensen.
Week in Business: Labour’s jobs madness as employers urge change of plan April 17, 2025 Business Secretary Johnny Reynolds was so fed up with people criticising him for never having run a business that he bought himself a whopping great steel mill in Scunthorpe. Now firmly a member of the boss class, will he have sympathy with the business chiefs who this week begged the government to rip up their [...]
Inflation eases in March amid looming Bank decision April 16, 2025 Inflation remained stubbornly high at 2.6 per cent in March, official data has shown, leaving Bank of England policymakers with a difficult decision to make on interest rates early next month. The year-on-year increase in consumer price inflation (CPI) was lower than the 2.7 per cent figure forecast in a Bloomberg poll of economists. The [...]