‘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 [...]
Property market slows on uncertainty and high moving costs bite November 28, 2025 The number of houses changing hands in the UK slowed year on year in October due to budget uncertainty and the high cost of moving. UK residential transactions in October 2025 reached 98,450, 2 per cent lower than October 2024, according to HMRC. “Today’s transaction results show a mixed-bag… in the main we saw a [...]
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 [...]
Reeves hands small businesses sour cocktail in Autumn Budget November 26, 2025 Small and mudiec-sized businesses (SMEs) now face a sour cocktail of higher taxes, rising costs, and tighter margins following Rachel Reeves’ second Budget as Chancellor. Dividend taxes are up, income tax and National Insurance thresholds remain frozen until 2030-31, and salary-sacrifice pension reliefs are being curtailed. For many small business owners, the Budget will feel [...]
Budget: Treasury focused on ‘closing tax gap’ with US-style whistleblower scheme November 26, 2025 Rachel Reeves revealed in her Budget that the government continues to focus on closing the tax gap, with new measures set to raise an additional £2bn in tax revenue by 2029-30. The Chancellor pledged that the government will target “fraudulent businesses” that don’t pay their tax by providing HMRC with new compliance powers. A large [...]
Autumn Budget: Will the UK keep its tech talent or drive it abroad? November 25, 2025 Time is running out for Rachel Reeves to reassure the sector she has spent months courting. With tax rises looking increasingly likely in Wednesday’s Autumn Budget, the mood across UK tech has shifted to concern, reviving the warning issued earlier this month by some of Britain’s most valuable founders: change course, or risk watching high-growth [...]
The UK stands on a precipice – this Budget must show government is on the side of business November 25, 2025 The message from British business could hardly be starker: we need stability, simplicity and long-term thinking – not another round of stop-start policymaking, says Alan Vallance The UK stands on a precipice. After years of sluggish growth and wavering confidence, businesses are clear: small tweaks and short-term gestures from government won’t be enough to turn [...]
Everything we know about Rachel Reeves’ Budget – from mansions to milkshakes November 24, 2025 In the run-up to the mother of all Autumn Budgets to be delivered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves this week, tax rumours have run wild, infecting the minds of businesses and working Brits while adding to the sense of peril that a botched fiscal event could bring. Investors are running scared. Voters fear looming betrayal. Gamblers [...]
Businesses expected to be named and shamed over minimum wage breaches November 22, 2025 The government will regularly name and shame employers who breach national minimum wage rules as part of reforms expected to be announced by Rachel Reeves. A Treasury source said the expected changes will provide further protection to vulnerable workers and ensure businesses have no place to hide. The reforms are also aimed at clearing a [...]
Britain is a country becoming hostile to talent, enterprise and wealth November 20, 2025 Britain’s brain drain was hiding in plain sight, now new emigration data proves it. We have engineered an economy where high earners are taxed punitively while low earners are propped up, says Tom Harwood We saw it all around us. Friends moving abroad. Colleagues relocating. Dubai, Australia, America calling. This modern phenomenon was there for [...]