Bond market braces for gilt and sterling tremors November 26, 2025 Bond market participants are bracing for a fresh round of turbulence in the aftermath of Wednesday’s Budget, with investors rejigging their exposure to gilts having warned the Chancellor’s fiscal plans are “very much under the microscope”. Rachel Reeves is expected to use her second major fiscal shake-up mount a historic tax and spend consolidation in [...]
Britain can’t grow while we’re spending £700m to save the life of a fish November 26, 2025 With measly growth and energy among the most expensive in the developed world, Britain's got bigger fish to fry than sealife conservation.
Business chiefs: Employment will be hit by minimum wage hike November 25, 2025 Business chiefs have criticised Rachel Reeves’ decision to hike the national living wage by more than 4 per cent for most British workers at the Budget. In a final announcement before unveiling the full set of fiscal measures, the Chancellor said she would back the Low Pay Commission’s recommendations to raise the minimum wage to [...]
Reeves opens door for mayors to impose ‘damaging’ tourist tax November 25, 2025 Mayors in England are set to be given new powers to levy a tourist tax on visitors to fund local projects under a new policy. Reeves will give mayors the ability to impose a “modest” charge on visitors staying in hotels, bed and breakfasts, guest houses and holiday lets through the English Devolution and Community [...]
Westfield issues retail taxes warning ahead of Budget November 25, 2025 Shopping centre giant Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield has warned that higher taxes for the retail industry in tomorrow’s Autumn Budget would lead to inflation and low investment. Reeves’ second Budget is widely expected to reveal a range of tax hikes after a bruising year for productivity and GDP growth. Crucially for retail, the Chancellor is expected to unveil [...]
BCC boss: Enough taxes. The Budget must tell a positive story November 25, 2025 Last autumn, the British Chambers of Commerce and its members were left shell-shocked when a party that promised to be the most ‘pro-business in history’ used its maiden Budget to deliver a succession of hammer blows to the private sector. Having shouldered the burden last year, boss Shevaun Haviland wants this year’s instalment to paint [...]
First residents to move into Bermondsey’s revitalised biscuit factory site November 25, 2025 Pearl Yard, a redevelopment of Bermondsey’s iconic biscuit factory, has delivered its first homes since Greystar acquired it in 2022. Named after “The Pearl”, the first biscuit baked on the original Peek Freans factory site, the new neighbourhood is set to create 1,600 new rental homes when it is fully completed in 2027. Daniel Thompson, managing director [...]
Reeves wants to protect today’s poor by ruining all our tomorrows November 25, 2025 If Reeves really cared about the less well off, she would understand they can only be protected with an affluent society, writes Ewen Stewart.
Welfare system in ‘crisis’ as number of Brits on out-of-work benefits exceeds 5m November 24, 2025 The number of people claiming benefits with no requirement to work has increased beyond 5m, new analysis has found, amid fresh calls for the government to tackle welfare reform in the near term. Analysis by the Centre for Social Justice has estimated that the total number of people on Universal Credit and those on Employment [...]
Nando’s makes cheeky profit after losing more than £600m November 24, 2025 Nando’s has warned Rachel Reeves’ tax hikes will eat into its bottom line despite it returning to profit for the first time since 2016. The business has posted a pre-tax profit of £38.2m for the 12 months to 23 February, 2025, new accounts filed with Companies House have revealed. The profit comes after the restaurant [...]