UK remains in ‘weak fiscal position’ after Budget November 27, 2025 The UK remains in a weak fiscal position after Wednesday’s Budget despite the Chancellor launching an historic fiscal consolidation in an attempt to shore up the public finances and avoid another tax raising budget, several top economists have warned. Rachel Reeves chose to hike taxes by £26bn via a vast combination of sector-specific levies, pension [...]
Budget 2025: Rachel Reeves announces £26bn tax raid November 26, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced an avalanche of tax rises on the wealthy and on working people, adding up to £26bn to fund extra spending over the next five years, as she vowed to make the country more “secure”. Her biggest announcement included freezing income tax and national insurance thresholds until 2031 to raise £11bn [...]
‘Spend now, pay later’ – Reeves drags a million more Brits into higher rate tax November 26, 2025 Nearly a million more people will be dragged into paying the higher rate of income tax as Rachel Reeves took the UK’s tax burden to an all-time high. In a Budget that aims to raise some £26bn in extra government revenue by the end of parliament, Reeves extended the income tax thresholds freeze, which economists [...]
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 2025: What exactly is happening with business rates? November 26, 2025 Long-awaited changes to business rates were finally announced in the Budget, with a lower rate for small companies to be paid for by a higher levy for large firms. Retailers have been railing against for business rates for years, with concerns that the tax creates an unfair playing field between high street and online firms, which [...]
Autumn Budget: Reeves bets on AI – but did she play her strongest card last week? November 26, 2025 Rachel Reeves delivered what many had dubbed the “most anticipated Budget in years”, with industry eyes fixed on how she would position the UK in the global AI race. But just minutes before she even stood up at the despatch box, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) unexpectedly leaked forecasts, fuelling speculation about the state [...]
The pension triple lock won’t ‘last forever’, warns Labour MP November 26, 2025 A Labour MP has admitted that the pension triple lock won’t “last forever”, as the Budget fails to mention an end to the controversial scheme. Speaking live to City AM‘s Christian May and Alys Denby, Chris Curtis, MP for Milton Keynes North, said that the “triple lock inevitably cannot last forever”. He said: “That is [...]
Autumn Budget: Reeves pushes ahead with ‘mansion’ tax November 26, 2025 A mansion tax will be introduced on homes worth more than £2m, Rachel Reeves confirmed, despite warnings from the property industry that the move was fraught with practical difficulties and would lead to a fire sale of high-end homes. The Chancellor ploughed ahead with widely rumoured plans to apply a “high-value council tax surcharge” on [...]
Autumn Budget: Reeves splurges £12bn on welfare as two-child benefit cap ditched November 26, 2025 The UK’s fiscal watchdog has forecast welfare spending to soar over the next few years after the Labour government ditched plans to reform the welfare state. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which accidentally published its report before the Budget, has said welfare spending will rise by £12bn in the fiscal year 2029-30, when compared [...]
Rachel Reeves’ Budget was Labour to the core November 26, 2025 Cheered by backbenchers, Reeves' headline pledge to scrap the two child benefit cap made for a party-appeasing Budget, writes Douglas Beattie.