Fraud minister who resigned this week opens up: ‘I didn’t want to blow my top, but I was very angry’ January 29, 2022 The government minister who quit this week over the “schoolboy” handling of fraudulent Covid-19 business loans said of his resignation during a speech at the despatch box in the House of Lords: “I didn’t want to blow my top, but I was very angry.” Lord Agnew of Oulton, who was the Tories’ anti-fraud minister, says [...]
Exclusive: Brexit financial services regulation bonfire set to be in next Queen’s Speech January 28, 2022 An overhaul of the UK’s financial services regulation is set to be included in the next Queen’s Speech as the government speeds up its push to make the City more competitive post-Brexit. Chancellor Rishi Sunak gave an update to the cabinet on Tuesday about the UK’s plans to shed EU rules for financial services, with [...]
Opinion-in-brief: A nuclear future gets lifted off the ground January 28, 2022 On Tuesday, Rolls-Royce invited bids from English and Welsh regions to host the site of a small nuclear reactors’ factory. Yesterday, fresh news of £100m of government money invested in the Sizewell nuclear site made the headlines. Sizewell C could generate enough electricity to cover 7 per cent of what the country needs, providing around [...]
Treasury Committee chair joins chorus of MPs urging government to ditch national insurance hike January 27, 2022 The chair of an influential group of cross-party MPs that scrutinise the government’s spending plans has joined the chorus of policy makers calling for the national insurance hike to be scrapped. Tory MP Mel Stride, who chairs the Treasury Committee, urged the government to cancel the looming 1.25 percentage point national insurance rise to ease [...]
Mike Cherry interview: Now is not the time to saddle small businesses with higher taxes January 27, 2022 The pandemic has been a bumpy ride for Britain’s entrepreneurs and small businesses. Trying to navigate the choppy waters of the government swinging between tougher and looser restrictions to tame Covid-19 has been fraught with risk and uncertainty. But, one thing seems for sure: the looming heavier tax burden will weigh heavily on small firms, [...]
Swelling tax burden to highest level since 1950s is ‘understandable’ January 27, 2022 The government’s decision to saddle Brits with the heaviest tax burden since the 1950s is “understandable,” according to a group of cross-party MPs. A ramping up of government spending announced at the October budget to deal with the ongoing fallout of the Covid-19 crisis is needed “given that the country is still in the midst [...]
Sunak says he is not ‘ignoring’ the billions of pounds of Covid fraud January 26, 2022 Rishi Sunak has moved to assure people he is not “ignoring” or “writing off” billions of pounds stolen from the government’s Covid support schemes. The chancellor today said that “criminals sought to exploit our support schemes”, but that “we’re doing everything we can to get that money back”. Treasury minister lord Theodore Agnew resigned spectacularly [...]
Octopus Energy doubts industry can rescue households from soaring energy bills January 26, 2022 Octopus Energy has questioned whether households can be spared from a painful spike in energy bills this spring.
Sunak has enough room to scrap national insurance hike, according to top City economists January 25, 2022 Chancellor Rishi Sunak has enough room to scrap the looming national insurance hike to ease the heavy cost of living burden weighing Brits down, according to leading City economists. Bumper tax revenues driven by the UK economy performing much better than forecast has provided the Chancellor with a big enough tax windfall to cancel the [...]
Public sector borrowing nears £147bn, second highest since records began in 1993 January 25, 2022 The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said this morning public sector borrowing from the end of March to December was £146.8 billion – the second highest since records began in 1993. Government borrowing stood at £16.8 billion in December, down by £7.6 billion from the same month a year earlier, according to official figures. The [...]