Voters will punish Labour if rhetoric on welfare doesn’t match reality March 20, 2025 Much like the previous Tory administration, this Labour government’s political downfall risks being driven by a vast gap between its promises and actual delivery, says Matthew Lesh The government has announced reforms aimed at getting the rising number of post-Covid jobless into the workforce and reducing the welfare bill. The Prime Minister presents the initiative [...]
Treasury on the hunt for new National Wealth Fund boss March 19, 2025 The Treasury announced on Wednesday that it had begun searching for a new chief executive to lead the recently established National Wealth Fund. The policy bank’s current boss John Flint will exit the role this summer after overseeing the institution’s rebrand from the UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB). Flint, who is a former HSBC group chief [...]
Welfare reforms: What are the politics of Labour’s benefits changes? March 19, 2025 Over the past few weeks, it’s been hard to avoid reports of the government preparing the ground for a string of changes to the UK’s welfare system. Call it kite flying, pitch rolling, or testing the waters, when work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall got to her feet in the House of Commons on Tuesday, [...]
Scrapping Latin and maths is weakening the workforce of tomorrow March 6, 2025 With youth unemployment on the rise, now is not the time to scrap proven job-boosting skills like Latin and maths, writes Jamila Robertson.
Mark Kleinman: Football watchdog search approaches injury time March 6, 2025 Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly City AM column. Today, he tackles the football watchdog search, big pay at GSK and CityFibre’s M&A warchest Football watchdog search approaches final whistle They think it’s all over. To paraphrase the immortal line of Kenneth Wolstenholme, the 1966 World [...]
Who watches the Watches? February 19, 2025 As a newly minted Picture Editor and thus part of the management team of a then-popular left-wing national newspaper, I sat in on a discussion about why the poor ate so badly. Having only recently landed the job and as keen as mustard – and oh so naive – my feet were still planted firmly [...]
Musk and Google warn UK on tech exodus over safety rules February 17, 2025 Tech giants Google and Elon Musk’s X have warned that Britain’s new online safety laws could force global companies to reconsider their UK presence due to high compliance costs and regulatory overreach. The Online Safety Act, which was passed under Rishi Sunak’s government, imposed strict rules requiring major platforms to introduce age verification and stop [...]
‘Doing a day’s work seen as stressful’ by youth, Liz Kendall says February 7, 2025 The UK must avoid a situation where “doing a day’s work is in itself seen as stressful” by young people, Liz Kendall has warned. The work and pensions secretary has told ITV: “There is genuinely a problem with many young people, particularly the Covid generation, but we can’t have a situation where doing a day’s [...]
Government implements alcohol tax reliefs but critics say it’s not enough January 31, 2025 The government has implemented two tax reliefs aimed at growing the UK’s alcohol sector, although critics have said they won’t be enough to offset other cost hikes this year. Labour will implement a draught relief increase, cutting 1p duty off draft pints, as well as small producer relief, which the government said will help small [...]
Politicians should drop their obsession with Silicon Valley January 30, 2025 Successive British politicians have reached for Silicon Valley – or the idea of Silicon Valley – every time they’ve wanted to project a vision of the future. In 2010 David Cameron set out plans to turn East London into “a world-leading tech city to rival Silicon Valley.” Seven years later, Theresa May’s government was still [...]