Can Peter Kyle deliver a Budget lifeline for UK’s SMEs? September 15, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to deliver her Autumn Budget on 26 November, nearly a month later than usual, and eyes are on what she will do for the SMEs. With borrowing costs hitting their highest levels since 1998, and servicing the national debt topping £100bn a year, the government has been urged to maintain fiscal [...]
Food inflation to spike as suppliers can ‘no longer absorb’ costs, FDF warns September 15, 2025 Food and drink inflation could climb to 5.7% by the end of the year thanks to cost pressures on manufacturers “trickling down” to supermarket shelves, a leading industry body has warned. The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) said current prices were “steeper than anything in recent decades”. The group – whose members make a quarter [...]
Universities are failing to train young people for the jobs of tomorrow September 12, 2025 Nearly 12 per cent of people on universal credit are graduates. It’s time our universities stepped up by training students for the jobs they, and the British economy, need, writes Jamila Robertson In response to a written question by shadow minister Neil’ O Brien, the UK Statistics Authority revealed that 11.9 per cent of those [...]
Week in Business: Businesses flee high-tax Britain September 11, 2025 On the same day that Reeves said "there's no growth without investment", a pharma giant pulled its £1bn London investment plans.
Carlton Club in the red as it counts the cost of Labour’s victory September 11, 2025 The Conservative Party stronghold, the Carlton Club, has fallen into the red as it counted the cost of Labour’s victory in last year’s general election. The private members’ club, which was the original home of the party, said it lost out on revenue after “functions declined due to the cancellation of political events following political [...]
Eurosummer lives on as retail investors flock to the continent September 10, 2025 Turbulence created by US tariffs is continuing to be a boon for European investment, with retail investors flocking to the continent, writes Susannah Streeter.
New business secretary should put deregulation top of his agenda September 10, 2025 Peter Kyle becomes the tenth business secretary in as many years – he should go where his predecessors didn’t and genuinely cut red tape, says Joe Hill As Westminster calms down from a heady weekend of reshuffle-watching, new ministers will be getting to grips with their new briefs. It’s not an enviable task – when [...]
The public won’t reward government overspending – just ask Ed Miliband September 10, 2025 Ed Miliband went on and on about the cost of living crisis in 2015, but he lost that election because the public could see his sums on spending didn’t add up. Cuts, not tax rises, are the only way to avert a crisis, says John O’Connell We are in a cost of living crisis. Aren’t [...]
Heston Blumenthal calls for VAT cut to ‘save British pubs’ September 2, 2025 Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal has called on the government and licensees to take urgent action to halt the closure of thousands of UK pubs. The chef, who owns owner of the Michelin-starred gastropub The Hinds Head, is campaigning for a reduction to the UK’s VAT rate, which is one of the highest in Europe. He [...]
Aga Rangemaster cuts jobs and raises prices as UK demand falls September 2, 2025 Aga Rangemaster has continued to cut jobs as it battles falling demand in the UK and prepares for the rising costs from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. The business, which is headquartered near Nottingham, has said it is raising prices in order to attempt to offset the increased costs from US tariffs but that their [...]