UK government unveils changes to electric vehicle rules April 7, 2025 Prime Minister Keir Starmer has launched new reforms to bolster Britain’s automotive industry and accelerate the transition to electric vehicles (EVs). This move reaffirms the 2030 phase-out date for new petrol and diesel car sales, while offering carmakers more flexibility to meet ambitious green targets. The changes come in response to US President Donald Trump’s [...]
Tariff response: slash red tape and lure the non-doms back April 7, 2025 Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith on the five steps the government should now take A few years before he died, Henry Kissinger described Trump as “one of those figures in history who appears from time to time to mark the end of an era and to force it to give up its old pretences”. It [...]
Reeves’ £25bn national insurance tax raid has arrived. What happens now? April 6, 2025 Sorry, Lionel Richie. Businesses aren’t feeling easy like a Sunday morning. The new tax year is here. And Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ £25bn national insurance tax raid has fallen on thousands of firms. From today, employers will pay a tax rate of 15 per cent on salaries above £5,000, down from £9,100 previously. This secondary threshold [...]
UK grocery sales slow in March but there are ‘reasons to be optimistic’ April 3, 2025 Total sales at UK supermarket tills slowed in March, but analysts pinned this to a later-than-usual rather than a structural slowdown. Sales growth at tills slowed to 2.7 per cent in the four weeks to April 2, down from a four per cent rise in February, according to NIQ. In-store visits grew 6.8 per cent [...]
Will a Marxist government put Sri Lanka’s economic recovery at risk? April 3, 2025 Sri Lanka has made a truly remarkable turnaround since an uprising in 2022, but if the island nation is to achieve sustained and equitable growth, its new government has no room for mistakes, says Chris Dorrell Amid rampant inflation, fuel shortages and the country’s first debt default since independence, demonstrators forced Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to [...]
Don’t ask if Gary Stevenson’s story is true, ask why it’s popular April 3, 2025 Gary Stevenson is young, angry and everywhere – but the veracity of his anti-capitalist rhetoric is less important than why it’s finding such an eager audience, says Eliza Filby You may have seen his turn on Question Time, or his two-and-a-half-hour appearance on The Diary of a CEO – watched by over 3m people. Perhaps [...]
‘Awful April’ price hikes will cause ‘inflation surge’ April 1, 2025 Sweeping price hikes coming into effect from Tuesday are set to push up inflation, a leading economics consultancy has said, as what many have called ‘Awful April’ is set to put an extra burden on businesses’ costs. Higher costs in everything from water to energy will contribute to a rise in inflation that peaks at [...]
Higher chocolate prices push up grocery prices in March April 1, 2025 According to the latest data from market research company Kantar, higher prices for premium products pushed grocery prices up in March despite discounts on everyday items. Grocery price inflation rose slightly to 3.5 per cent over the four weeks to March 23 compared with a year ago. “With prices continuing to rise, supermarkets are mindful [...]
Business leaders ‘remain depressed’ as employment costs spiral April 1, 2025 Business leaders remain disheartened about their organisations and the wider UK economy amid an escalating global trade war and higher employment costs, according to a new survey of over 600 directors. Confidence among company directors collapsed after Labour took office last year. Now the Institute of Directors (IoD)’s latest update to its monthly survey suggests [...]
British firms brace for ‘eye-watering’ April cost hikes April 1, 2025 Businesses across the UK are bracing for one of the worst weeks of cost hikes in recent history, with industry groups warning that the “eye-watering” rise in firms’ overheads will hamper investment and hiring, and result in higher prices at the till. Hikes to the minimum wage and employers’ National Insurance contributions announced in October’s [...]