Governments should spend more on welfare to tackle cost of living, says IMF Economics Governments across the world should prioritise targeted welfare support for low income households over broader measures like tax cuts to ease the cost of living, the International Monetary Fund has said. Policymakers should do more to protect vulnerable households from surges in inflation caused by geopolitical events like the Iran war, the IMF says in [...]
Close Brothers raises cost-cutting target as job cuts begin Banking Close Brothers has dialled up its cost-cutting plans and said it was “well into next stage of restructuring” after revealing it would slash its headcount by around 20 per cent earlier this year. The FTSE 250 bank said on Tuesday it had delivered £36m of savings in its latest financial year, coming ahead of the [...]
Burnham should go on a ‘cost of doing business’ tour Economics An alarming note from one of the City’s top economists warns that October’s Budget could see taxes rise by almost the same amount as they did last year when Rachel Reeves cooked up £26bn worth of fresh hikes. Ruth Gregory, Deputy Chief UK Economist at Capital Economics, suggests that higher taxes “perhaps worth up to [...]
Burnham takes on ‘rip-off’ discounts and subscriptions in cost of living push August 10, 2026 Andy Burnham has vowed to outlaw fake discounts and crack down on stealth subscriptions as he pledges to deliver “breathing room” on the cost of living. The Prime Minister has proposed to ban businesses from advertising “rip-off” discounts and said he will accelerate existing plans to make subscriptions easier to cancel. These two pledges come [...]
World Cup boost fails to land UK services sector on front foot July 3, 2026 A World Cup boost failed to drag the UK’s services sector to growth last month after it recorded its fastest rate of decline in three-and-a-half years as businesses braced for the Andy Burnham coronation. The latest Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) from S&P Global showed a reading of 48.8 in June, falling from 49.3 in May. [...]
Miliband would be ‘disaster’ as Chancellor, says Labour cost of living chief June 26, 2026 Keir Starmer’s cost of living champion has warned that Ed Miliband would be a “disaster” as Andy Burnham’s Chancellor. Lord Richard Walker, who is also executive chairman of budget supermarket Iceland, told BBC Newsnight that the current energy secretary’s net-zero policies are putting an undue burden on household bills. He said: “Climate change is real, [...]
Reeves’ summer of fun won’t deliver growth May 29, 2026 Instead of attempting to stimulate demand, Reeves should focus on helping hospitality from the supply-side, writes Matthew Bowles.
Supermarket price caps? Rachel Reeves is truly panicking May 25, 2026 Rachel Reeves's impulse to meddle in supermarket pricing shows she is not seriously interested in growth at all, writes Eliot Wilson.
Food prices set to soar 50 per cent since cost-of-living crisis began May 4, 2026 UK food prices are on track to be 50 per cent higher by November compared to levels at the start of the cost-of-living crisis, piling fresh pressure on households already struggling with rising bills. New analysis from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) warns the surge would mark a “grim milestone”, with price growth [...]
The cost of living crisis is the fault of the public sector, not billionaires March 5, 2026 The Green's newest MP was quick to blame billionaires for the cost of living crisis. Has she looked at the public sector, asks Paul Ormerod.