Budget: Kemi Badenoch slams ‘shameless’ Rachel Reeves November 26, 2025 The mood in the House of Commons morphed from rowdy to somewhat tense following the Budget, as Kemi Badenoch launched a series of scathing political and personal attacks on Rachel Reeves. The Conservative leader slammed the Chancellor’s position as “untenable”, and her fiscal announcements as a “Budget for Benefits Street”. Badenoch said: “I hope she [...]
OBR questioned on Reeves’ flip-flopping and forecast changes November 20, 2025 The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)’s chief has been questioned on whether he dramatically upgraded forecasts midway through the Chancellor’s Budget planning, affording Rachel Reeves as much as a £10bn swing in headroom projections and allowing her to abandon plans to raise income taxes. Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride has written to Richard Hughes, chair of [...]
Labour’s assault on jobs will undermine growth November 4, 2025 Rachel Reeves is engaged in a complicated dance with the Office for Budget Responsibility in the run up to her second Budget. When the fiscal watchdog presents its scorecard on the Chancellor’s plans – and on wider government policies – the music will stop and we’ll see whether Reeves pulls off a surprising lift, or [...]
Mel Stride rules out electoral pact with Reform October 30, 2025 Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride has insisted the Conservatives will not strike an electoral deal with Reform UK due to their “completely ruinous” economic agenda. In an interview with a new online magazine led by the centre-right think tank Bright Blue, Stride said his party should avoid “indulging in populist politics” and focus on calling out [...]
Kemi Badenoch pledges ‘golden rule’ to cut deficit October 8, 2025 Tory leader Kemi Badenoch will reveal her plan to reduce the public deficit will be a “golden rule” in a crucial speech setting out her party’s hopes to regain voters’ trust on the UK economy. Addressing Conservative Party members on Wednesday, Badenoch is set to lay out a central mission underpinning hopes of reviving the [...]
Mel Stride: I would raise income tax in Rachel Reeves’ position October 7, 2025 Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride has said he would raise income taxes if he were in Rachel Reeves’ position, facing a £30bn black hole in the public finances. Speaking at a fringe event at the Tory party conference in Manchester, Stride said raising income taxes was the “cleanest” tax hike option available. His comments will likely [...]
Reform UK: Kent local authority poised to hike council tax October 6, 2025 Reform UK-run Kent County Council is likely to raise council tax next year, with a cabinet member suggesting that a five per cent hike is on the cards. Diane Morton, the council lead for adult social care, told the Financial Times: “We’ve got more demand than ever before and it’s growing.” “We just want more [...]
Tories vow to ease IR35 rules and cut red tape for small businesses October 6, 2025 Identification checks for small businesses would be eased under a new Tory pledge to slash red tape and allow entrepreneurs to open bank accounts at a quicker pace. Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, will tell party members that the Tories would make growth among small businesses central to wider economic plans as they would [...]
A competent Chancellor would break Britain’s high tax, high spend doom loop September 25, 2025 Economic alarm bells are blaring, but Rachel Reeves has stuck her fingers in her ears, says shadow chancellor Mel Stride Britain’s economy is on the brink. We’re set for the highest inflation in the G7; unemployment is at a four-year high; and GDP growth is pitiful – in July it was literally zero. Meanwhile, borrowing [...]
Britain faces ‘looming’ crisis without spending cut, says Mel Stride-backed report September 15, 2025 Britain faces a looming fiscal crisis without reigning in spending and boosting the competitiveness of the City, according to a new report. With annual per capita growth stagnating and public spending ballooning, the government needs to bring growth back to the economy and boost living standards, according to the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) report [...]