Reeves puts cash ISA reform on ice ahead of Mansion House speech July 11, 2025 Rachel Reeves is expected to backtrack on plans to cut the tax-free allowance for cash ISAs, amid growing criticisms and building societies reporting a jump in new accounts being set up. “Differing views” from within government and a longer consultation time with the financial sector have contributed to the pause in the policy, according to [...]
Post Office Scandal: Government contracts awarded to Fujitsu even after Mr Bates ITV drama July 10, 2025 Government bodies kept awarding Fujitsu with contracts to the tune of £500m even after the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office brought the Post Office Horizon scandal to national prominence. That’s according to LBC, alongside the public sector data analytics firm Tussell, which found that 23 contracts were handed out to the firm [...]
Benefits claimants take home more than minimum wage workers July 10, 2025 Brits claiming sickness benefits can be paid up to £25,000, which is more than the take home pay of a minimum wage worker. That’s according to new research from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), which found that if a claimant is receiving universal credit incapacity benefits alongside personal independence payments and housing benefits, the total [...]
Trump tariffs: FTSE 100 holds steady as pharma and metals brace for levies July 9, 2025 The FTSE 100 opened 22 points up this morning, despite threats of pharma and metals tariffs with stark implications for major stocks on the blue chip index. President Trump has said that an announcement is coming “very soon” on pharmaceutical tariffs – with a possible 200 per cent rate landing in “about a year”. Major [...]
Wealth tax: City bosses warn Labour of entrepreneur exodus July 8, 2025 A wealth tax would spark a fresh exodus of entrepreneurs from the UK, according to City grandees as calls mount from within Labour to explore the policy. Sir Martin Sorrell, Sir Rocco Forte and Sir Philip Hampton warned in The Telegraph that business owners could flee Britain en masse. Hotelier Sir Rocco said: “Labour has [...]
Stephen Kinnock says Reeves looking ‘very carefully’ at wealth tax July 8, 2025 Health minister Stephen Kinnock has given the strongest hint yet that a wealth tax might be on the agenda for the government after his father – the former Labour leader Lord Kinnock – intervened to push for the policy over the weekend. The junior Kinnock told LBC’s Shelagh Fogarty that the government has “already taken [...]
Hiring confidence worst in 13 years as businesses brace for further tax hikes July 7, 2025 Appetite for hiring among employers has fallen to lows not seen since 2012, as bosses bring up the drawbridge following bruising hikes to business rates and more tax rises looming at the next Budget. Research from the BDO Business Trends barometer found that firms are “holding back recruitment” despite indications of a summer recovery. Employment [...]
Top Tory slams FCA ‘mission creep’ after misconduct rules expanded July 3, 2025 Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith has slammed the UK financial watchdog for expanding rules on “non-financial misconduct”, which spans from bullying to harassment and violence. In a post on X the former city minister described the new regulations as “grade A mission creep”, as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) broadened their reach to apply to [...]
Welfare: Starmer’s authority shattered as Reeves faces £5bn headache July 2, 2025 Sir Keir Starmer has suffered a devastating hit to his authority whilst a £5bn spending headache looms for Rachel Reeves following the government’s u-turn to avoid a catastrophic defeat of its welfare bill. Just days away from his one year anniversary in Downing Street, the PM faced the most substantial backbench rebellion of his premiership [...]
Reform UK: Zia Yusuf hits back at ‘far left’ non-dom policy critics June 24, 2025 Reform UK’s DOGE chief has hit back at criticisms of the party’s newly-unveiled ‘Robin Hood’ non-doms policy from tax experts, which he described as “drivel”. In a ten-post thread on X, Zia Yusuf embarked on a detailed critique of tax commentator Dan Neidle, after the Tax Policy Associates founder said that there were “several significant [...]