Business chiefs: Employment will be hit by minimum wage hike November 25, 2025 Business chiefs have criticised Rachel Reeves’ decision to hike the national living wage by more than 4 per cent for most British workers at the Budget. In a final announcement before unveiling the full set of fiscal measures, the Chancellor said she would back the Low Pay Commission’s recommendations to raise the minimum wage to [...]
Labour MP warns Budget could force founders out of UK November 25, 2025 A Labour backbencher has joined industry leaders and a left-leaning pressure group in warning that the Budget could kill the UK’s aspirations of building a competitor to Silicon Valley and force more firms to look for investment outside of the country. In an open letter to Rachel Reeves, Sarah Edwards, a Labour MP who sits [...]
Budget whiplash: How bank shares were hit by the Treasury’s ‘hokey cokey’ leaking November 25, 2025 Last week the House of Commons speaker reprimanded the Treasury for what he called a “hokey cokey” Budget. “Can I just say it isn’t normal for a Budget to be put in the press,” Sir Lindsay Hoyle said in his dressing down of ministers. “One minute it’s in, next minute it’s out.” Few sectors have [...]
BCC boss: Enough taxes. The Budget must tell a positive story November 25, 2025 Last autumn, the British Chambers of Commerce and its members were left shell-shocked when a party that promised to be the most ‘pro-business in history’ used its maiden Budget to deliver a succession of hammer blows to the private sector. Having shouldered the burden last year, boss Shevaun Haviland wants this year’s instalment to paint [...]
Traders brace for punishing Budget on pound November 25, 2025 Traders are making pre-emptive moves on the indication Rachel Reeves’ forthcoming Autumn Budget will send the pound tumbling. Investors have taken an overwhelmingly bearish view on the pound, with new trading data revealing the volume of put options – contracts that profit when sterling declines – surpassing call options, those that profit when the currency [...]
Reeves demands bank chiefs back Budget November 25, 2025 Top bank chiefs are expected to praise Rachel Reeves’ Budget measures, according to reports, as the Chancellor looks set to dismiss calls for extra taxes on the sector. Lenders are being encouraged to back the government and follow through with extra investment plans to support Britons up and down the country, a report in the [...]
There’s nothing new in Zack Polanski’s fantasy economics November 25, 2025 Let’s go for a lyrical opening to this column: “The newspapers shout a new style is growing, but I don’t know if it’s coming or going, there is fashion, there is fad, some is good, some is bad, and the joke – rather sad – that it’s all just a little bit of history repeating.” [...]
Ex-OBR chiefs: Reeves was warned about productivity downgrade November 25, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves was warned about costly productivity downgrades and should have left a bigger fiscal headroom at the Spring Statement, former Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) officials have said. Speaking to City PM, a number of leading economists raised questions around Reeves’ statements suggesting an OBR review of productivity trend forecasts has forced her [...]
CBI chair condemns ‘incoherence’ of Labour’s Employment Rights Bill November 24, 2025 Rupert Soames, the outgoing chair of the Confederation of British Industry, has lambasted the Labour government for promising to cut regulatory burdens while pushing ahead with its Employment Rights Bill and adding to the cost of hiring. In a closing speech at the CBI’s annual conference on Monday, Soames questioned the government’s performance and “flakey [...]
Business secretary admits Labour tax hikes fuelling wealth exodus November 24, 2025 The business secretary has conceded that tax hikes have sparked an exodus of rich Brits, after one of the UK’s richest people fled to Switzerland. Peter Kyle admitted that he is “worried” that super-rich business figures such as Lakshmi Mittal feel they need to leave Britain “in order to succeed”. “There are people starting businesses [...]
