‘Shenanigans’: Did the OBR save Reeves from hiking income taxes at the Budget? November 18, 2025 For weeks, Chancellor Rachel Reeves had been engaged in an extraordinary communications exercise of expectation management, leading Brits to believe that income tax was about to hiked for the first time in 50 years. In an unusual press conference earlier this month, she told journalists that everyone would have to contribute to the Labour government’s [...]
Exclusive: Industry chiefs warn Reeves not to hit business after income tax U-turn November 14, 2025 The Chancellor must not rely on businesses to plug the gaping fiscal gap left by Thursday’s income tax U-turn, a group of industry body chiefs has warned a year after UK firms were forced to stomach much of the £40bn of tax hikes at Labour’s maiden Budget. In an unusual combined intervention, bosses from five [...]
Autumn Budget: What does the income tax U-turn mean for your salary? November 14, 2025 In a major U-turn, Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ is understood to have ripped up plans to hike income tax in the looming Autumn Budget. Reeves was poised to hitch up income tax by 2p at the end of the month, whilst cutting national insurance – for lower earners – by the same amount. While the decision [...]
UK bonds sell off after income tax U-turn November 14, 2025 UK government bonds sold off sharply on Friday morning, as markets recoiled from the government’s decision to row back on plans to plug much of its multibillion-pound black hole with a manifesto-busting income tax hike. The yield on 10-year gilts – the common benchmark for the government’s long-term ability to borrow – climbed by some [...]
Rachel Reeves panics markets by ditching plans for income tax hike November 14, 2025 Rachel Reeves is understood to have scrapped plans to break Labour’s manifesto and hike income tax in the forthcoming Autumn Budget. The Chancellor was poised to hike income tax by 2p whilst cutting national insurance by the same amount in a move that would break Labour’s pledge to not raise taxes on ‘working people.’ Over [...]
Will the Budget push the economy off the cliff? November 13, 2025 Downing Street is in chaos and the economy has flatlined. Now, with just a couple of weeks to go until we find out what’s really in Rachel Reeves’ Budget, Britain’s bosses are getting restless. It used to be the case that Chancellor’s went quiet in the run-up to a Budget, keeping their powder dry and [...]
If income tax thresholds remain frozen benefits should too November 13, 2025 Consistency matters. If the fiscal situation is truly so dire that tax thresholds must remain frozen, then the same logic should apply to spending, says John O’Connell The biggest casualty of the upcoming Budget will not be the rich or the poor. It will be those who are caught in the middle: the working and [...]
Brits don’t believe this is a country that rewards hard work November 12, 2025 What conversations are you having at work, at home, in the pub? There’s plenty to talk about, from Traitors (BBC good?) to trust in public broadcasting (BBC bad?) to say nothing of football, Remembrance Day, the weather and Christmas. Looking beyond these topics, is it possible to discern the national mood? Do we feel that [...]
Voters say Rachel Reeves should resign if income taxes are hiked November 11, 2025 A majority of voters believe Rachel Reeves should resign as Chancellor if she breaks a key Labour manifesto commitment by raising income tax. Labour’s 2024 election manifesto said the party would not put up taxes on working people, including VAT and income tax. But in the lead-up to a crucial Budget where the Chancellor is [...]
Rachel Reeves concedes manifesto pledges may be dropped November 10, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has suggested that Labour manifesto commitments will be ditched amid a “significantly worse” economic inheritance than expected last year. In an interview with the BBC, Reeves said she would prefer to increase government spending on infrastructure rather than cut taxes for Britons. When asked whether the government would stick to manifesto commitments, [...]
