A growing industry of Oxbridge-trained coaches is helping wealthy Chinese families navigate British university admissions — and charging huge sums for their services Peter Cui was working in finance in 2017 when he started coaching students back in his home country of China to get into Oxford and Cambridge on the side. The pay in…
Welcome to our live coverage of the UK Budget. Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver her Budget speech at 1230gmt. The live blog is now closed. Please see our in-depth coverage to read more. 1750gmt End of Budget Day Market Wrap Up By Carla Rosch The FTSE 100 temporarily dipped slightly after the premature release of…
From April 1, Britain’s vaping firms start registration with HM Revenue & Customs ahead of a new levy set to take effect on October 1, 2026. The Vaping Products Duty will impose a flat-rate tax on e-liquids and enforce stricter supply-chain controls, including official duty stamps on all products. As prices are expected to rise,…
UK markets opened slightly up this morning, with sterling higher and gilts showing modest yield movement ahead of the Chancellor’s announcements. FTSE 100 peaked at 9,648, with the FTSE 250 also peaking at 21,974 before midday. The currency, pound sterling, traded modestly with the GBP/USD trading near 1.3171 with markets favoring stability over aggressive moves. Fixed-income…
Rachel Reeves has confirmed the tax-free allowance on cash ISAs will be cut for under 65s in a bid to encourage more Britons to invest their savings. The current £20,000 allowance will be slashed to £12,000 by April 2027. By doing so, The Chancellor hopes to encourage more Britons to invest their remaining savings in…
UK shoppers will soon have to pay more for their cold lattes and other sugary milk drinks, as Chancellor seeks to close the ‘loophole’ in the sugar tax, confirmed in November’s Budget today. Pre-packed milkshakes and other dairy-based products will soon be hit by the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) tax, which was introduced by…
After a period of volatility in the middle of the day bond markets rallied alongside modest gains for sterling. Yields on 10-year government bonds, a source of concern for the government ahead of the budget, have seen a modest rally after a chaotic period in the middle of the day. Market open saw bond yields…
FTSE 100 temporarily dipped slightly after the premature release of budget details, but bounced up and ended higher than the previous day. The index rose 0.85 percent, closing at 9,691, a sign that markets were not overly rattled by the budget announcement. Michael Brown, analyst at Pepperstone, believes the leaked document gave investors information and…
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the lifting of the two-child benefit cap, the controversial measure that prevented families on benefits from claiming support for more than two children. The move was greeted with cheers by Labour MPs who have long opposed the cap, that was introduced by the Conservative government in 2017. The removal of the…
By Carla Rosch Caz Dennett was taken to court over £650 last year. A Weymouth County Court judge ruled that she had to pay the sewage bills she owed Wessex Water. For years, the 53-year-old campaigner and social scientist had been actively organising and participating in local protests in the south coast of Dorset, frustrated…
