Owners of homes worth more than £2m will face a new annual surcharge of at least £2,500 a year under plans unveiled in the Budget. Properties valued above £2m by the Valuation Office Agency from April 2028 will incur a recurring levy, paid in addition to council tax. The charge will apply across four pricing…
The Office for Budget Responsibility lowered Britain’s productivity forecasts from 1.3% to 1% in the latest Budget, a downgrade which could cut £16bn from the economy by 2030. Productivity growth for 2025 has been downgraded by 0.3 percentage points from the OBR’s March report to 1.0 per cent, implying slower supply-side expansion and weaker revenue…
Ramy Danial, London The United States and Israel’s war on Iran has strained Western households with a sharp climb in fuel prices. However, in the developing world, the war threatens to unleash a generational food crisis. A shortage in fertilisers is a nightmare scenario for dense, rural and poverty-stricken populations that depend on staple items…
The minimum wage will increase by 4% in April with even bigger increases for younger workers, under plans announced in the Budget on Tuesday. Over-21s will see their minimum wage rise by 50p to £12.71 an hour while, for those aged between 18-20, it will rise by 85p to £10.85 an hour. For 16 and…
A government paper released alongside the budget announced that limited new North Sea oil and gas production will be allowed but ruled out further exploration or a tax reduction. A new class of permits, known as ‘Transitional Energy Certificates’, will allow oil and gas companies to expand extraction near existing oil fields as long as…
Rachel Reeves allocated billions in financial support to voters in Labour’s political heartlands, as the government faces increasing threats ahead of local elections in May. The measures included £1.3 billion in additional funding for the Scottish and Welsh governments, a scrapping of the two-child benefit cap and a surprise £2.3 billion miners’ pension scheme. In…
TikTok and Social Media Post: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRCFgTG1/ Main Article: If you have spent time in a chain coffee shop recently, you might have noticed something off. Especially if, instead of rushing out after securing a caffeine-fix, you decide to sit down with a laptop and linger. While the ambience of a central-London Pret A Manger has…
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…
The Government has abolished the stamp duty on share purchases in newly listed companies. The move is aimed at making London a more attractive destination for investment after one of the quietest years on record for new listings. The change scraps a tax that investors paid when purchasing shares in a company going public. The…
by Christopher McEvedy https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WH0xUPIdz5LmytiGJy6osRQpklOsAy47/view?usp=share_link The utility and wisdom of the EPL has been raised once more since the Israel-US war on Iran began, and the consequent rises in oil and gas prices. The UK’s EPL was introduced by the Conservative government of Boris Johnson in 2022, in the wake of large energy company profits following…