7 h. ago Starmer and Reeves promised honesty about public finances. Can they stay the course?

Labour is being pulled one way by a desire to cut debt and the other by slumping poll ratings. With growth nowhere to be seen, tax rises loomDuring the first televised debate in the run-up to last summer’s general election, Keir Starmer used a phrase that received enthusiastic – and unanticipated – applause from the Salford audience.“I don’t pretend there’s a magic wand that will fix everything overnight,” he told them. Labour strategists were surprised by the clapping, and encouraged him to deploy the line again in future. Continue reading...

Politics

35 h. ago Rachel Reeves tax grab to leave £4bn 'blackhole in public finances' and huge job losses

A study from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has found that non-doms who leave the UK instead of taking up Labour's less generous replacement will lead the tax take to be £4.6bn lower over five years.

Economics

41 h. ago Macron and Starmer share Larry the cat joke during Downing Street family photo

Watch as Emmanuel Macron, Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves joke about Larry the cat during a family photo at No 10.

Politics

3 d. ago Which tax rises could the government introduce to fill the black hole in Britain’s finances?

Labour’s pledge not to raise taxes on ‘working people’ leaves the chancellor with a limited number of workable options to fill the £5bn hole in the public finances left by last week’s welfare climbdown

Politics

3 d. ago DAN HODGES: I've learned Labour's deranged new 'masterplan'... Starmer and Reeves have gone mad

After 12 short but tumultuous months, the pressures of government have finally become too great. The weight of the seals of office are crushing them.

Politics

3 d. ago First neighbourhood health services to be rolled out from September

The initiative is part of the Government’s 10-year health plan, which was unveiled by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer last week.

Politics

3 d. ago How Labour is coming for YOUR money: Reeves is targeting wealth, pensions and Isas, warns JEFF PRESTRIDGE

Brace yourself for a summer of doom and gloom as Chancellor Rachel Reeves works out how to fill a gaping £40bn hole in the public finances.

Events

4 d. ago ‘Naive and arrogant’: Why a wealth tax in the UK would fail, according to experts

The UK government needs to raise funds – but experts say trying to take more from the rich simply won’t work

Economics

4 d. ago Warning issued on ‘vulnerable position’ of UK finances after Starmer’s welfare U

The OBR’s warning piles fresh pressure on Rachel Reeves ahead of the autumn Budget

Events

4 d. ago The six starkest warnings from OBR as report lays bare the perilous state of UK public finances

Here are the most stark warnings in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s report

Events

4 d. ago Public finances on ‘unsustainable’ path due to spending promises, says OBR

Richard Hughes told a briefing in Liverpool that the projected rise in state pension spending would contributed to growing UK national debt.

Economics

4 d. ago UK public finances on ‘unsustainable’ path amid growing climate, debt and pension costs

Office for Budget Responsibility warns national debt on course to hit 270% of GDP by 2070 amid volatilityBusiness live – latest updatesThe UK’s public finances are on an unsustainable long-term trajectory, given the growing costs of state pensions and the mounting climate emergency, the Office for Budget Responsibility has warned.Richard Hughes, who chairs the budget watchdog, said government debt would rise to 270% of GDP by 2070 – up from less than 100% today – if current policies were left unchanged. Continue reading...

Economics

4 d. ago OBR: Vulnerable UK faces 'daunting' threats to stability of public finances after welfare climbdown

Successive governments’ efforts to put the UK public finances have met with only “limited and temporary success” says watchdog

Economics

4 d. ago Risks from climate, pensions and bonds leave UK public finances ‘vulnerable’

Office for Budget Responsibility warns national debt on course to hit 270% of GDP by 2070 amid volatilityBusiness live – latest updatesThe UK’s public finances are in a “relatively vulnerable position”, with pensions costs, climate change and volatile bond markets all posing significant risks, the independent Office for Budget Responsibility has warned.In its annual assessment of the long-term threats to the government’s fiscal position, the OBR points out that the UK has “the sixth-highest debt, fifth-highest deficit and third-highest borrowing costs among 36 advanced economies”. Continue reading...

Economics

4 d. ago UK public finances in ‘vulnerable position’ after Starmer’s U

The OBR’s warning piles fresh pressure on Rachel Reeves ahead of the autumn Budget

Politics

4 d. ago Rachel Reeves' uncle reveals why she was crying at PMQs as he blasts Keir Starmer and Labour for 'joke' first year in power

Terry Smith, 72, the brother of the Chancellor's mother Sally Reeves, also advised his niece to 'stop spending money on the migrants and focus on fixing the country instead'.

Politics

5 d. ago Voices: The bottom line? Britain simply can’t afford to impose a wealth tax

As battle lines are drawn within Labour over taxing the super-rich, Chris Blackhurst says that the government must resist Lord Kinnock’s siren call to take a 2 per cent slice of asset values above £10 million – because the country’s economic prosperity depends on it

Economics

5 d. ago Panic over Labour 'wealth tax' to fill £30bn black hole in government finances

The prospect of a charge on the assets of the well-off has been mooted as the Chancellor scrambles to fill a potential £30billion black hole in the public finances.

Economics

6 d. ago MAIL ON SUNDAY COMMENT: So, Chancellor, why is it so wrong to stand by a solemn election pledge?

Are Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves actually secretly pleased to have been publicly humiliated by their own backbenchers? A cynic might conclude this was so.

Politics

6 d. ago Even poorest OAPs face paying income tax in new stealth raid on state pension

Millions of Britain's poorest pensioners face being dragged into an 'old-age tax trap' as Chancellor Rachel Reeves desperately attempts to fill a growing black hole in the public finances.

Economics