Chancellor

Retail reacts: Gov has taken ‘first step to longer term reform’

The retail industry has welcomed chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn budget announcement, with the BRC saying it shows “the government has heard the concerns of retail”, despite the CBI adding it believes “businesses will think there’s more to be done on growth”. Jeremy Hunt unveiled his Autumn budget on November 17,…

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Chancellor freezes tax thresholds in Autumn statement

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced a raft of measures to help “stabilise” the UK economy and reduce inflation, with tax cuts and spending cuts totalling £55bn in the Autumn statement.  As part of the new measures, Hunt confirmed that tax as a percentage of GDP will rise by over 1%…

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Retailers call on chancellor to freeze business rates

Retail bosses from some of the UK’s leading retailers – including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Greggs and Iceland – have called on chancellor Jeremy Hunt to freeze business rates in the autumn statement, which is due to be announced on Thursday 17 November. Forming the Retail Jobs Alliance, the chief executives have…

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Rishi Sunak to become next PM

Rishi Sunak is set to become the next leader of the Conservative party and the UK prime minister after becoming the sole candidate to surpass the threshold of 100 votes. Penny Mordaunt announced she was withdrawing from the race only minutes before the nominations deadline at 14:00 BST today (24…

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Liz Truss steps down as prime minister

Liz Truss has announced that she is standing as prime minister after a turbulent week for the government, just six weeks after taking up the premiership. The statement of her resignation was made at 13:30pm today (20 October) following a meeting between Truss and Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the…

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Rising food prices push inflation back to 10.1%

Inflation has returned to the 40-year high of 10.1% in September, up from 9.9% in August, with rising food prices as the main contributor, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The increase to the annual inflation rate in September 2022 reflected, principally, rising food…

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Chancellor reverses almost all mini-budget tax cuts

Newly appointed chancellor Jeremy Hunt has reversed almost all of the mini-budget commitments made by previous chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng last month, in a statement made at the Treasury today (17 October). He confirmed the basic rate of income tax will remain at 20% “indefinitely” until the economic situation stabilises, marking…

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Pound plunges to historic low

The pound has plummeted to an all-time low against the dollar following the sweeping tax cuts announced by chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng in last week’s mini-budget.  At one point the pound plunged by nearly 5% to stand at $1.0327, its lowest point since Britain went decimal in 1971. It later recovered…

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Chancellor announces sweeping tax cuts in first mini-budget

Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has today (23 September) announced a ream of tax cuts alongside a £60bn energy support package as part of the new government’s first mini-budget. Setting out his aims for economic growth, Kwarteng said that he wants the economy to increase by 2.5% annually in the medium-term, through…

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Business energy bills to be capped under new gov scheme

The government has unveiled a new plan that is set to cap wholesale energy bills for businesses for an initial six-month period from 1 October.  The Government Energy Bill Relief Scheme, unveiled today (21 September) by business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg, will reportedly bring support for households, businesses and public sector…

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