Chancellor

Energy bills to be capped at £2,500 a year from October

Prime minister Liz Truss has announced today that energy bills for typical households will be capped at £2,500 annually for their gas and electricity bills from the start of this coming October. The news comes as her first major policy announcement, and according to Sky News, the new price guarantee…

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Zahawi draws up multi-billion pound tax cut package for businesses

Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has reportedly drawn up plans for a multi-billion pound tax cut package to help businesses amid rising energy costs. According to The Times, the chancellor said the government could “learn a lesson” from the pandemic by introducing targeted reductions in VAT and business rates to help both…

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Truss in talks to further cut business rates amid rising costs

Liz Truss has reportedly entered discussions with industry lobbyists over plans to further cut business rates. According to The Telegraph, the frontrunner in the Tory leadership campaign could extend business rates relief to more premises in order to protect them from the rising energy costs they face.  Reports said the…

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The business pledges of the Conservative leadership finalists

Business Rates On 9 August, the Retail Jobs Alliance, a coalition of retailers including Morrisons, Greggs and Tesco, called on both Sunak and Truss to pledge to cut business rates which are charged on most non-domestic properties, such as shops, offices, pubs, warehouses, factories, and holiday rental homes or guest…

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Rishi Sunak commits to reducing business rates if elected PM

Rishi Sunak has vowed to slash business rates this autumn during the Conservative leadership debate at the Darlington Hippodrome theatre. The former chancellor committed to extending the current 50% reduction in his first budget as prime minister, saying that small retailers are the “beating hearts of all our communities”. Sunak…

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Sunak pledges to slash empty high street shops by 2025

Rishi Sunak has pledged to slash the number of boarded up high street shops by 2025 if he wins his Tory leadership bid, by enabling local authorities to quickly seize and repurpose empty commercial buildings.  In his latest pitch to party members, who are shortly set to receive ballots for…

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Iceland boss calls for next PM to rethink business rates

Iceland has joined in the call for Tory leadership candidates to rethink “outdated” business rates as the company’s managing director, Richard Walker, reportedly urged the prime minister to promise a “root and branch” reform of the tax.  His intervention, according to This is Money, follows similar calls from other UK…

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Amazon UK pays £648m in tax as revenues surpass £23bn

Amazon UK has revealed it paid £648m in directly incurred taxes last year as its revenues surpassed £23bn. As part of an update of its economic impact on the UK economy in 2021, Amazon also revealed that this figure has increased by almost a third in the past year from…

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Asos and Curry’s among retailers to warn Sunak against OST

A group of 11 retailers, including Asos, Currys, and Gymshark, have reportedly urged the government to abandon plans for an online sales tax warning that it would “hurt, not help the high street”. According to The Telegraph, in a joint-letter to the chancellor the retailers noted that sales tax would…

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M&S warns chancellor of potential ‘damage’ of online sales tax

Marks and Spencer has penned a letter to the chancellor warning of the potential damage an online sales tax would have on the high street. It comes as the government’s consultation on whether to implement such a tax closes on Friday (20 May). The government said the idea behind the…

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