The Treasury anticipates a 2.5% increase in the full state pension this year, translating to an additional £400 annually for pensioners. This boost is a result of the triple lock, which was introduced to make sure that the state pension rises each April by the highest of three factors: inflation, the average wage increase in […]
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According to official data, government borrowing was higher than expected in July, with the increase being driven by the rising cost of public services and benefits. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that borrowing, which reflects the gap between government spending and tax revenue, reached £3.1 billion last month, marking the highest July borrowing […]
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According to the latest HMRC accounts, £4.1 billion has been lost due to errors and fraud in tax schemes intended to stimulate business research and development, which were introduced in 2020. This revelation has sparked a dispute between the current and former governments over a gap in the country’s finances. The Corporation Tax Research and […]
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In a recent interview, the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said that businesses will be targeted over the summer as part of the government’s new push to reduce illegal immigration. In the interview, she said that officials are targeting businesses including those in the beauty sector, car washes, and others over the summer as part of […]
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The concept of levelling up, which aimed to address regional disparities, was central to Boris Johnson’s 2019 election campaign. Upon taking office, Johnson renamed the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government to include “levelling up.” However, the new government is making changes to departmental names and titles by replacing the term “levelling up” with […]
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The Liberal Democrats are demanding transparency over government Covid contracts and multi-million pound “bungs” to friendly media following Dominic Cummings’s explosive testimony to the Coivd Inquiry [pdf]. Cummings told the inquiry that state funding had been “funnelled” to the Evening Standard, owned by Lord Evgeny Lebedev – the son of a KGB spy who was […]
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Two of Boris Johnson’s closest advisers and strongest allies have eviscerated the disgraced former prime minister in testimony to the Covid Inquiry. Dominic Cummings was a staunch cheerleader for Johnson and architect of the 2019 general election “to get Brexit done” campaign that secured a 80 seat majority for the Tories. Lee Cain was Johnson’s […]
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A Labour government will establish a new powerful commissioner to recover billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money lost to waste and Covid fraud during the pandemic, Rachel Reeves will tell the party conference on Monday (October 9). “The cost to the taxpayer of Covid fraud is estimated at £7.2bn with every one of those cheques […]
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Rishi Sunak has told the Chinese premier he has “serious concerns” about Beijing’s interference in Britain’s democracy after police arrested a suspected Westminster spy working for China. Sunak challenged Li Qiang, China’s premier at the end of the G20 summit in Delhi, following a report by the Sunday Times of the arrest of a parliamentary […]
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MPs who lose their seats in the next general election are set to receive a bumper payout of almost £20,000 – double the current rate for exiting members of parliament. The more than 70 MPs standing down at the next election will also receive the £19,756 payment – equivalent to four months pay compared to […]
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