Rachel Reeves will this week confirm a tax raid on universities to fund grants for poorer British students as part of a cost-of-living drive in the Budget. The Chancellor has promised to “cut the cost of living” amid criticism from left and right that she has been too focussed on tinkering with the public finances
Billionaire former Labour donor Lakshmi Mittal has quit Britain amid Rachel Reeves‘ tax raid on the super-rich. The Indian-born steel tycoon will now reportedly spend much of the future in Dubai and is registered as a resident in Switzerland for tax. Mr Mittal had become disillusioned with changes to inheritance tax, which means his assets
It currently raises around £7bn a year for the government, and in the last few years figures show that the tax is paid by between 5-7% of estates. But it’s often in the headlines as any more people than this believe their family will have to pay the tax after their death. A poll for
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The Kremlin has decided to publicly blame the west for a forthcoming tax rise to spare Vladimir Putin from criticism that his war economy is starting to hurt ordinary Russians. The Russian president’s top officials,
British banks are back. With that has come talk of raising their taxes. Shares in the four big UK lenders — HSBC, NatWest, Lloyds and Barclays — have hit their highest levels since the financial crisis in recent weeks. Valuations are at their fullest in five years. NatWest just turned in its best quarterly profits
The potential change is part of the government’s local government finance policy statement, external, which are proposals for 2026-27 to 2028-29. They are subject to ongoing consultation and change, followed by debate and a vote in the House of Commons. The plans said the government would not agree to requests for additional flexibilities from authorities
A combination of worse-than-feared government borrowing and a big drop in retail sales has added to predictions of take hikes to come in the Budget Higher government borrowing is another headache for Chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of the Budget (Image: Getty Images) Chancellor Rachel Reeves was dealt a double blow ahead of next week’s Budget
The prime minister and chancellor have spent weeks laying the groundwork to break their manifesto promise not to raise income tax in the budget, but they now won’t go ahead with it. Sky News understands ministers were working up a plan to lift the basic rate of income tax – perhaps by 2p – and
Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email The Chancellor has been urged to levy a windfall tax on commercial banks to fund a £300 cut to energy bills. SNP Westminster leader Stephen
Amid reports that the government may be planning to extend the freeze on income tax thresholds in next week’s Budget, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has claimed that doing so would be a breach of Labour’s manifesto. Mrs Badenoch repeatedly raised the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, asking the PM Sir Keir Starmer to