MPs say government was ‘complacent’ on Covid fraud in new report April 27, 2022 The government was “complacent in preventing fraud” against the Covid Bounce Back Loan Scheme and will lose almost £5bn to scammers, according to a Westminster committee. MPs on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the £47bn loan scheme – which saw the government take on 100 per cent of default risk – was delivered at [...]
CBI chief Lord Bilimoria: Workers must return to office ‘as soon as possible’ August 4, 2021 The president of the CBI has called on workers to return to the office “as soon as possible” today. Speaking to TalkRadio, Lord Karan Bilimoria said: “We should be getting back to work wherever possible, as soon as possible, as safely as possible.” Read more: Rishi Sunak: For young people, working from home is no [...]
Biden, Macron, Zelensky and von der Leyen lead heartfelt global tributes to The Queen September 8, 2022 World leaders including US President Joe Biden, Ukraine’s Vlodymyr Zelensky and France’s president Emnauel Macron have paid heartfelt tributes to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, after the monarch passed away, aged 96. Leaders described the monarch as a source of stability amid seven decades of social and economic changes. French President Emmanuel Macron called the [...]
Downfall of a Prime Minister: How handling of Chris Pincher scandal spiralled into Boris Johnson’s worst crisis July 10, 2022 An isolated Boris Johnson has agreed to leave Downing Street this September – following haemorrhaging support across the Tory ranks in the wake of the Chris Pincher scandal. The Prime Minister announced his resignation yesterday. After a dramatic wave of Government resignations this week and a slew of former allies withdrew their backing his political [...]
AS IT HAPPENED – LIVE BLOG: Boris Johnson clings on as Tory rebellion gathers pace July 6, 2022 The prime minister is under increasing pressure to quit amid a series of high-profile cabinet resignations over the last 48 hours. Over the course of Wednesday’s drama, we followed all the latest news, opinion and analysis from Westminster on ourCity AM’s live blog. From resignations and letters of support, to the latest policy changes and [...]
Partygate: Junior minister resigns after PM given police fine April 13, 2022 Junior justice minister Lord David Wolfson has quit the government for “repeated rule-breaking” in Downing Street in what is the first ministerial resignation after Boris Johnson was handed a police fine yesterday. Wolfson said in a resignation letter to the PM that “the scale, context and nature” of the breaches of Covid rules by the [...]
Freezing personal allowance and higher rate tax rates will push 1.2m Brits over 40 per cent tax threshold January 7, 2022 New research shared with City A.M. this morning shows that over one million more people will pay a higher tax rate by 2026. The analysis by the House of Commons Library – first published in The Daily Telegraph – says around 1.2m additional workers will find their earnings going over the 40 per cent tax [...]
Former chancellor Hammond’s PE firm eyeing government contractor Amey September 19, 2021 Former chancellor Philip Hammond’s private equity firm is scheming to buy one of the government’s largest private sector contractors for £300m. According to Sky News, Buckthorn, the private equity firm who employs Hammond as a partner, has moved to acquire Amey. Buckthorn has submitted a bid for Amey as part of an auction being organised [...]
NIESR top economist: Bank of England has tools to fight inflation May 30, 2022 The UK economy is in a bit of a bind. Households are being squeezed by historic rises in their living costs, while businesses’ margins are thinning due to expenses soaring. A much higher than expected inflation crunch – primarily the result of Russia’s unforeseen invasion of Ukraine – is forecast to trigger a spending pull [...]
Yvette Cooper made shadow home secretary in comprehensive Labour shadow cabinet reshuffle November 29, 2021 Yvette Cooper has returned to frontline Westminster politics, after being appointed shadow home secretary in Labour’s comprehensive shadow cabinet reshuffle today. Cooper, a former rising star under Gordon Brown and husband to Labour heavyweight Ed Balls, formerly served as shadow home secretary between 2011 and 2015. Sir Keir Starmer’s reshuffle also saw David Lammy promoted [...]