Author: Blake Anderson

This article is an on-site version of our Inside Politics newsletter. Subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every weekday. If you’re not a subscriber, you can still receive the newsletter free for 30 daysGood morning. As I mentioned yesterday, I re-read Jonathan Powell’s The New Machiavelli on a recent trip.I promise that I won’t do reflections on my holiday reading every day, but for today, some more on a stray observation in the book by Tony Blair’s former chief of staff.Inside Politics is edited by Georgina Quach. Follow Stephen on Bluesky and X, and Georgina on…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.I am 58 years old and a UK citizen who has lived in Hong Kong for 12 years. I have three children, all of whom are adults, and two grandchildren, all based in the UK. I own a UK property and hold an investment portfolio in Hong Kong. I understand that the scope of inheritance tax changed recently. What are the changes and how will they impact me?Anna Warren, tax director at Bentley Reid © ALL RIGHTS RESERVEDAnna Warren, tax director at…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Retail sector myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.WHSmith’s board has decided to stand by chief executive Carl Cowling while it awaits the findings of a probe into a profit overstatement that blindsided investors and wiped more than £500mn off its market value.WHSmith expects the probe, which is being conducted by Deloitte, to take between six and eight weeks, enabling it to present the outcome alongside its full-year results in November, according to three people familiar with the matter.The travel retailer last week disclosed that a routine financial year-end review…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Removing stamp duty would result in a “radical” overhaul of the UK’s housing market by allowing homeowners to move more easily — but some wealthier and older owners would be hit harder by a potential annual levy, industry experts have warned.The Treasury is reportedly assessing ditching stamp duty — a transaction tax paid by buyers on properties valued at above £125,000. The government could look to replace it with an annual tax on homeowners, with properties worth more than £500,000 based on…

Coco Capitán took something of a risk when it came to her home. The Spanish multidisciplinary artist made an offer to rent the red brick Victorian conversion in east London without seeing it in person. “My assistant came to a viewing while I was in Japan,” she says. “He called me and said ‘You have to put in an offer; if you don’t do it now, it will be gone’.” After a few frenetic phone calls and an array of forensically detailed videos, she took the leap. “Renting in this city can be so crazy,” she adds. “You have to…

Plans to spend more than £10bn refurbishing the Palace of Westminster could end in financial disaster, senior parliamentarians have warned, amid growing concern over the use of public money at the world heritage site.MPs will be asked before the end of the year to approve a vast restoration programme at Westminster, despite evidence that smaller schemes at the palace are already subject to vast cost overruns and blunders.Peers were last month informed that £9.6mn has been spent on a new entrance to the House of Lords, which does not work properly — people in wheelchairs have become trapped and it…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.This article is an on-site version of our Inside Politics newsletter. Subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every weekday. If you’re not a subscriber, you can still receive the newsletter free for 30 daysGood morning. Thanks for the many interesting responses to yesterday’s note, some of which I wanted to talk about today, because it is the summer and frankly I think we can all do with things that aren’t me writing the same newsletter about small boats…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Fears of a massive non-dom exodus from the UK have been allayed by initial tax data, which suggests that total numbers leaving the country are in line with — or even below — official forecasts. HM Revenue & Customs payroll data has found no evidence to suggest more non-doms left Britain in response to Rachel Reeves’ 2024 Budget than official predictions, according to people briefed on the findings.The findings will be a relief to the chancellor after a series of surveys —…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The gap between Scotland’s revenues and spending has widened to 11.7 per cent of GDP, more than twice the figure for the UK, reopening the debate about the nation’s economic future ahead of next year’s elections for the Scottish parliament.Scotland’s net fiscal deficit worsened by £5.1bn to reach £26.5bn in 2024-25, according to the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland report, or Gers, published annually by the devolved government in Edinburgh.People in Scotland received almost £2,700 more per head of additional spending compared with…

Napoleon Bonaparte saw it as a propaganda tool to promote his planned invasion of Britain. The Nazis were fascinated by it. Now, the Bayeux Tapestry is to return to England after more than 900 years, a 70m-long symbol of the UK’s post-Brexit reconciliation with France.When it arrives in London next year, it will star in what George Osborne, the former Conservative chancellor who is now the British Museum’s chair, has boasted will be “the blockbuster show of our generation.”The tapestry tells the story of a defining moment in England’s history — the Norman invasion of 1066 — and is a…