Author: Blake Anderson

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Chancellor Rachel Reeves will not raise taxes in next week’s Spring Statement, Labour officials said, as they tried to dismiss Conservative claims that she is preparing an “emergency Budget”.Reeves will instead turn to public spending reductions — a combination of welfare cuts and savings to the planned budgets of Whitehall departments — to rebuild adequate headroom against her fiscal rules.Reeves’ allies said she was determined to reassure financial markets by maintaining a “reasonable” amount of headroom. “The markets are watching us carefully,”…

Sir Keir Starmer’s hopes of avoiding a widespread party rebellion over the government’s £5bn welfare cuts will be tested this weekend as Labour MPs return to face voters in their constituencies.The prime minister on Wednesday said the current welfare system was “broken” and that he would not shrug his shoulders and walk past a million people “trapped on benefits”. The public appears to be with him: pollster YouGov has found 68 per cent of the population supports reform to the welfare system.But Labour MPs expect angry confrontations on Friday when they hold surgeries with their constituents, whether from those directly…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The writer is co-chair of the Invest in Women Taskforce and head of Barclays Business BankThere’s only one thing worse for the UK’s female entrepreneurs than the current dismal level of investment in their businesses: the prospect of that share of equity investment falling even further. Astonishingly, that is precisely what the government-backed Invest in Women Taskforce has uncovered. Investment in female-led start-ups isn’t just stalling; it’s actually reversing, with increasing funds going to male-run start-ups focused on artificial intelligence.Research we commissioned…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Global Economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Central banks around the world are lowering borrowing costs as global inflation eases from the multi-decade highs reached in many countries in recent years.The FT global inflation and interest rates tracker provides a regularly updated visual narrative of consumer price inflation and central bank policy rates around the world.Some content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings.This page covers the factors affecting policymakers’ decisions on borrowing costs and whether central banks have increased or decreased interest rates.Some content could…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Cash Isa holders cost the Treasury a total of £2.1bn in tax relief in the year to April 2024, up from £70mn in 2021-22, new data reveals. Rising interest rates have boosted earnings on cash Isa holders’ deposits, meaning more savings are benefiting from tax protection, according to figures released under a freedom of information request by AJ Bell, the investment platform. Since 2017, holders can deposit up to £20,000 annually across all their Isa accounts — including cash Isas, stocks-and-shares Isas…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Former UK City minister Tulip Siddiq has hit back at the Bangladeshi authorities’ claims of financial fraud against her, accusing them of making “false, vexatious and uncorroborated allegations”.In a letter sent to Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), seen by the Financial Times, Siddiq’s lawyers claim the allegations levelled against her, some of which have led to court charges, have “no substance”.Siddiq resigned from her ministerial post in January amid political pressure following allegations, first reported by the FT, that she had benefited from…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The UK National Wealth Fund will not have the defence industry as one of its priority sectors, despite the government’s efforts to accelerate rearmament efforts. Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Wednesday said she wanted the government vehicle, which will have a budget of about £28bn by the end of the current parliament, to consider investments in “dual-use technologies” and to boost “supply chain resilience” in support of UK defence and security. But laying out its strategy to John Flint, NWF chief executive, the Treasury did…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldBritain is racing to avoid the worst of US President Donald Trump’s global tariffs, due on April 2, after “productive” talks on Tuesday that included discussions about the UK’s digital services tax.UK business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has told his officials to carry on talking with Trump’s trade team over the next 48 hours in the hope of securing a deal that would spare the UK the highest level of US reciprocal tariffs.The discussions include the UK’s levy on companies such…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The innocence of that summer is touching to recall now. In a far-off past called 2024, when Britain elected a Labour government, optimists made the bull case for the country. Emmanuel Macron had budget troubles in France and Germany a recession, so the UK struck them as a relative haven. (As though there were three countries on Earth to invest in.) Instead of constant Tory paranoia about a bond market revolt, there would be people in charge willing at last to borrow…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The British Library is set for a £1.1bn extension after securing investment from Japan’s Mitsui Fudosan. The new 12-storey building — to be built on land owned by the national library north of its current campus near St Pancras station — will provide 100,000 sq ft for the library and 600,000 sq ft of office space, including a new headquarters for the Alan Turing Institute. The development, proposed in 2017, marks another significant investment in London by the Japanese property group, which…