Author: Blake Anderson

UK ministers are set to raise the cost of hiring at a time when a void in official data will make it hard to assess the hit to jobs, economists say. In the Budget on Wednesday Rachel Reeves is expected to announce higher national insurance contributions for employers, a measure that is liable to mean fewer jobs or lower wages over time. She is also likely to set out a pay boost for young people on the minimum wage as she seeks to stabilise the public finances while protecting “working people”. Meanwhile, official estimates suggest the government’s employment rights reforms…

A post-Brexit scheme to cut red tape for French children coming on school trips to Britain is at risk of being cancelled because of new entry requirements being introduced by the UK, the travel industry has warned.The new rules for French school trips were introduced in December 2023 following a summit between French President Emmanuel Macron and then UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak which resulted in a deal to address a sharp drop-off in visits caused by Brexit.The change allowed French children to travel to Britain using national identity cards and their non-EU classmates without the need for a visa.…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Commonwealth leaders have agreed to consider reparations for the historic slave trade despite the UK government’s attempts to ignore their demands in the run-up to the biennial gathering of the association.The Commonwealth Heads of Government summit in the Pacific island state of Samoa on Saturday promised to address the harms of past slavery. In a communique, attendees noted “calls for discussions on reparatory justice with regard to the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans and chattel enslavement”.“The time has come for a meaningful, truthful…

When Tate Liverpool opened in the Albert Dock in 1988 it became the UK’s first national museum of modern art. It was also the first major public museum to open in a restored industrial building, and would become a model for the reinvention of urban docks worldwide as a cultural asset. The Guggenheim Bilbao, so often used as a marker for regeneration through art, would not open for almost another decade, and London’s Tate Modern would not follow until 2000.It is a wonderful and very strange site. Liverpool’s docks were opened in 1846, the most advanced in the world: the…

When the new Paddington film opens in the UK next month, audiences will have little idea that the eponymous bear’s adventures were played out in part in Colombia, rather than his traditional home in neighbouring darkest Peru.This ursine scandal — which prompted outrage among lawmakers in Peru about the financial incentives for filming over the border — highlights the crucial role played by tax credits being offered for international productions by countries from Abu Dhabi to Australia. “It’s an international arms race,” said Sir Peter Bazalgette, the veteran television executive and producer who advises the British government on creative industries…

Thousands of staff members at Monzo, the digital bank famed for its coral-coloured bank cards, could soon be in the pink. Two big investors in the fast-growing fintech are set to expand their stakes by buying stock from Monzo employees who were awarded share options as part of their overall pay package. The bank isn’t listed on the stock market (yet) but the price the investors are paying is estimated to create around 15 Monzo millionaires based on the number of share options some staff are holding. Monzo employees must decide if they want to take part by the end…

Planted in the chalky soil of the undulating Surrey Hills, England’s largest vineyard Denbies is one of the wine sector’s biggest success stories, producing 1mn bottles and drawing 400,000 visitors a year. But chief executive and owner Christopher White said ministers should support the British wine industry by creating a level playing field with European producers, whose governments, unlike the UK’s, impose minimal or zero excise duty on homegrown vintages. The only way for producers to make a return after paying heavy fees to distributors and duty to HM Revenue & Customs was to sell to visitors to their vineyards…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.More than 1mn UK taxpayers will experience an income “tax sting” by 2027-28 where they lose their tax-free personal allowance and face a marginal rate of 60 per cent, according to official data.In response to a freedom of information request, seen by the Financial Times, HM Revenue & Customs revealed the number of people losing all of their personal allowance, currently £12,570, will top 1mn for the first time in 2027-28. Since 2010, those earning more than £100,000 a year have had…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.UK chancellor Rachel Reeves will seek to reassure business that big tax rises planned for next week’s Budget will not set the pattern for the rest of the parliament, as allies insist the levies will be a “one and done” hit.Government insiders confirm that an increase in national insurance paid by employers will play a major part in Reeves’ bid to fill what the government says is a £40bn gap in the public finances.In an effort to provide “tax certainty” for the…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the Climate change myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.The UK should commit to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 81 per cent by 2035 compared with 1990 levels, the government’s independent climate adviser has recommended.The announcement comes as Labour prepares its first climate plan since coming to power, with the government expected to make an announcement about the UK’s future emissions cuts at the COP29 climate summit in Baku next month. Countries are due to submit a new round of “nationally determined contributions”, or climate plans for up to 2035 to…