#howard-davies

#howard-davies

Sanjay Raja, the chief UK economist at Deutsche Bank, stated, 'The UK's disinflation story is set for another twist. The good news is that the CPI is expected to fall in the coming months. The bad news? Higher energy prices appear likely to significantly raise the CPI during the summer, creating yet another spike in the inflation trajectory.'

Rachel Reeves told MPs that living standards are expected to improve over the course of this parliament. Her central claim was that households would be around £1,000 a year better off by the time voters next go to the polls. The projection is based on forecasts for real household disposable income - a measure that tracks the amount people have left after tax and inflation.

In principle, all the departments are supportive of the Shared Services Strategy. However, HM Treasury and the Department for Education (DfE), who currently have modern ERPs and are both in the Matrix cluster, have indicated they would welcome more information through the business case about likely costs for them before they assess that onboarding is feasible and value for money.

Stubborn inflation, consistently constrained access to finance, and a recent Budget that hasn't quelled concerns about rising rates, taxation and employee costs are encouraging more SMEs than ever to reassess how they manage their cash reserves and get the most from them. In the 12 months to 30 November 2025, total cash directly deposited by UK SMEs onto Flagstone, the UK's largest savings platform, increased by 77%, from £1.6 billion to £2.9 billion.

The rockstar banker was a fixture at summits, where he spoke beside business leaders and the political elite, espousing the values of international cooperation and the need for open economies and shared rules. But after less than a year as prime minister of Canada, Carney offered a blunter assessment of the world on Tuesday: the strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.

Money expert Martin Lewis has met with Kemi Badenoch to discuss student loans following their clash over the issue on live TV. The government is under increasing pressure to reform Britain's student loan system, which has left scores of graduates with sky-high debts. Earlier this week, while setting out her pledge to slash the interest rate on the loans if elected on Good Morning Britain, Ms Badenoch was ambushed by Mr Lewis, who interjected to criticise her policy.

Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

Quizzed on whether the proposal, first outlined in Reform UK's 2024 manifesto, remained party policy, Farage replied bluntly: "We are going to do it." "Some of the banks won't like it," he added. "Well, I don't like the banks very much because they debanked me, didn't they? This will be tough for banks to accept, but the drain on public finances is just too great."

The economy continued to grow slowly in the last three months of the year, with the growth rate unchanged from the previous quarter. The often-dominant services sector showed no growth, with the main driver instead coming from manufacturing. Construction, meanwhile, registered its worst performance in more than four years. The rate of growth across 2025 as a whole was up slightly on the previous year, with growth seen in all main sectors.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground.