Who is likely to be affected Owners of cars, vans, motorcycles and holders of motorcycle trade licences who will be liable for Vehicle Excise Duty from 1 April 2025. General description of the measure This measure will uprate the Vehicle Excise Duty standard rates for cars, vans, motorcycles and motorcycle trade licences (excluding the first-year rates for cars) by the Retail Price Index, and will reflect the inclusion of zero-emission vehicles in Vehicle Excise Duty from 1 April 2025.
Tracked machines, drones and robot dogs are among the suite of tools defence scientists are working on with pioneers from industry and academia. A ‘golf bag' of robotics and autonomy could soon be protecting lives by replacing people in dangerous situations where there are chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear threats.
Lord Willetts to lead the Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO) to bring high-growth innovations from AI in healthcare to engineering biology to market quickly and safely, crucial to Plan for Change growth mission. The new Chair joined Science Minister Lord Vallance at Guy's Hospital to see how drones are speeding up NHS deliveries of urgent blood samples, helping patients get the care they deserve faster whilst building an NHS fit for the future.
The Fraser of Allender has very good explanatory podast about the Barnet Formula that Scottish Government relies on for money from the UK Government. If you've ever heard us talking about Barnett consequentials and wanted to know more - this is the episode for you!.
Former central banker Mark Carney won the race to become leader of Canada's ruling Liberal Party and will succeed Justin Trudeau as prime minister. Canadians have shrewdly appointed someone who was not a politician but a banker who knows economics and how to apply it to take on Trump.
It's long been a US Republican dream to get rid of the IRS - the US federal tax authority. Now the goal is within their sights – and they want to starve the US government of funds, whatever the consequences might be.
Government overhauls funding for AI and Digital Projects to save taxpayer money and boost public services. New approach brings in a start-up mindset to testing the application and use of AI experiments on small budgets, and then building on proof of success.
A £4.3m investment for education was agreed in Highland Council's 2025/26 budget. This investment is a key indicator of change for Highland schools, its 31,000 pupils and their 2,000+ teachers and support staff that will further consolidate the Council's on-going path to improvement.
The Government must focus on all three drivers of incapacity and disability benefit spending - entrances, entitlements and exits - if its reforms are to stem rising spending and boost living standards by getting more people back into work. This is according to new research published on Thursday by the Resolution Foundation.
Low-paid workers are the least likely to receive sick pay, most affected by a lack unfair dismissal protection, and are more than ten times as likely to be on a zero-hours contract than high earners. They are most likely to benefit from the new provisions laid out in the Government Employment Rights Reform Bill, the Resolution Foundation said.
Civil servants who deliver a huge range of services in al countries seem to be at the forefront for governments wanting to balance their budgets. Who first comes to mind for some people are remote mandarins on fat cat salaries.
This report uses a newly available dataset - payroll data held by HM Revenue and Customs on over 250,000 working-age people covering April 2014 to March 2019 - to look at monthly and weekly volatility in employee pre-tax earnings. It is one of a very few UK studies to look at high-frequency earnings volatility on a large scale, and the first do so on a sample that is representative of the population of employees in the UK.
Starmer has to make a choice: his ‘policy' is unsustainable Posted on March 9 2025. Right across the political spectrum there is a consensus that Keir Starmer has to make a decision on which side he will support in the rapidly opening split between Donald Trump's USA and the European Union.
More dangerous criminals will be taken off the streets thanks to a 700-place expansion which will turn a Suffolk jail into the UK's largest public sector prison. three new houseblocks to be built at HMP Highpoint in Suffolk by summer 2027 key milestone in efforts to deliver 14,000 extra prison places nationwide by 2031 part of Government's Plan for Change to create safer streets The three new, four-storey houseblocks at HMP Highpoint will boost its capacity by more than 50 percent- and is the latest step in Government action to create safer streets.
Are we on our way to more tax rises on 26 March when Rachel Reeves makes statement in her so called Spring Forecast - a budget by another name maybe. The Institute for Fiscal Studies sets out the possibilities one of which is being mentioned across the media.
Fraser of Allender looks at possible changes to the benefits system where the amount of pay outs has been growing fast since the pandemic. We have heard this week that the UK Government Chancellor Rachel Reeves intends to make cuts to the welfare bill to bring UK Government borrowing down in line with her fiscal rules ahead of the next OBR forecasts due at the end of the month.
In a fast moving war is hard to keep up with the changes. Norways move to step in with the biggest finance package is amazing.
The first £752 million tranche of the UK's Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) loan to Ukraine has been transferred in demonstration of the UK's commitment to Ukrainian defence. UK has sent first third of its £2.26 billion loan to Ukraine for the country to spend on military equipment in its hour of need Chancellor Rachel Reeves visited RAF Northolt to meet with UK suppliers sending equipment to Ukraine.
Joint Statement by UK Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and Paul Patterson, Director, Fujitsu Services Ltd, on Horizon redress. Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds on Friday 7 March 2025 met chiefs for Fujitsu in Tokyo to begin talks over the cost of redress for victims of the Horizon Scandal.
Women are key to unlocking growth says Minister for Women and Equalities, as groundbreaking figures highlight women's untapped potential. UK economy could be boosted by up to £125 billion every year, as Minister for Women and Equalities sets out partnership with business on International Women's Day (8 March 2025).
