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Editorial 26.11.24


Tuesday’s headlines report on a mix of domestic news and politics. Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered a speech to business leaders yesterday in which she promised no more tax rises amid backlash over her October Budget. By 2026, the public can expect to endure more public spending cuts.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed he will not leave young people behind in his bid to get more people into work. The Premier League and other cultural and sporting institutions in Britain have joined the government scheme to get the jobless back into work or education. 

Only a handful of front pages have any meaningful coverage of international news, with the capture of a British soldier by Russia covered on one and reports Israel and Lebanon are edging closer to a ceasefire on another. 

Elsewhere, showbiz stories fill the rest of the space on the front page with the latest from Strictly Come Dancing, the upcoming Spoty Awards and Kate Moss. 

The Premier League dominates the back pages with Liverpool’s Mo Salah suggesting he is closer to leaving the North England club than he is to staying as he has yet to be offered a new contract by the Reds. 


‘Defiant chancellor says no more tax rises’


‘Chancellor tells businesses she won’t come back for more as she sees off business revolt,’ says the Mail.

The Daily Mail says that the chancellor told the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference that she was “not going to have to come back for more” as she, according to the paper, attempted to head off a “growing business revolt over her £40 billion ‘tax-bomb’ Budget”. CBI chairman Rupert Soames said businesses had been treated as a “cash cow” to be “milked”. 

‘Business leaders have turned on Reeves but the defiant chancellor says her budget is good for growth,’ says The Telegraph.

The Telegraph leads with the same story. The paper says business leaders have “turned” on Reeves as a “string of executives warn that Britain is becoming a less attractive place to invest under Labour.” During her address to the CBI conference, the chancellor said her October Budget was “good for jobs and good for growth,” the paper adds. 

‘CBI boss said the measures make it harder for firms to hire new people,’ says The Independent.

The Independent reports that the CBI boss has said the chancellor’s measures will make it harder for firms to ‘take a chance’ on hiring new people. The paper says a CEO food giant has accused the chancellor of making Britain ‘uninvestable’. 

‘Public services face another four years of tight budgets,’ the i says.

The i newspaper picks up on the chancellor’s pledge to not put taxes up again for the duration of this parliament, which will see public services face another four years of “tight budgets.” 


‘Premier League joins govt scheme’


‘Starmer promises overhaul in plans to get people back to work,’ says The Times.

The Times reports the prime minister has said that Britain “simply isn’t working” and bosses must “get better at keeping the long-term sick in their jobs.’ Starmer has promised an “overhaul” of job centres and the NHS will get more staff sent to areas with the highest rates of “worklessness” under plans to deal with unemployment and a “growing sickness crisis.” 

‘Premier League joins scheme to give teenagers skills training,’ says The Guardian.

The Guardian says teenagers will get skills training at the Premier League, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Channel Four as part of a government drive to get hundreds of thousands into jobs or education. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told the paper: “Almost 1 million young people are neither earning nor learning.”

‘Labour’s plan to get people back to work does not include crackdown on sickness benefits,’ says the Telegraph.

The Daily Telegraph reports that Labour is to unveil a plan to get people back to work, that does not include a “crackdown” on sickness benefits – another “blow to business” according to the paper. 

‘PM pledges to make spiking a specific criminal offence,’ says the Metro.

The Metro leads on another pledge from the prime minister, this one regarding his promise to make spiking a specific criminal offence, so when it’s reported the police will “take cases more seriously.” The PM says venue staff would get training, with a pilot scheme starting before Christmas, followed by a UK roll-out from March, the paper notes.

Sarah Wilkinson
Sarah Wilkinson@swilkinsonbc
Strong winds and heavy rain in Gaza are sweeping through the tents of displaced families already facing hardship, making life even more difficult
Carol Voderman
Carol Voderman@carolvorders
PM to meet police and hospitality bosses over spiking Labour to bring in a new specific law to curb the epidemic of drink spiking It's time We covered this many times on my radio show Horrific stories against both women and men
Zarah Sultana
Zarah Sultana@ZarahSultana
REPOSTED: "Just incredibly bleak that when a Labour government is finally in power, disabled people still have to wake up to front pages calling them a blight on society."

Don’t expect Budget rethink, Rachel Reeves implies

Rachel Reeves has implied she won’t rethink her Budget measures in the wake of backlash from business, saying: “We’ve made our decisions.”

The Chancellor appeared at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI)’s annual conference on Monday in a fireside chat with Keith Anderson, the chief executive of Scottish Power.

She was asked by ITV about the “unintended consequences” of her fiscal event, and whether she would “rethink any of the measures that you’ve announced?”

Reeves said: “It’s really important that the sums add up, and I’m determined to be the Chancellor that puts our public finances on a firm footing after all the instability that we’ve faced these last few years.

https://www.cityam.com/weve-made-our-decisions-dont-expect-budget-rethink-reeves-implies/

Consumer confidence in the economy dips following Budget

Consumer confidence in the health of the economy dipped in November, a new survey shows, as the Budget failed to allay households’ economic fears.

The British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) sentiment monitor showed that consumers’ confidence in the economy fell back to -19 in November, down two points from October.

The reading confirms that households’ optimism in the economy remained relatively depressed throughout the autumn, having improved significantly earlier in the year. In July, following Labour’s election, the reading briefly strayed into positive territory.

https://www.cityam.com/consumer-confidence-in-the-economy-dips-following-budget/

Employer national insurance raid could lead to 130,000 jobs being slashed

The government’s hike to employers’ national insurance could cost as many as 130,000 jobs, according to new research.

Analysis from Bloomberg Economics suggests that up to 130,000 jobs could be lost if firms responded to the tax hike primarily by cutting employment.

This would amount to a 0.4 percentage point increase in unemployment, and would likely encourage the Bank of England to cut interest rates faster than markets anticipate.

The analysts did not think this was the most likely outcome, suggesting that the cost of higher taxes would likely be distributed more evenly across wages, margins and prices.

Employer national insurance raid could lead to 130,000 jobs being slashed



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