Financial news

• The Guardian view on tax and spend politics: dodging debate by fiddling with fiscal rules | Editorial

  20-10-2024 19:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Is there any point to self-imposed restraints if they’re often broken? The chancellor should adopt a more transparent approachThe former Labour chancellor Denis Healey famously quipped that the first law of politics is “when you’re in a hole, stop digging”. That advice might serve Rachel Reeves well as she prepares to present her first budget later this month. Leaks suggest the process isn’t going smoothly. Ms Reeves faces backlash from both sides: cabinet ministers
  
  Read more

• Ministers urged to increase basic rate of UK statutory sick pay

  20-10-2024 18:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Campaigners call on government to go further than current plans to prevent people off work slipping into povertyMinisters are under pressure to increase the basic rate of statutory sick pay (SSP) from £3 an hour for a full-time worker, amid concerns that hundreds of thousands of people a year are left without adequate financial support to pay essential bills while off work.The government will launch a consultation on Monday to coincide with the second reading of its employment rights bill,
  
  Read more

• Martin Lewis warns of online scam ‘wild west’ over fake Rachel Reeves ad

  20-10-2024 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Money expert urges Ofcom be given more powers as interview with chancellor used to trick people to share bank detailsMartin Lewis has warned of a “wild west” of online scams after criminals used a fake interview with Rachel Reeves to trick consumers into sharing their bank details before the budget.The Guardian spotted an online advert from an outfit calling itself “Quantum AI” designed to look like a BBC News article covering an interview with the UK chancellor. The adve
  
  Read more

• Degrowth has an image problem it desperately needs to overcome | Larry Elliott

  20-10-2024 12:58 via theguardian.com
  
  We need to deal with the climate effects of global capitalism the way we deal with inflation – by applying the brakesThe impact of the climate crisis is evident everywhere. Finance ministers meet in Washington DC this week for the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund in the wake of two devastating hurricanes in the US within a month. Parts of the Sahara have been flooded for the first time in half a century.Scientists attribute the growing number of extreme weather events to a
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• ‘If you pay more than £4, you’re being ripped off’: the fair price for 14 everyday items, from cleaning spray to olive oil

  20-10-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Everything seems so expensive these days – but how much should you pay for that bottle of wine, or pair of jeans? A panel of experts explains how to make good choices – and when you’re being fleecedFew of us can escape the feeling that our hard-earned cash doesn’t go as far as it used to. Thanks to a perfect storm of the pandemic and cost of living crisis, prices of many everyday luxuries have risen over the last few years. Whether it’s a flat white at a local coffe
  
  Read more

• Britain’s wealth gap is growing, its malign effects seep into all aspects of life. It’s a national disaster | Will Hutton

  20-10-2024 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Wealth distribution reeks of unfairness and poses as big a threat to the country’s wellbeing as climate changeBritain is a wealthy country, but the gap between our richest and poorest 10% is now, the US excepted, the highest in the developed world. Accelerating since the financial crisis, wealth inequality casts a shadow over all our lives, affecting health, housing, education, productivity, enterprise, the media and even the vitality of our democracy.It has reached the point, a Fairness F
  
  Read more

Follow @financialnwsUK on Twitter!