Tax and spending

From hormone-treated beef to tech taxes: what’s at stake in UK-US trade talks?

Ministers are considering how to secure an agreement that might exempt Britain from Trump’s tariffs

Eleni Courea Political correspondent

03, Apr, 2025 @2:45 PM

Reeves defends Labour’s £40bn tax rise as businesses prepare for NICs hike

Chancellor says autumn budget enabled £25bn of extra investment into NHS and shorter waiting lists

Heather Stewart Economics editor

02, Apr, 2025 @11:03 PM

Starmer offers big US tech firms tax cuts in return for lower Trump tariffs

Exclusive: UK willing to placate Trump with lower digital services tax rate also encompassing non-US companies

Pippa Crerar, Heather Stewart and Richard Partington

01, Apr, 2025 @11:05 PM

VAT on private school fees is discriminatory, high court told

Legal action claims policy breaches rights of children with SEN whose requirements cannot be met by UK state schools

Richard Adams Education editor

01, Apr, 2025 @7:03 PM

Trumpism is sinking democratic values. It’s Starmer’s job to steer the UK back to safety | Polly Toynbee

US tariffs hit this week just as other costs start to bite in Britain. To meet these challenges, Labour will finally have to change, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee

Polly Toynbee

01, Apr, 2025 @5:00 AM

‘It’s relentless’: Britons react to April bill rises amid Labour’s benefit cuts

Increases in council tax, energy and water come less than week after Rachel Reeves revealed raft of cuts to welfare

Jem Bartholomew

01, Apr, 2025 @4:00 AM

Prosecution of people who help clients evade tax in UK falls by 75% in five years

Fewer than five criminal cases were brought against those who aid tax dodgers in 2023-24, down from 16 in 2018-19

Edward Siddonsand Jon Ungoed-Thomas

30, Mar, 2025 @7:00 AM

Keir Starmer urged to get tough with Trump as US tariff threat looms

PM told to be as robust as Canada with the US president as the UK stages last-ditch talks to strike trade deal

Toby Helm Political editor

29, Mar, 2025 @7:20 PM

The Observer view on the spring statement: Rachel Reeves balanced the books – but at whose expense? | Observer editorial

Here was a successful economic strategy in the making, marred by its abdication of responsibility to some of society’s weakest

Observer editorial

29, Mar, 2025 @6:00 PM

From more tax to rewriting budget rules: six alternative ways Rachel Reeves could raise money

The chancellor has been slated by politicians, the public and campaigners for pushing ahead with brutal welfare cuts – but there were other options

Phillip Inman Economics editor

29, Mar, 2025 @3:00 PM

How has fascism in Britain got this far? Neoliberalism has opened the door for it | George Monbiot

We need a new politics of belonging, not Labour’s craven appeasement of capital, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

George Monbiot

28, Mar, 2025 @12:00 PM

Keir Starmer is one of Labour’s most rightwing prime ministers. And one of its most leftwing, too | Andy Beckett

The PM offers a political hybrid designed for a fickle electorate. There are short-term electoral gains to be won, but risks in the long term, says Guardian columnist Andy Beckett

Andy Beckett

28, Mar, 2025 @6:00 AM