Andy Burnham should abolish national insurance, stamp duty, inheritance tax and the 45p top rate of income tax if he wants to revive Britain’s stalled growth, a right-leaning think tank has urged, in what would amount to the biggest shake-up of the UK tax system in generations.

Policy Exchange, in a report published on Tuesday, argues that the incoming prime minister should make cutting the UK’s tax burden, on course for a post-Second World War peak, one of his first economic priorities when he enters Downing Street next week.

For the millions of small firms writing a national insurance cheque every month, the most eye-catching recommendation is the last one. The think tank describes NI as “one of the most economically damaging features of the UK’s tax system” and wants it scrapped entirely, for employees and employers alike. That would wipe out at a stroke the levy behind the £28bn jump in employers’ NIC bills that has been blamed for redundancies and hiring freezes across the high street.

Family firms would also feel the difference. Alongside stamp duty, Policy Exchange wants inheritance tax gone altogether, a striking proposal at a time when tighter inheritance tax reliefs are already forcing family businesses to rethink succession plans rather than invest in growth.

The catch, and it is a substantial one, is the price tag. The think tank says the whole package should be funded by shrinking the state to 33 per cent of GDP. Under current plans, public spending is heading for 42.7 per cent of GDP by 2030-31, so the report is proposing a reduction in the size of government with little modern precedent.

Policy Exchange is careful to sequence the medicine. The first step would abolish the most “economically damaging distortions” in the system, including the withdrawal of tax allowances above certain earnings thresholds. These cliff edges can leave workers facing marginal rates of more than 100 per cent, meaning an employee can be better off turning down a pay rise, a quirk that will be familiar to any owner who has watched a valued manager decline extra hours.

Step two would scrap the 45p rate and inheritance tax while cutting spending to 41 per cent of GDP, protecting the planned rise in defence expenditure. Only then would national insurance go, funded by the full retrenchment to 33 per cent.

The staging is a tacit acknowledgement of the ghost at this particular feast: the September 2022 mini-budget, whose unfunded tax cuts triggered a gilt market crisis severe enough to require emergency intervention from the Bank of England. Policy Exchange argues that matching cuts in spending, introduced gradually, would avoid a repeat. The Truss package, by contrast, was barely offset at all and landed amid double-digit inflation forecasts.

Sir Sajid Javid, the former chancellor, lends the report his endorsement in a foreword. “The tax burden now stands at a 70-year high. More than that, the system’s structure has itself become a brake on growth. The most damaging examples of this do harm that is far out of proportion with the revenue they raise. Fix that, and we will begin to fix the economy,” he said.

Whether any of it lands with the incoming administration is another matter. Burnham has so far signalled only modest “room for movement” on tax, centred on rebalancing business rates towards online warehouses, while pledging fiscal discipline. With the tax take forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility to hit a post-war high, SME owners hoping for the full Policy Exchange programme should probably not hold their breath. But the report puts the size of the state, and who pays for it, squarely on the new prime minister’s desk.

Jamie Young

Jamie is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, bringing over a decade of experience in UK SME business reporting.
Jamie holds a degree in Business Administration and regularly participates in industry conferences and workshops.

When not reporting on the latest business developments, Jamie is passionate about mentoring up-and-coming journalists and entrepreneurs to inspire the next generation of business leaders.

Parent Ros de Carteret said it was harder for parents who both work and have less time on their hands.

She said: “My mum was a really good cook, we always had meat and vegetables, but she had the time to teach herself.

“We don’t have time to learn everyday cooking, and you go into the shops, and everything is pre-packed.”

De Carteret added: “Learning everyday cooking could also help families save money.”

Rebecca Silk, the centre’s operations manager, said the aim was to help people develop “real life skills” and inspire them to try new foods.

Guernsey’s Healthier Weight Strategy estimated more than 57% of adults in the bailiwick are overweight or obese, while it found almost a third of Year 5 children were living with excess weight.

The strategy identifies healthier eating as one of its priorities.

Follow BBC Guernsey on X, external and Facebook, external and Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk, external.

Tom Blomfield, the entrepreneur who built Monzo into Britain’s best-known digital bank, has been hired by Anthropic, the artificial intelligence group behind the Claude AI models, in the latest sign that the world’s leading AI labs are hoovering up Britain’s most ambitious business talent.

Blomfield, 40, said he would take a leave of absence from his role as a partner at Y Combinator, the American start-up investor behind Airbnb, Stripe and Coinbase, to join Anthropic’s compute team. Compute is the industry term for the hardware, software and data centre infrastructure required to train and run AI models.

Writing on X, Blomfield said: “Powerful AI has the potential to improve the life of every human on Earth and, as we enter the early stages of recursive self-improvement, availability of compute becomes one of the most important issues to solve. I’m excited to get started.”

He will work alongside Tom Brown, Anthropic’s co-founder and chief compute officer. The hire is a coup for Anthropic, which this year overtook OpenAI to become the world’s most valuable private AI business.

For UK business owners the move carries a familiar sting. Blomfield is one of the country’s most influential angel investors in early-stage companies, and his energy is now heading into an American lab rather than the British start-up scene.

It also underlines quite how fierce the battle for elite AI talent has become. Technology groups including Meta and Alphabet, and dedicated AI firms such as Anthropic and OpenAI, are competing aggressively for researchers as they race to build next-generation systems.

Last month Andrej Karpathy, the AI researcher who co-founded OpenAI, joined Anthropic to work on the “pre-training” that underpins AI model development. He was joined by John Jumper, the Nobel prize-winning scientist who co-created AlphaFold at Google DeepMind, the breakthrough AI that has predicted over 200 million protein structures. Days earlier, Noam Shazeer, a vice-president of engineering at Google and co-lead of its Gemini models, said he would leave to join OpenAI. Rishi Sunak, the former prime minister, joined Anthropic as an adviser last year.

The stakes are rising because both Anthropic and OpenAI are preparing for blockbuster flotations, with OpenAI already lining up a confidential IPO filing, at a time when concerns are growing about a valuation bubble.

Blomfield launched Monzo, now widely expected to be a flotation candidate, in 2015, having earlier co-founded GoCardless, the payments company that recently agreed a sale worth nearly £1bn. He left Monzo in 2021 and has spoken openly about the toll that running the bank through the pandemic took on his mental health.

His departure for Anthropic will revive an uncomfortable debate he has led before. Writing in The Times in 2024, he said: “Our national psyche doesn’t allow for the celebration of entrepreneurs, we are extremely risk-averse, and the huge majority of smart, technologically adept young people in the UK aspire to be lawyers or consultants or work in finance.”

When he joined Y Combinator in 2023 he said there were more opportunities for entrepreneurs in the United States, and that problems with the attractiveness of London’s public markets to technology businesses were “very real”. That critique still lands: ministers are now making direct investments to keep high-growth AI firms listing in London.

Blomfield has previously written that “technological progress truly offers a path to a better world for all of humanity”, while warning that “technological progress is accelerating very rapidly and I don’t think most people are prepared for that future”.

For Britain’s SMEs, the message is double-edged. The AI boom is minting opportunity at extraordinary speed, but the people best placed to build it, including the founder of the UK’s flagship fintech, keep choosing to build it somewhere else.

Jamie Young

Jamie is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, bringing over a decade of experience in UK SME business reporting.
Jamie holds a degree in Business Administration and regularly participates in industry conferences and workshops.

When not reporting on the latest business developments, Jamie is passionate about mentoring up-and-coming journalists and entrepreneurs to inspire the next generation of business leaders.

Shares of Freshpet climbed 8.19% Monday morning, trading at $58.01 as of 10:17 a.m. Eastern, adding to a volatile stretch for the fresh pet food maker that has seen its stock swing sharply throughout 2026 amid competing signals from Wall Street analysts about the company’s near-term prospects.

Monday’s gain builds on a stock that has spent much of the year well off its highs. Freshpet shares are trading roughly 33% to 39% below the company’s 52-week high of $85.50 to $86, reached earlier this year, and had fallen as low as $46.45 over the past 12 months. As of Freshpet’s most recent close before Friday’s session, shares stood around $54.25, meaning Monday’s move represents a meaningful rebound from levels the stock had settled into over recent weeks.

The pullback that preceded Monday’s gain has been driven in part by shifting analyst sentiment on the New Jersey-based pet food maker. Several firms trimmed their price targets on the stock earlier this year, including Wells Fargo, which lowered its target to $70 from $75 in early May while maintaining an “Overweight” rating, citing increased competitive pressure in the fresh pet food category. Stifel and Jefferies also lowered their price targets around the same period, with Jefferies cutting its target to $70 from $75 and Stifel reducing its target to $78 from $84, even as both firms maintained generally constructive ratings on the stock.

Despite that string of target reductions, not every analyst has turned cautious on Freshpet. Morgan Stanley described the stock’s pullback earlier this month as presenting an “attractive entry point” for investors, according to TipRanks. JPMorgan had previously upgraded the stock to Overweight from Neutral in May, arguing that Freshpet’s sales growth would continue to outpace its peers in the broader pet food category. Piper Sandler has also maintained a bullish stance on the stock, reiterating an “Overweight” rating and an $87 price target following a meeting with Freshpet Chief Financial Officer John O’Connor, in which the firm argued that concerns about competition facing the company were likely overstated. Piper Sandler pointed to Freshpet’s focused marketing and distribution strategy, along with new production technology still in its early stages of implementation, as factors it expects to support both continued sales growth and improved profit margins going forward.

That split in analyst opinion reflects a broader pattern of unusually high volatility in Freshpet shares over the past year. According to data compiled by StockStory, the stock has recorded 29 separate moves greater than 5% in either direction over the trailing 12 months, a pace of volatility that suggests investors remain deeply divided over how to value the company’s growth trajectory against its profitability challenges. Freshpet’s beta coefficient, a measure of a stock’s volatility relative to the broader market, stands at 1.40, according to TradingView data, indicating the shares tend to swing more sharply than the market as a whole.

Freshpet’s underlying financial performance has been similarly uneven. The company’s first-quarter 2026 results, reported May 6, showed earnings per share of 91 cents, compared with a loss of 26 cents in the prior-year period, alongside revenue guidance calling for 8% to 11% growth for the full year from a 2025 base of $1.1 billion, a figure that came in below the market’s consensus expectation of $1.2 billion at the time. More recently, the company’s trailing quarterly earnings missed analyst expectations by a wide margin, with reported earnings per share of negative 3 cents against a consensus estimate of 25 cents, according to figures compiled by TradingView, a shortfall of more than 100% relative to expectations.

Freshpet’s most significant earnings beat over the past year came roughly eight months ago, when the company reported third-quarter results that dramatically exceeded Wall Street’s profit expectations, with net sales rising 14% year over year to $288.8 million and earnings per share of $1.86, far surpassing the average analyst forecast of 42 cents. That outperformance was driven in large part by a one-time deferred tax benefit of $77.9 million, though the quarter also featured genuine operational improvement, including volume growth of 12.9% and an operating margin that improved to 8.6% from 4.7% in the same period a year earlier.

Freshpet, founded in 2004 by Scott Morris and Cathal Walsh and headquartered in Bedminster, New Jersey, manufactures, markets and distributes fresh pet food for dogs and cats across the United States, Canada and Europe, selling its products through a network of company-branded refrigerated units known as Freshpet Fridges, alongside traditional grocery, mass-market, club and pet specialty retail channels. The company holds a market capitalization of roughly $2.7 billion and trades at a price-to-earnings ratio in the range of 14 to 15, according to recent data, a relatively modest multiple compared with some other high-growth consumer packaged goods companies.

The stock’s longer-term trajectory has disappointed investors who bought in near its peak. Freshpet’s all-time high closing price stands at $184.82, reached in April 2021, meaning current share prices remain more than two-thirds below that level nearly five years later. Investors who put $1,000 into Freshpet shares five years ago would today be left with an investment worth roughly $349, according to StockStory’s analysis, underscoring the scale of the decline the stock has experienced since its pandemic-era peak.

As of Monday, the specific catalyst behind the stock’s 8.19% morning gain had not been clearly identified in available market commentary, though the move continues a pattern of sharp single-day swings that has characterized Freshpet’s trading throughout the year. The company’s next quarterly earnings report is scheduled for early August, a date investors are likely to watch closely for further clarity on whether recent operational improvements can offset the competitive and margin pressures that have weighed on analyst sentiment throughout much of 2026.

Five office blocks set to be built in Fishergate

The government is being urged to make a regional outpost of one of its biggest departments the centrepiece of a long-planned transformation of Preston city centre.

A vision for the regeneration of an area branded the ‘Station Quarter’ – based around the Fishergate Shopping Centre – was first unveiled back in 2022.

The first phase of the proposal – for which formal plans were submitted to Preston City Council last December – would see the creation of five office blocks on the current car park of the retail facility.

The buildings – between nine and 15 storeys tall – would offer the kind of ‘Grade A’ office space Preston is deemed to lack.

The aim is to attract public and private sector organisations to the development – both by bringing in new companies and government departments to Preston and retaining those already in the city, but currently based in other accommodation.

However, there was disappointment last year when Preston failed to appear on a list of 13 out-of-London locations to which thousands of civil servants are expected to be relocated by the end of the decade.

During a debate in Parliament last month about investment in Lancashire, Ribble Valley MP Maya Ellis – whose constituency covers northern Preston and parts of South Ribble near the city – asked the government whether it would “progress the office relocation requirements of His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) as an anchor tenant to bring forward a new office quarter around Preston station”.

Her question did not get a direct answer, but was one of several seemingly designed to put specific investment opportunities on the government’s radar.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands a broader lobbying operation is under way to try to secure government occupation of some of the proposed new Butler Street blocks opposite the railway station.

The LDRS approached HMRC and the Cabinet Office for comment about any plans for civil service relocations to – or within – Preston.

It is understood a long-term commitment made by HMRC in 2023 to having a base in Preston remains unchanged – but it is not known whether that might ultimately mean a move to the Station Quarter site, should that scheme go ahead.

Preston is also home to staff from the Department for Work and Pensions who were retained in the city in spite of the closure of that department’s previous Preston offices three years ago.

A spokesperson for Lancashire County Council said: “Preston Station Quarter is one of Lancashire’s most significant place-shaping regeneration opportunities, with strong potential to attract major employers and create high-quality jobs.

“We are working closely with partners including Preston City Council and the University of Lancashire with an economic ambition to deliver a long-term vision for the area, focused on high-quality office space, improved connectivity and a modern commercial environment that supports economic growth.

“We have consistently made the case for investment in Preston and the wider Lancashire economy, including the importance of attracting major public and private sector organisations to the area.”

To find all the planning applications, traffic diversions, road layout changes, alcohol licence applications and more in your community, visit the Public Notices Portal.

Southeast Asia faces surging energy demand due to industrialization, digitalization, and population growth. To ensure secure, affordable, and sustainable energy, the region is prioritizing a more integrated power system. Key initiatives include strengthening the ASEAN Power Grid for electricity trading and renewable integration, and exploring nuclear energy as a stable, low-carbon option. Collaborative efforts, facilitated by shared learning and financing mechanisms, are crucial for building resilient energy systems and achieving net-zero ambitions, showcasing a pragmatic approach to the energy transition in the Global South.

• Across Southeast Asia, energy demand is being driven by industrialization, digital expansion and population growth.
• Meeting rapidly growing demand while keeping energy secure, affordable and sustainable will require a more integrated power system.
• Countries in the region have already started to develop and collaborate on projects focussed on grid integration and nuclear energy.

Electricity demand across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is projected to double by 2050, according to the International Energy Agency, fuelled by rapid industrialization, digital expansion and fast-growing cities. But nearly 80% of the region’s energy still comes from fossil fuels, leaving economies exposed to volatile prices, supply disruptions and rising emissions.

Like many parts of the Global South, ASEAN must now work out how to meet this soaring demand while keeping energy affordable, reliable and aligned with net-zero ambitions. The answer lies in cooperation, not competition.

In an era of geopolitical uncertainty and fragmented institutions, ASEAN offers a counter-narrative: that regional cooperation still works. Collective action may take longer to align, but it delivers more scalable, resilient and impactful outcomes than isolated national strategies.

And as renewables scale, data-driven industries expand and transport electrifies, ASEAN energy systems are becoming far more interconnected and complex – making the case for a shared regional approach even stronger.

Setting ASEAN’s energy integration agenda

Meeting ASEAN’s rapidly growing energy demand while keeping power secure, affordable and sustainable requires deep regional cooperation and a more integrated power system. No single country can meet these needs alone – coordinated planning, shared investment and cross-border interconnection will be essential.

First, the ASEAN Power Grid (APG) links national power networks, enabling countries to trade electricity and integrate more renewable energy across borders. As demand grows, especially from data centres and energy-intensive industries, shared grids improve reliability and reduce the need for each country to build redundant infrastructure.

Second, the Civilian Nuclear Energy framework is exploring the role of nuclear power as a stable, low-carbon complement to intermittent renewables. Nuclear energy is gaining interest interest in ASEAN as a long-term solution for energy security, affordability and deep decarbonization. For countries that choose to explore it, regional dialogue helps ensure approaches are safe, coordinated, and aligned with global standards.

Together, these initiatives show how collective action and regional trust can make energy systems more secure, efficient and sustainable, reducing the risks and costs borne by individual nations.

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A redevelopment of St Martins Centre has been recommended for approval after the City of Perth backed the $240 million proposal.

The Metro Inner North Development Assessment Panel is scheduled to decide on St Martins Properties’ plan for the asset at 40-50 St Georges Terrace, at a meeting next week.

Kuwaiti government-owned St Martins Properties proposes to convert the three skyscrapers known as St Martins Centre into a 240-room hotel, with office and retail space.

In its report to the panel, the City of Perth recommended the application be approved subject to conditions including a four-year timeframe to substantially start construction.

“The proposed partial demolition and adaptive reuse of the existing buildings across the site for new and refurbished office, hotel and amenities, dining and retail uses will contribute to activation of the immediate locality especially St Georges Terrace and the Hay Street Mall on the weekends and nighttime,” the report read.

St Martins Centre is believed to be Perth CBD’s single largest landholding, comprising three office towers at 40, 44, and 50 St Georges Terrace, the arcade facing Hay Street mall and heritage assets, the McNess Royal Arcade and Bridal House.

The office towers are 13-storey, 14-storey and 34-storey high, with the tallest known as St Martins tower.

“The proposed adaptive reuse of the existing buildings including the McNess Royal Arcade and Bridal House will positively increase levels of activity and interest in the locality and add to the built form environment, which includes a number of recently conserved heritage listed properties, and positive sustainability benefits in the city,” the city’s report read.

“The design has been well considered, is of high quality and will positively contribute to the existing built form in the locality.”

The Kuwait government put the asset on the market but a sale to Melbourne-based Quintessential Equity fell through in 2023.

Former St Martins Centre anchor tenants that have recently relocated include Calibre, KordaMentha, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

The proposed redevelopment of St Martins Centre was designed by architecture firm Woods Bagot, with details unveiled earlier this year.