News about Jeremy Hunt

City grandee Stuart Chambers is under fire as yet another British business he leads is at risk of being sold off to a foreign predator. Mining giant Anglo was forced to defend the record of Chambers, its chairman, after it received a £31 billion bid from rival BHP. Chambers - who has presided over the sale of a string of blue chip companies - rejected BHP's all-share offer to create the world's biggest copper miner.

Let's not pretend, though, that it is new. Nor should we delude ourselves into believing that it's ­anything like enough. Rishi may have woken up to the threats encircling us, and we should be glad about that. The fact remains that, for all the hoopla surrounding his speech, the Government has merely re-embraced a commitment made nearly two years ago by Boris, since when the storm clouds have continued to darken.

Serica Energy chairman David Latin accused politicians of a 'race to the bottom' to extract more money in the short-term despite it causing long-term damage to production and making Britain more dependent on imports. The windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas profits was first imposed in 2022 after a jump in energy prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Earlier this year, it was extended to 2029 by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

The Government first promised to send Channel migrants to Rwanda as part of a 'world-leading' partnership with the African country more than two years ago. But, despite being backed by all three Tory PMs who have occupied Downing Street since 2022, the multi-million pound scheme is still yet to get off the ground. It has been bogged down in legal challenges and parliamentary wrangling, with plenty of Westminster drama along the way. Here's the full story of the Rwanda ordeal for ministers...

Sir Keir Starmer and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves kicked off an advertising blitz aimed at undermining the Prime Minister's ambition to wipe out the 'double tax' on incomes. Jeremy Hunt has slashed National Insurance by a third in the past six months, delivering a tax cut worth £900 a year to the average worker. At the Budget in March, Jeremy Hunt signalled a 'long-term ambition' to abolish the tax altogether. Labour initially supported the cuts but has changed tack after private polling revealed some older voters are concerned about how the plan will be funded.

The top brass at Royal Mail owner International Distributions Services are understood to be in regular discussions about the approach from billionaire Daniel Kretinsky and have been holding talks with shareholders. IDS will be keen to canvas the opinion of other investors ahead of any further offers. Talks about the bid will continue after one of the top shareholders, Redwheel, broke cover over the weekend to oppose the offer.

Mr Hunt has previously hinted there could be a further 'fiscal event' before voters go to the polls in an effort to underline the Conservatives ' tax-cutting credentials.The threshold increase is believed to be costed at around £3 billion per year by the end of the decade and would mean around half of people buying a house would no longer need to pay stamp duty. Michael Gove, the levelling-up secretary, has in the past repeatedly pressed Hunt and Sunak to make a 'bold offer' on housing. He supports cuts to stamp duty to help for first-time buyers as part of a package to win round voters.

The main focus for the Western democracies at this Spring's finance gathering has been Ukraine in spite of the conflagration in the Middle-East. The worry for the UK and Europe is that, unless new resources are released, Ukraine's struggle with the Russian bear will become even harder. Failure would make the prospect of freeing up large-scale American military assistance, currently bogged down on Capitol Hill, more difficult.

As analysts suggested tycoon Daniel Kretinsky would have to raise his bid for the postal group to over £4bn, Jeremy Hunt (pictured) said there were 'lessons' to be learned from the tangled mess at Thames Water. The Treasury is currently grappling with efforts to rescue Thames Water, which has 16m customers in southern England and is struggling under the weight of an £18bn debt pile.

I'm not afraid of anyone- with one exception. Tax inspectors. Here's why I've lost sleep, developed eczema, and been forced to pay out thousands of pounds to financial advisors. All thanks to HMRC. The nightmare started when a letter arrived out of the blue four years ago claiming I had underpaid my taxes every year back to 2014. I was ordered to produce every receipt, record of payment, and contract my company had received since then, to answer over 50 questions at a time (only about my appearances on Loose Women ) about how I work and my daily routine. It took days to answer them all, and then I received another list. The questions ranged from 'who tells you what to say?' to 'how do you prepare?' They asked about what I wore and how I travelled to and from work. Providing all this information has been an enormous task - as a freelance journalist, broadcaster and media performer, I work for dozens of different organisations in a single year. But the tax people only wanted to know about Loose Women!

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt (left) lives with his family in the same flat above No11 that was inhabited by Liz Truss (right) during her brief spell as PM. In her book 10 Years To Save The West, Ms Truss said the accommodation added to her woes because it was 'infested with fleas' and had to be sprayed. She said she 'spent weeks itching', suggesting Boris Johnson 's dog Dilyn (inset) might have been to blame, although 'there was no conclusive evidence'. Speaking at the IMF in Washington overnight, Mr Hunt said he had taken more radical action to address the situation.

The International Monetary Fund faced a backlash yesterday after warning Jeremy Hunt (pictured) that his tax cuts were likely to push up debt. It took aim at the Chancellor's recent two percentage point cut in National Insurance contributions, costing £9billion a year. In a report, the IMF said the cut could 'worsen the debt trajectory in the medium term' - meaning the Chancellor would fail to meet the Government's own target for cutting debt. Mr Hunt went ahead with the reduction in NIC at last month's Budget despite a previous intervention from the Fund earlier this year.

Across the UK, private rents increased by an estimated 9.2 per cent in the 12 months to March, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. This is up from 9 per cent in the 12 months to February - marking the highest annual increase since the UK data started in January 2015. The massive increase in rental costs comes at the same time as a fall in the cost of buying appears to be slowing.

The headline CPI rate fell to 3.2 per cent in March, down from 3.4 per cent the previous month and driven largely by easing food prices. It was last lower in September 2021 - although analysts had pencilled in a bigger dip to 3.1 per cent. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt insisted the official figures showed the 'plan is working' and people will 'start to feel the difference'. The numbers were revealed after Andrew Bailey hinted that the Bank of England could start cutting interest rates before the US Federal Reserve.

GDP in the UK will grow just 0.5 per cent in 2024, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts. But despite this, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt believes 'the UK economy is turning a corner'. The IMF analysis also shows the UK and other advanced economies have seen their workforces boosted by 'increased inflows of migrants.' Its analysis showed that the foreign-born workforce had grown by around 20 per cent since the start of 2019, whereas the UK-born labour force had slightly shrunk over the same period.

The Chancellor has warned that Angela Rayner's planned reform of workers' rights could jeopardise rising living standards. Jeremy Hunt's comments came as official figures show that in real terms - after accounting for inflation - wages are growing at the strongest pace since 2021. The Chancellor said the wage figures, as well as growth in employment numbers, showed 'significant progress'.

Jeremy Hunt is being urged to give incentives to retrofit improvements including to insulation to improve the UK housing stock, which has been called the leakiest in Europe. It comes as other methods of getting people to make their homes falter. The Great British Insulation Scheme, which helps with the cost of improving heat retention in homes, will take decades to hit its target at its current rate of take-up. Green Tories are now urging the Chancellor to take a Tory approach to getting landlords to improve the homes they rent out. Former deputy prime minister Damian Green said: 'While the price of gas is now falling, improving energy efficiency is the only way to guarantee lower household bills permanently - by reducing the amount of gas we need to burn to stay warm.'

With the re-selection of Kristalina Georgieva (pictured), Europe continues to dominate the choice of who is in the top job at the International Monetary Fund. Efforts to topple her over alleged manipulation of data about China, in a previous job at the World Bank, proved unsuccessful.

The most profitable locations in Britain for holiday lets have been revealed - and the majority are not located anywhere near a beach. Staycation favourite Cornwall is top of the rankings, with an average price per night of £84 for a room and £117 for a whole house. However, the rest of the list is made up of inner-city areas.

Gross domestic product grew again in February, the Office for National Statistics said, while it also upgraded previously released figures for January. Gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated to rise 0.1 per cent in February, according to the official statisticians. They also revised the previous estimate for January from 0.2 per cent to 0.3 per cent growth. However, the good news has been tempered by suggestions the Bank of England will not begin to cut interest rates - reducing the cost of mortgages - in May as previously hoped. It is also thought they will not fall as far as previously hoped.

The Bank of England is now expected to lower rates from the current 16-year high of 5.25%, to 4.75% by Christmas, with the first move not coming until August or September. Prime Minister Sunak (pictured) and Jeremy Hunt were hoping that lower inflation would lead to interest rate cuts in the UK this year.

I campaigned for Parliament in Hazel Grove, a North West constituency now clearly on the map thanks to one – William Wragg. He's the infamous 'honeytrap' MP at the forefront of a sexting scandal who posted pictures of his private parts with an anonymous individual he encountered on the gay dating website Grindr. If you do. Oh, and he then gave over the personal phone numbers of several MPs, Westminster workers, and journalists, fearing that his newfound Grindr pals would be exposed.

As an 8.5 percent increase in the state pension comes into place, a 'good generation' of retirees is getting a boost of at least £692 a year from today. Payments for those on the full basic state pension will increase by £13.30 a week to £169.50, taking the total amount up by £692 to around £8,800 a year. Many on the full state pension will see their payments rise by £17.35 a week to £221.20, bringing the total bill up by £902 to about £11,500 per year. However, pensioners have been warned that Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt's'stealth' taxes will wipe out more than three-quarters of their pensions increase. Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor were accused of delivering a 'bolt cutter' to the state pension pledge.

Rishi Sunak has been warned that if you lose your own seat in the general election as a result of a Tory wipeout exacerbated by a tactical voting campaign. According to a recent national referendum, the Prime Minister was expected to hold his Richmond and Northallerton constituency by just two percent. However, a recent report showed precisely the same number of people in Mr Sunak's seat said that they would vote tactically to save or oust his government (37.1 percent). According to the Best for Britain campaign's study, other top Conservatives were also in danger of losing their seats as a result of tactical voting. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, Housing Secretary Michael Gove, former Prime Minister Lix Truss, and former home secretary Suella Braverman were among those named. Campaigners said tactical voting 'holds the key' to delivening the Tories' 'earth-shattering defeat' and pulling the party 'out of office for the next decade.'