But speculation is swirling about a potential challenge to Starmer’s leadership from within his party, and analysts say a misfiring budget could add to the sense of crisis within the government. Then, the entire fiscal forecast from the independent watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), including details of the budget’s main measures, was published online half an hour before Reeves’ statement. Reeves also abolished a much-hated cap on benefits paid out to families with more than two children. She also announced measures to ease the financial pressure on households, by freezing rail fares and cutting levies on household energy bills. But the chaos that has engulfed the government during weeks of mixed messaging and political infighting continued up to the final moment.
- These tensions relaxed somewhat during the late 20th century, when devolved assemblies were introduced in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
- Throughout this month, workers across various industry sectors were involved in industrial disputes, such as nurses, train drivers, and driving instructors.
- The most important key figures provide you with a compact summary of the topic of “The UK economy” and take you straight to the corresponding statistics.
- Other measures included a mansion tax, changes to the capital gains tax regime, higher gambling taxes, a new levy on electric car use and a cut to tax-free provisions for private pensions.
Money and tax
The entire contents of the budget were leaked half an hour before Treasury chief Rachel Reeves delivered the budget statement in the House of Commons. Prof Peter Murphy says working together would give the islands more influence in negotiations. The possibility of redesigning the Union Flag to include representation of Wales was discussed in 2007.541 The national anthem of the United Kingdom is “God Save the King”, with “King” replaced with “Queen” in the lyrics whenever the monarch is a woman. The UK has many gastropubs and is the birthplace of many alcoholic drinks including several beer styles such as pale ale, India pale ale, bitter, brown ale, porter, and stout. The number of craft beers and microbreweries has expanded rapidly in the last two decades.512 Other popular alcoholic drinks produced in the UK include Scotch whisky, English wine, gin, perry and cider.
Wales, a congeries of Celtic kingdoms lying in Great Britain’s southwest, was formally united with England by the Acts of Union of 1536 and 1542. Scotland, ruled from London since 1603, formally was joined with England and Wales in 1707 to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain. (The adjective “British” came into use at this time to refer to all the kingdom’s peoples.) Ireland came under English control during the 1600s and was formally united with Great Britain through the Act of Union of 1800. The republic of Ireland gained its independence in 1922, but six of Ulster’s nine counties remained part of the United Kingdom as Northern Ireland.
Watch: ‘Mind-blowing’ – BBC correspondents react as OBR releases Budget details early
Hitting fiscal targets, such as reducing the national debt, will require a careful balancing of the books from the current government, and the possibility for either spending cuts or tax rises. Although Labour ruled out raising the main government tax sources, Income Tax, National Insurance, and VAT, at the 2024 election, they did raise National Insurance for employers (rather than employees) and also cut Winter Fuel allowances for large numbers of pensioners. Less than a year after implementing cuts to Winter Fuel, the government performed a U-Turn on the issue, and will make it widely available by the winter of 2025. The archipelago formed by Great Britain and the numerous smaller islands is as irregular in shape as it is diverse in geology and landscape.
Discover annual events
The most important key figures provide you with a compact summary of the topic of “The UK economy” and take you straight to the corresponding statistics. Unsurprisingly, the heat wave that spread across the British Isles in 2018 non gamstop casinos was the result of particularly sunny weather. This was more hours of sun than was recorded in July 2024, which only saw 5.8 hours of sun.
While the retail price index is still a popular method of calculating inflation, the consumer price index (CPI) is the current main measurement of inflation in the UK. There is also an additional price index, which includes some extra housing costs, known as the Consumer Price Index including homer occupiers’ costs (CPIH) index, which is seen by the UK’s Office of National Statistics as the official inflation rate. As of December 2024, the CPI inflation rate stood at 2.5 percent, while the CPIH rate was 3.5 percent. Since 1999 Wales has had a devolved national government and legislature, known as the Senedd. It has more limited powers than those devolved to Scotland.224 The Senedd can legislate on any matter not specifically reserved to the UK Parliament by Acts of Senedd Cymru.