Uncertainty is the greatest enemy of economic confidence and growth as Labour should have learned by now.
The lengthy build-ups to Rachel Reeves’ two full Budgets in October 2024 and November 2025 were disastrous for business.
The endless speculation about targets for new revenue saw companies holding fire on investment, entrepreneurs fleeing the country and consumers nervy about spending. But the Chancellor never learns.
Speeding up the timetable for an end to the ‘de minimis’ exemption to VAT for small parcels entering the UK by bringing it forward to October 2028 is hailed by the Treasury as a boost to British retailers.
The opposite is true. It advantages Chinese interlopers Shein and Temu for another two years and punishes ‘no-frills’ UK High Street stalwarts. Primark boss George Weston labels it ‘dispiriting’.
