Friday newspaper round-up: Bank tax, package shipments, winter fuel raid
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Friday 29 Aug 2025
(Sharecast News) - Rachel Reeves should levy a new bank tax and urge the Bank of England to halt bond sales to reduce the government's £22bn-a-year losses from quantitative easing, the IPPR thinktank has argued. In a report called Fixing the Leak, the IPPR's associate director for economic policy, Carsten Jung, says the Treasury should rein in the costs of QE as public finances are tight. - Guardian
The US tariff exemption for package shipments valued under $800 officially ended on Friday, raising costs and disrupting supply chain models for a range of businesses, with Trump administration officials saying the change would be permanent. There is now a six-month transition period under which postal service shippers can opt to pay a flat duty of $80-$200 per package depending on the country of origin, the officials added. - Guardian
Rachel Reeves's about-turn on her winter fuel raid means the Government will save £1.3bn less than planned after a surge in pension credit claims. The Chancellor and Sir Keir Starmer were forced to reverse their pledge to scrap the winter fuel payment for most pensioners in June following a Labour backbench rebellion. - Telegraph
Billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe has sold his leather jacket brand Belstaff in a fresh retreat for his sprawling Ineos empire. On Thursday, the chemicals mogul unveiled a deal to offload the motorcycle fashion group to the sportswear brand Castore for an undisclosed sum. As part of the deal, Ineos will take a minority stake in Castore, which supplies the England cricket squad as well as the England rugby team. - Telegraph
One of Australia's biggest banks has offered counselling to some of its staff after they discovered they were losing their jobs when the lender accidentally emailed them to ask them to hand back their laptops. The blunder at ANZ occurred when an automated email - which included their exit date - was mistakenly sent to affected employees before they had been informed they were being made redundant. - The Times
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