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UK's Labour to increase taxes on online retailers to help high street retailers

The News Groove reported according to Reuters, Britain’s opposition Labour Party would impose higher taxes on online retailers to fund tax relief for bricks and mortar businesses, the party’s would-be finance minister Rachel Reeves will say on Monday, an advance copy of her speech shows.
According to the report, Britain is not due to head to the polls until 2024 at the latest, but the opposition Labour Party is using its annual conference to present plans it hopes will win back traditional voters lost to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservatives.
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen the centre-right government spend hundreds of billions of pounds to prop up the economy, racking up debts that may take generations to pay off.

But polls show the crisis has made higher public spending more acceptable to voters, giving the left-leaning Labour Party a political opportunity to present itself as fiscally responsible without having to resort to spending cuts.
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Reeves’ keynote address at the party conference in Brighton, southern England, will contain proposals for a freeze on the property-linked taxes that traditional businesses pay, funded by a temporary rise in a digital services tax aimed at online giants.
If in power, Labour said the digital services tax should rise to 12% from 2% in 2022/23 before being replaced by a global system of minimum taxes, which has already been agreed internationally.
The government has repeatedly set out its own plans to reform business rates, which are calculated based on the value of properties and seen as unfairly targetting retail and hospitality firms with high-value real estate.
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Labour said it would go further by eventually abolishing the system and replacing it with a fairer scheme.
Reeves has also outlined a new set of fiscal rules and said that the wealthy – including landlords and shareholders – should bear more of the burden of paying for government spending.
Source: newsgroove
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BENEFIT Sponsors BuildHer...
- April 23, 2025
BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi, commented: “Our support for this educational hackathon reflects our long-term strategic vision to nurture the talents of emerging national youth and empower the next generation of accomplished female leaders in technology. By fostering creativity and innovation, we aim to contribute meaningfully to Bahrain’s comprehensive development goals and align with the aspirations outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030—an ambition in which BENEFIT plays a central role.”
Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
For his part, Dr. Humam ElAgha, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University, said: “BuildHer CityHack 2025 embodies our hands-on approach to education. By tackling real-world problems through creative thinking and sustainable solutions, we're preparing women to thrive in the knowledge economy – a cornerstone of the University's vision.”
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