Ben Wilkinson

London

Head of Personal Finance at The Telegraph

Head of Money at The Telegraph. [email protected]

Articles

Our pensions are no longer in safe hands

1 week ago | telegraph.co.uk | Ben Wilkinson

The most unpalatable suggestion is stripping workers of both income tax and National Insurance relief on contributions. This would be nothing short of theft given retirees are now paying record amounts of income tax on their pensions and at record rates. Also this week, Reeves pushed ahead with plans to steer pension funds into investing a proportion of their holdings into British companies, with ministers wanting the power to force funds to comply if necessary.
Rayner’s pensions plot proves she shouldn’t be anywhere near power

2 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Ben Wilkinson

We saw this week just how costly a Labour government can be. A memo leaked to The Telegraph revealed that Angela Rayner had called on the Chancellor to wage a fresh tax war on savers and top earners. Among the demands made by the Deputy Prime Minister was the resurrection of the Yes, this is the very same rule that the Tories had to scrap to stop senior NHS doctors retiring early and in large numbers.
Rayner's pensions plot proves she shouldn't be anywhere near power

2 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Ben Wilkinson

Rayner was also previously an avid supporter of the Waspi cause, once declaring that "justice must be done" for the women who had their pensions "stolen". The cost of doing so doesn't bear thinking about. After nearly a year of Labour in power, unemployment and inflation are rising, and the number of job vacancies is falling. But there is hope in that some parts of the Cabinet are starting to see sense.
2025-26 FA League Allocations Announced

3 weeks ago | nwcfl.com | Ben Wilkinson

The FA Leagues Committee have confirmed the League Allocations for the 2025-26 season, with the teams now provisionally known for the Premier Division, First Division North and First Division South. Premier DivisionThe big news in the Premier Division is that we will once again be running with a 24 team division, for the third season in a row.
Rachel Reeves has a dangerous sense of entitlement to your wealth

3 weeks ago | finance.yahoo.com | Ben Wilkinson

Rachel Reeves wants to force private companies to invest in Britain - Andy Rain/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock The Chancellor has now made it perfectly clear: your savings are not yours to do with what you like. Rachel Reeves this week threatened to force firms to invest a portion of their pension cash in Britain if they did not agree to follow her rules. She is also poised to finally announce a review into the future of Britain’s Individual Saving Account (Isa) regime.
Rachel Reeves has a dangerous sense of entitlement to your wealth

3 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Ben Wilkinson

Reeves's pensions plot has already seen 17 major pension firms sign up to invest at least 10pc of assets in private markets, including half of that in British companies. Yet the Government's own actuaries have advised her that this will have little or no impact, and the fees involved could wipe out any gains for individual savers. None of this should be mandated, we should want to invest in Britain because it is an attractive thing to do, not because we are forced to.
Labour’s fortunes are reversing. Reeves doesn’t deserve an ounce of credit

4 weeks ago | aol.co.uk | Ben Wilkinson

It’s almost unfathomable, but Thursday’s interest rate cut could mark the start of a reversal of fortunes for the Labour Party. Let’s be clear, this would be thoroughly undeserved and down to nothing they’ve done themselves. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has single-handedly derailed Britain’s economic recovery and done nothing but stifle growth during her first months in power. She truly would have been better off doing nothing.
Labour’s fortunes are reversing. Reeves doesn’t deserve an ounce of credit

4 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Ben Wilkinson

It’s almost unfathomable, but Thursday’s interest rate cut could mark the start of a reversal of fortunes for the Labour Party. Let’s be clear, this would be thoroughly undeserved and down to nothing they’ve done themselves. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has single-handedly derailed Britain’s economic recovery and done nothing but stifle growth during her first months in power. She truly would have been better off doing nothing.
Don't let Rachel Reeves take any credit for falling mortgage rates

4 weeks ago | telegraph.co.uk | Ben Wilkinson

It's no coincidence that incumbent governments across the world fell in recent years. There's an unbreakable link between economic demise and the party in power. The Tories were doomed to lose the election last year because of the global economic crisis that followed the pandemic. The poor decisions made during the party's reign only compounded the loss. That economic crisis left such a gaping power vacuum in Britain that even the most underwhelming Labour offering could fill it.
The property tax con that no one is talking about

1 month ago | telegraph.co.uk | Ben Wilkinson

Crudely, someone with a 10pc deposit buying the average house in the North East would pay close to £120,000 in interest with a 30-year mortgage at 4.5pc. Whereas a buyer in the South East with the same deal would end up forking out £286,000 - more than twice as much. Obviously, there are wage discrepancies and workers in the South have typically been paid more. But this is increasingly not the case with a rise in working from home and the drive to "level up".