Today's stats show that 2024-25 tax year saw record capital gains, and capital gains tax revenue. Capital gains tax is an increasingly important source of revenue for the government, particularly following the unprecedented boom in asset values over the past two decades. Income from wealth is likely to become steadily more significant as technology adoption and automation accelerate in the coming years. We don’t know what the government is planning for the upcoming budget, but CGT reform should be a priority.

Exclusive from @patrickkmaguire Andy Burnham has said that No 10 North will take over responsibility for economic growth from the Treasury as part of a “huge transfer of power” out of Whitehall In an interview with The Times, the prime minister raised concerns about the Treasury’s traditional “dual role” in both promoting economic growth and controlling the public finances He said the department’s focus on balancing the books “sometimes clouds that growth mission” and that the significance of No 10 North, which is based in Manchester, would become “more and more apparent as we go forward” The prime minister said John Healey, the chancellor, was fully supportive of the approach, while he hit out at critics who have derided No 10 North as a “satellite office” Comparing No 10 North to the Department of Economic Affairs, Harold Wilson’s doomed attempt to establish a dedicated growth ministry, Burnham said: “I just wish people might just engage with the seriousness of the proposition.” “It is actually a huge transfer of power,” Burnham said. “It’s something that the country has never cracked before. I don’t wish this to sound, you know, a criticism or negative about the Treasury. “There’s a job to be done around control of public finances. It’s just the dual job of growth and control of public finances [that] sometimes clouds the growth mission. And particularly having No 10 leading on that growth mission means you’ve got maximum power to unlock the blockages where they exist in the wider Whitehall system.” thetimes.com/uk/politics/art…

No 10 announces £340m for rough sleeping, "funded from within uncommitted MHCLG budgets"

Who is the real Shabana Mahmood and what are her views on the economy? thetimes.com/article/f73cc7f…

We’re getting quite a vibe that Andy finds technology/digital annoying. He’s right that the impersonal job process is soulless. But there are a lot of trade-offs here including people being able to go through the process without massive travel costs. But who is really suggesting that we’re going back from the Zoom era in terms of time /travel efficiencies?

The Chancellor has nominated Professor Jonathan Haskel CBE, Professor of Economics at Imperial College London and a former MPC member, as the next Chair of the OBR. If approved by the Treasury Committee, he will take up the post later this year. Read the full news post on our website: obr.uk/prof-jonathan-haskel-…

Here are the top 20: 1. DEBT: Bring down debt with a new fiscal rule saying that, outside emergencies, public spending will not grow faster than the economy. 2. WELFARE #1: Remove mild/moderate anxiety, depression and musculoskeletal conditions as criteria for claiming benefit and replace it with a guarantee of rapid NHS treatment as happens in Denmark. 3. WELFARE #2: Cap the DWP benefits budget just as defence and NHS budgets are capped. Otherwise the DWP has little incentive to find savings or stop abuse. 4. WELFARE #3: Devolve administration of the welfare system to elected mayors allowing them to keep a proportion of any savings made. 5. WELFARE #4: Require face-to-face benefit assessments with no telephone applications except in exceptional circumstances. 6. WELFARE #5: Replace the triple lock with a guarantee the state pension will always match inflation.

Wes Streeting pledges 'wealth tax that works' bbc.in/4nE8BYC

The fiscal rules move means tax rises are more likely. Burnham’s statements from the last few months also suggest hikes are coming. This could be the bolder policy change some in Labour are looking for, but any departure from the manifesto will be controversial. Our story:

EXCLUSIVE Sir Keir Starmer is expected to approve an £18 billion increase in defence spending as he faces a battle for political survival thetimes.com/article/b5c26a6… with @Steven_Swinford and @oliver_wright

Only three possibilities really 1) PM wasn’t told his own pick for US Ambassador has failed his security clearance. Foreign Office officials stood by and saw PM unknowingly mislead House and didn’t say anything. Still questions as to how it could possibly be neither No 10 nor PM nor FS asked as to what the status of his clearing was. Potentially gross incompetence in every direction. Or they just didn’t want to know. Which is especially outrageous given Starmer later essentially blamed security services. 2) PM did know. He misled House and country. Resignation matter. 3) it’s not quite 1 or 2 and there’s something about this story or details of this story we don’t fully understand yet.

"Absolutely the wrong decision" Phil Rosenberg, President, Board of Deputies of British Jews, says Kanye West should not be allowed to headline Wireless Festival in London this summer following previous antisemitic comments, which he later publicly apologised for. #Newsnight

Unusually the economists are right. Markets are literally fighting the last war - conditions now very different from 2022. Weak labour market, tight fiscal policy and looming hit to growth. Markets wrong on UK interest rate rises, say economists - giftarticle.ft.com/giftartic… via @FT

More than half a million raised for Hatzola NW within hours of firebomb ambulance attack jewishnews.co.uk/more-than-h…