Business
Conservatives announce £5,000 tax rebate for young home buyers
Kate WhannelPolitical reporter and
Georgia RobertsPolitical correspondent, Manchester
Getty ImagesThe Conservatives will set out plans to “reward work” by giving young people a £5,000 tax rebate towards their first home when they get their first full-time job.
In his speech to the party’s conference in Manchester, shadow chancellor Mel Stride is expected to announce proposals for a “first-job bonus” that would divert National Insurance payments into a long-term savings account.
The party says the plans will be funded by cuts to public spending worth £47bn over five years in areas such as welfare, the civil service and the foreign aid budget.
In a speech on Monday, Sir Mel is expected to say that there is “no more pretending we can keep spending money we simply do not have”.
Proposals include stopping welfare claims for people with “low-level mental health problems” and reducing the number of civil servants by around 132,000 to bring it back to 2016 staffing levels – a pledge made under Boris Johnson.
Sir Mel will also say his party would reduce aid spending by £7bn, by reducing the budget to 0.1% of national income, from 0.5% currently.
The conference in Manchester marks almost one year since Kemi Badenoch was elected party leader.
In the last 12 months, the party has struggled to counter the political threat posed by Reform UK and suffered heavy defeats in this year’s local elections.
During their conference, which began on Sunday, the Conservatives are hoping to portray themselves as more competent and more credible – particularly on public spending – than their political rivals.
It comes as the Labour government has unveiled major housing market reform plans which will make sellers and estate agents legally required to provide more information about a property up front, in a bid to reduce the cost of moving.
The Conservatives say their £47bn target would be delivered over the lifetime of a five-year Parliament by saving:
- £23bn from the welfare bill
- £8bn by bringing civil servant numbers from 517,000 down to 2016 levels of 384,000
- £7bn from the overseas aid budget
- £3.5bn by ending the use of hotels to home asylum seekers
- £4bn by ensuring benefits and social housing are reserved for UK nationals
- £1.6bn by scrapping environmental policies, including cutting subsidies for heat pumps and electric vehicles.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Sir Mel said welfare savings could be delivered by reducing payments to those with “lower level mental health issues”, citing mild depression, anxiety, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
The Tories also want to review exemptions for the household benefit cap, limiting the VAT subsidy for Motability – which allows claimants to lease vehicles – and changing obligations for job-seekers.
He defended the party’s decision not to back a government attempt to cut nearly £5bn from the disability and health-related benefits bill.
Labour ministers, he added, had been “pulling a quick lever to make quick savings” whereas the Tories were interested in “fundamental reform”.
He also insisted the Tories’ policy of restricting foreign nationals’ access to disability and sickness benefits was backed by the public, adding that the Tories wanted British citizenship to “really mean something here”.
Those losing their benefits could try to find a better-paying job or work additional hours, he suggested, and would also “have an option to return to other parts of the world”.
Last year, the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that total spending on health and disability benefits would rise from £64.7bn in 2023-24 to £100.7bn in 2029-30.
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he would cut the UK’s aid budget from 0.5% of gross national income to 0.3% in 2027 in order to pay for an increase in defence spending.
The Conservatives say further reducing spending to 0.1% would save nearly £7bn.
Currently, a portion of the existing aid budget is used to pay for hotels to accommodate asylum seekers.
The Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) think tank welcomed some of the proposals but warned the Conservatives not to ignore “elephant in the room” of age-related spending such as pensions.
Tom Clougherty, IEA executive director, said: “Ultimately, no political party is going to be able to balance the books only by cutting things their supporters don’t like.
“Without that, other cuts are likely to amount to running to stand still.”
The Conservatives have not committed to changing the triple lock, which guarantees that the state pension will go up each year in line with either inflation, wage increases or 2.5% – whichever is the highest.
Romilly Greenhill, chief executive of Bond, the network of international development organisations, said the proposed aid budget cuts were “reckless, short-sighted, and morally indefensible”.

Business
Restaurant reservation wars heat up as DoorDash enters the arena with Resy, OpenTable
Now available on your favorite food delivery app: restaurant reservations.
The still-simmering reservation wars of the last decade could fully reignite this year, as a shifting tech landscape pits some of the biggest players against each other to capture businesses and users alike. Reservation incumbents, delivery app newcomers and premium credit card partnerships are all ramping up the fight for a shrinking pool of diners.
Delivery giant DoorDash announced in June its $1.2 billion acquisition of SevenRooms, a reservation platform focused on direct bookings through a restaurant’s own website. Several months earlier, UberEats and Booking Holdings’ OpenTable announced a partnership to integrate reservations on Uber’s app. And in 2024, American Express, already the owner of Resy, bought Tock, a reservation platform focused on upscale restaurants, for $400 million.
“It’s three very large, very ambitious, very well-resourced companies all vying for the same exact piece of real estate, which is high-demand restaurants,” Resy and Eater founder Ben Leventhal told CNBC.
Resy was bought by AmEx in 2019, and today Leventhal — a strategic advisor for Resy until 2022 — focuses on Blackbird Labs, a loyalty program for independent restaurants that he founded that same year.
Bringing restaurants online
The reservation wars initially kicked off more than 10 years ago. Leventhal’s Resy burst onto the scene in 2014 and won market share, undercutting OpenTable’s legacy business, by charging eateries a simple monthly fee.
At the time, OpenTable, which was founded in 1998, charged restaurants both a monthly fee and a cover for each diner who booked through the platform. These days, the company still sometimes charges a variable cover fee for seated diners, depending on the establishment.
Thomas Barwick | Digitalvision | Getty Images
Despite Resy’s rise and buzzy partnerships with high-profile restaurants, OpenTable still significantly outstrips its rival by restaurant count.
Starting this summer, Resy will integrate the 5,000 eateries, bars and wineries that have listed on Tock onto its own platform, bringing its total number of venues to about 25,000. That’s still less than half of OpenTable’s roughly 60,000 restaurants.
But where OpenTable has scale, Resy has a “cool factor” and strong positioning in major cities, like New York, where dining out is big business.
And each companies’ relationships with credit card companies has added a new layer to the war, too.
Supercharging the platforms
Platinum American Express cardholders get special access to restaurant reservations at sought-after establishments, plus a $400 dining credit per year to use at Resy restaurants.
“We know that American Express card members spend close to $90 billion a year … on dining, and it’s a passion area for them,” Resy CEO Pablo Rivero told CNBC. “And we know that they also spend more. People with a Resy credit on an American Express card spend over 25% more on dining transactions.”
Likewise, eligible Visa and Chase cardholders get exclusive OpenTable reservations.
Those partnerships have also helped the legacy player woo some big-name restaurants away from Resy through cash incentives made possible by the credit card companies.
Recapturing top-tier restaurants with Michelin stars or James Beard awards has been a priority for OpenTable over the last five years, said OpenTable CEO Debby Soo.
“Credit card companies are looking for a perk to differentiate their cards, especially for their premium cardholders,” Soo said. “Especially after Covid, the experiential has become even more important.”
Delivery’s here
Now, DoorDash is entering the fray with its SevenRooms acquisition.
The company is used to fighting for market share in a competitive industry. Before the pandemic, DoorDash was up against UberEats and Grubhub for market dominance of online third-party food delivery.
As of 2025, DoorDash was the biggest player in the U.S. market, with about 67% share, according to digital restaurant operations firm Deliverect. UberEats trails with a 23% share.
Eric Baradat | AFP | Getty Images
As it enters the bookings game, DoorDash is looking to capture the range of dining possibilities, whether it’s delivery, takeout or table.
In the early months of its reservations integration, the platform was offering users DoorDash cash per booking to use on future delivery orders. And in select cities, it offers exclusive tables at trendy spots for members of DashPass, its subscription service.
Above all, the integration with SevenRooms gives DoorDash and its restaurants access to more data about diners.
“Delivery and dine-in have typically been siloed data sets,” SevenRooms co-founder Joel Montaniel said. “So if a customer has ordered six times, and they’re coming into the restaurant for the first time, are they a first-time customer or a seventh-time customer?”
Following a diner across touchpoints means a better experience, and more tailored marketing, he said.
“We’re seeing the flywheel happening and the excitement about the DoorDash reservation marketplace happening, but it’s still early days,” said Parisa Sadrzadeh, vice president of strategy and operations for DoorDash. “We’ve got a lot of room to continue to grow.”
Correction: This story has been updated to correct that Ben Leventhal was a strategic advisor to Resy until 2022.
Business
Ajit Jain: Warren Buffett’s trusted executive Ajit Jain buys apartment in Gurugram for Rs 85 crore – The Times of India
A 7,400 sq ft apartment at DLF The Camellias in Gurugram has been purchased by Berkshire Hathaway’s Ajit Jain. The vice-chairman overseeing insurance operations at Berkshire Hathaway, Ajit Jain, is regarded as one of Warren Buffett’s most trusted associates. The apartment has been bought for around Rs 85 crore, according to sources quoted in an ET report.Jain, who has spent most of his time living abroad, recently visited Delhi to complete the deal, the sources said. One person aware of the development said non-resident Indians account for more than 25% of DLF’s ultra-luxury housing portfolio, and Jain is among the most prominent buyers in this segment. The individual added that premium amenities offered at such developments are a major attraction for those who plan to spend only part of the year in India. Jain is widely considered one of the most influential Indian-origin business leaders in the United States.Property consultants noted that since the Covid period, ultra-high-net-worth individuals have increasingly favoured secure, gated condominium projects over independent bungalows, as such residences provide access to a wide range of on-site facilities.ET recently reported that an industrialist purchased four apartments at DLF’s new ultra-luxury project, The Dahlias, for close to Rs 380 crore, making it one of the country’s most expensive apartment transactions.In 2025, Gurugram saw the costliest property deal in the National Capital Region, overtaking Lutyens’ Delhi for the first time. Prices per square foot in the city have surpassed those in Mumbai and reached levels comparable with London and Dubai. Earlier, British entrepreneur Sukhpal Singh Ahluwalia had acquired an 11,416 sq ft apartment in the same project for Rs 100 crore.Info-x Software Technology, through its director Rishi Parti, had also purchased a 16,000 sq ft penthouse for Rs 190 crore.In October 2023, ET reported the first Rs 100-crore transaction at the same residential complex on Gurugram’s Golf Course Road.
Business
US stock market today: Wall Street opens higher as investors await Nvidia earnings – The Times of India
US Wall Street’s main indices opened higher on Wednesday, recovering after recent volatility as investors weighed concerns surrounding the AI trade and uncertainty over tariffs ahead of Nvidia’s earnings later in the day (local time).The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 183.1 points, or 0.37%, to 49,357.63 at the open. The S&P 500 gained 25.1 points, or 0.36%, to 6,915.15, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 141.3 points, or 0.62%, to 23,005.008.Nvidia remains at the centre of the AI-driven market narrative, with its chips playing a pivotal role in the ongoing surge in artificial intelligence investments. The company has become one of the most influential stocks on Wall Street.Analysts are projecting another strong earnings performance, with Nvidia’s profit expected to jump nearly 70 per cent year-on-year to $37.52 billion. Such a result would translate into daily earnings exceeding $400 million during the three months through January 25.Nvidia’s earnings reports have increasingly served as a barometer for broader market trends, given the company’s size and AI’s outsized influence on equities. In recent years, enthusiasm around AI helped propel markets to repeated record highs, driven by expectations of productivity gains and improved corporate profitability.However, investor concerns have intensified over the sustainability of heavy AI-related spending. Market participants are closely watching whether major technology companies such as Alphabet and Amazon can generate sufficient returns on their substantial investments in AI infrastructure and chips. Any slowdown in capital expenditure could directly impact Nvidia.Investors have also begun reassessing sectors perceived as vulnerable to AI-led disruption, triggering sharp sell-offs across industries ranging from software to logistics and legal services.“While those concerns are real, we believe investors would be wise to balance them out with offsetting trends that may be underappreciated in the current wall of worry headline cycle,” said Darrell Cronk, Chief Investment Officer for Wealth & Investment Management at Wells Fargo.One such offsetting trend has been the steady growth in corporate earnings reported by large US companies, which has supported segments of the market previously overshadowed by AI-focused stocks, particularly smaller firms.Shares of Cava Group surged 18.6 per cent after the Mediterranean restaurant chain posted stronger-than-expected profit and revenue. The company also reported annual revenue exceeding $1 billion for the first time, marking a 22.5 per cent increase from a year earlier.Similarly, Axon Enterprise jumped 16.5 per cent following better-than-expected earnings, aided by demand for its Tasers, body cameras, and AI-powered solutions.The gains helped counterbalance weakness in First Solar, whose shares fell 14.2 per cent after reporting profit below market expectations.
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