The Express has had 12 breaches of the Editors’ Code upheld by regulator Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) in 2025 so far.
Every complaint to have been found in breach this year has been made by the same person, a man named Alan Williams-Key, and were investigated by IPSO.
Williams-Key has filed 14 complaints against the Reach-owned title this year, with almost half (six) of the complaints related to Rachel Reeves and the alleged impact of her Budget and economic policies.
All articles in breach were found to be inaccurate or misleading.
The Express was also found to be the newsbrand with the most Editors Code breaches in 2024, according to IPSO’s annual report for the year – with seven code breaches in the year.
We list the 12 articles found to be in breach in 2025 below by their headlines. Scroll on for the table contents.
1. “Millions of middle-class families face £8,000 tax raid under Labour next year”
Article date: 29 December 2024
This article was found to be inaccurate in both the headline and the text because of the claim that “millions” of people faced an £8,000 “tax raid” due to a combination of Labour’s plan to introduce VAT on private school fees and council tax rises.
In reality, fewer than 500,000 families would be affected by the private school fee changes.
The Express attributed the mistake to human error but IPSO criticised the fact the publication “had not taken steps to verify the number of families in the UK with one child attending private school” and described it as a “significant” error.
2. “Flight of fancy: Reeves clobbers cattle class air travel with huge holiday tax hike”
IPSO ruling: 3 April 2025
Article date: 30 October 2024
This piece on the Budget’s impact on holiday travel was found in breach after misinterpreting a comment about air passenger duty from the chief executive of Airlines UK, who said: “Even in economy class, APD will add nearly £200 to the cost of your tickets, even before the impact of today’s Budget.”
IPSO’s complaints committee said it was clear APD was adding £200 to existing economy tickets prior to the budget announcement, but the Express reported that APD rises announced in the Budget “will add nearly £200 to the cost of economy tickets to New York or Dubai”.
3. “Warning to farmers at risk of 400% tax ‘sting’ trying to dodge inheritance raid”
Article date: 11 December 2024
IPSO found The Express gave the impression a “tax sting” would be applied to all farmers who were to give assets to their children while they were still alive, but it would only apply in specific circumstances.
“The committee also noted the importance of reporting on matters related to probate and inheritance in an accurate manner, given that misleading information may influence readers in making decisions regarding their own tax affairs,” IPSO said in its ruling.
4. “Poundland boss blames Rachel Reeves’s Budget as popular chain suffers £640m loss”
Article date: 10 December 2024
This piece were found to be inaccurate as Stephan Borchert, chief executive of Poundland parent company Pepco, only cited the recent Budget for resulting in a “higher cost outlook in the UK” ahead.
Also, The headline and text were further inaccurate because Poundland had reported a loss of £457m, not £640m, for the year to 30 September 2024.
The Express cited human error for both inaccuracies.
5. “Rachel Reeves sends mortgage rates soaring to highest in 18 months after Labour budget”
IPSO ruling: 15 May 2025
Article date: 9 December 2024
This article was found to be inaccurate because five-year fixed-term mortgage rates had been higher in June than they were in December, the month of publication, IPSO said.
It also noted that the article contradicted the headline by reporting that at the start of December the five-year mortgage rate “had leapt up 0.19 percentage points to 5.28%” while “at the start of January this year [2024] the average five-year fixed rate was 5.55%”.
The Express said the disputed information had been provided by Moneyfacts – as the article made clear – and that it was satisfied the article was accurate and the headline was not significantly inaccurate.
6. “Popular schemes offering households hundreds of pounds to help with heating this winter”
IPSO ruling: 15 May 2025
Article date: 21 December 2024
IPSO found this article breached the Editors’ Code due to a specific headline written for the homepage: “Households will get £450 towards heating costs this winter.”
However, the actual article reported on schemes to help people pay their energy bills and did not refer to any schemes that would provide £450 towards heating.
7. “Rachel Reeves has ‘made one huge mistake’ – and ‘now we have the proof'”
IPSO ruling: 31 July 2025
Article date: 18 January 2025
IPSO found this story to be misleading because forecasted figures were presented as definitive proof. The forecasts were also based on data from before the general election in which Labour took power.
In addition, the article linked Reeves to the “departure of the country’s richest men and women”, which William-Keys said there was no basis for. The Express had used figures from a press release by New World Wealth, which IPSO said could not be considered “proof”.
8. “Half of farmers consider quitting industry after Rachel Reeves’ inheritance raid”
Article date: 17 February 2025
This piece was found to be misleading by IPSO because the survey cited in the story did not say inheritance tax concerns were one of the reasons farmers were thinking about leaving the sector.
The Express had argued the story contained a quote from the director at the Countryside Alliance that supported its position, but IPSO said this still did not support the headline’s link between farmers thinking about leaving and the “inheritance raid”.
IPSO said the inaccuracy was “significant” because concerns in the farming industry around inheritance tax had led to protests.
9. “Octopus Energy customers given £676 after daily charge ditched”
Article date: 13 February 2025
IPSO said this headline was misleading because customers had not received £676, but would potentially see it in savings if standing charges were ditched under plans by the regulator Ofgem.
IPSO added that this was “significant” because it “had the potential to mislead readers about their energy costs and potential savings”.
10. “Angela Rayner plots to restore pension ‘horror’ tax – takes 55% of your retirement savings”
Article date: 13 February 2025
IPSO found the headline was contradicted by the article, which made clear that before it was abolished, the Lifetime Allowance levy was only payable if the pension pot in question was “worth more than £1,073,100″ and only to savings above that threshold.
IPSO also pointed out other misleading statements, to which The Express said that the article contained several links to previous articles about it going into more detail.
But IPSO said it “did not consider that the publication could rely on the existence of other, hyperlinked articles which explained the previous tax system to demonstrate that the article under complaint was accurate”.
11. “FTSE 100: Rachel Reeves in crisis as UK GDP falls and markets react”
Article date: 12 June 2025
IPSO ruled this piece was in breach as it reported that the UK economy shrank “by more than 3% in April”, when it had shrunk by 0.3%.
Williams-Key also complained the headline was misleading for reporting that the markets were reacting negatively to the “crisis”, while the article itself did not reflect this.
The Express blamed human error for reporting the 3% shrinkage, but said it had amended this within hours of the article’s publication. It did not accept the headline was misleading, and IPSO found no breach of Editors’ Code for this aspect.
12. “Exact date all state pensioners will start paying tax after triple lock change”
Article date: 31 July 2025
This article was also ruled inaccurate as the headline was “significantly misleading” and did not support the text of the article.
It did not report on the date “all state pensioners” would pay tax, but only on the date pensioners in receipt of the new state pension were projected to begin paying tax.
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