Data centre planning applications rocketed more than 60 per cent in 2025 January 13, 2026 Data centre planning applications hit an all-time high in the UK in 2025, City AM can reveal, as investors rushed to gain a foothold in the burgeoning AI market. More than 60 separate planning applications for the construction of new data centres were filed in England and Wales over the course of the year, according [...]
Immigration law firm put up for sale on insolvency market amid visa crackdown January 13, 2026 A London law firm specialising in immigration services has been put up for sale on an insolvency marketplace in an early sign the government’s crackdown on visas has sparked a slump in applications. Woolwich-based A Vincent Solicitors, which employs more than two dozen staff and has a second office in Manchester, offered multi-lingual support services [...]
TfL to spend £100m a year on cleaning tubes amid graffiti spat January 13, 2026 Commuters will foot an annual £100m bill for cleaning tubes and buses over the next five years, City AM can reveal, with transport officials hoping a new provider will help to wipe out graffiti across the network. Transport for London (TfL), which is chaired by Mayor Sadiq Khan, revealed it signed a contract with the [...]
Exclusive: Brits don’t trust football and rugby team owners to run clubs properly January 13, 2026 Less than a third of British adults trust football and rugby team owners to “run their clubs in a financially sustainable manner” amid intensifying scrutiny on those who buy sporting institutions. Exclusive Ipsos polling for City AM shows that just 32 per cent of adults trust the owner of their football or rugby club. It [...]
Stride vows to protect OBR in new dividing line with Farage January 12, 2026 Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride has vowed to protect the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in any future Conservative government, drawing a dividing line with Reform’s Nigel Farage on approaches to controlling public finances. Stride is expected to re-establish the Conservative Party’s firm commitment to maintaining the fiscal watchdog as an independent body scoring the effects [...]
Former Federal Reserve chiefs round on Trump’s ‘vindictive’ Powell salvo January 12, 2026 Donald Trump’s unprecedented decision to open a criminal indictment against Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell has been rounded on by all of his living predecessor, who accused the President of running the United States like a developing economy. In a highly unusual joint intervention, Janet Yellen, Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan rebuked the President’s most [...]
‘Extreme shareholder destruction’: Fitzwalter dials up assault on Auction Technology Group January 12, 2026 Auction Technology Group management have been accused of overseeing a period of “extreme shareholder destruction” by its largest shareholder, in the latest salvo of a feud that has seen the auction platform provider rebuff 11 takeover approaches from the firm. In a blistering update to markets on Monday, Fitzwalter Capital said Auction Technology Group’s (ATG) [...]
Hargreaves Lansdown swipes new chief executive from Vanguard January 12, 2026 Britain’s biggest investment platform has poached a senior member of tracker funds giant Vanguard to be its new chief executive. Hargreaves Lansdown has appointed Matt Benchener as chief executive officer from July 2026, subject to regulatory approval. Benchener runs Vanguard’s personal investment business in the US, which has several million clients, and will join the [...]
Reeves’ VCT changes ‘could put start up funding at risk’ January 12, 2026 Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ shake-up of venture capital tax rules could leave UK start-ups facing a shortfall of millions in funding, a leading investment platform has warned. According to Wealth Club, the chancellor’s changes to venture capital trust tax relief in last year’s Autumn Budget could see British start-ups and scale-ups face a funding deficit of [...]
BCG warns the era of ‘wait and see’ is dead as global risks hit all-time high January 12, 2026 As concerns over global policy uncertainty reached a 20-year peak in 2025, BCG is warning that the issue must be a core business capability, with dedicated teams. Business leaders cite trade reconfiguration, weakening multilateral institutions, and the weaponisation of economic tools as persistent threats to business continuity and competitiveness. However, a report by the IMD [...]