UK poised to pay highest borrowing costs since 1998 September 8, 2026 The UK is set to pay the highest yield on new debt in nearly 30 years in a sign of the growing economic pressures facing the Chancellor John Healey as he draws up his first Budget. The Debt Management Office is marketing a 30-year bond at 0.75 basis points over the yield of the government’s [...]
Five lenders hike mortgage prices as interest rate threat looms September 8, 2026 Five lenders hiked the price on their mortgage deals to kick off the week as the threat of the Bank of England increasing interest rates looms over the UK economy. Barclays has raised its rates on a fleet of products by nearly 0.2 per cent, with its two-year fixed rate rising to 5.53 per cent [...]
Healey wants to focus on the future but business is haunted by past mistakes September 8, 2026 John Healey has a reassuring voice. If he revealed dry rot in your house or rang to tell you of suspicious activity on your account, you’d feel oddly calm about it. He’s not a gifted public speaker, but there is an ease and a glimmer of warmth that stands in stark contrast to the earnest [...]
UK at risk of £290bn finance industry ‘being governed overseas’ September 8, 2026 The UK is at risk of its booming financial services industry being governed overseas after lagging behind international rivals in digital asset innovation, a new report has warned. Banking industry body UK Finance has issued a rallying call to policymakers to move at pace in developing the infrastructure to power tokenisation, or see the country [...]
Spending hits 13-month high as Brits splurge on entertainment, Barclays says September 8, 2026 Spending in the UK economy reached a 13-month high in August after a rebound in the entertainment and travel industries, according to fresh data from Barclays. Overall card spending grew 2.1 per cent year-on-year, following on from two per cent growth in July. Both essential and non-essential spending were up 2.1 per cent, according to [...]
Unleash growth or you’ll have to hike taxes even higher, FTSE 100 boss warns Healey September 8, 2026 The government must unleash growth in the forthcoming Budget or ministers will be forced to hike taxes even higher at future fiscal events, the boss of the largest player in the UK pensions market has warned. Andy Briggs, the chief executive of Standard Life, told City AM the UK’s ageing population leaves the Chancellor John [...]
Tesco and Boots lead 100,000 jobs pledge to tackle Neets crisis September 8, 2026 Tesco, Boots and dozens of other retailers have pledged to create 100,000 new jobs in a bid to tackle the youth unemployment crisis, which they say is trapping young people in a “doom loop”. A group of top high street firms – which also includes Asda, John Lewis and Marks & Spencer – have joined [...]
Hedge fund billionaire Chris Rokos joins UK wealth exodus September 7, 2026 The hedge fund billionaire Chris Rokos has joined the ranks of ultra-wealthy residents in leaving the UK, in a decision likely to cost the government billions of pounds lost tax revenue. Rokos, the founder of his namesake investment firm Rokos Capital Management who paid more than £300m in tax last year alone, is leaving the [...]
Can John Healey deliver the growth the UK needs? September 7, 2026 The Chancellor John Healey says growth will provide the “pathway out of indebtedness and into prosperity”. But the path is a difficult one to tread, write Mauricio Alencar. When it was announced that John Healey would be delivering a speech in Coventry, it was assumed that he would be visiting Jaguar Land Rovers’s headquarters with [...]
Healey says growth is ‘pathway out of debt’ but bats away tax questions September 7, 2026 Chancellor John Healey said he will “not speculate” on expected tax rises at his maiden Budget next month as he said growth was at the “heart of fiscal challenges” facing the UK. In his first major speech as Chancellor in Coventry, Healey batted away questions about whether businesses and households were set to face another [...]