Labour scraps Audit Reform Bill to ‘avoid’ costs on firms January 20, 2026 The Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill, added into Labour’s first King Speech, is now being scrapped to “avoid significant new costs to firms”. The reform was first raised in 2018 following the collapse of Carillon, but has been on and off the table ever since. The Bill was shelved by the previous government in November 2023 [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks fall as Trump ramps up pressure; Unemployment at four-year high January 20, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Thousands more Brits exited the jobs market in November as the estimated number of payrolled employees fell by 33,000. New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the UK unemployment rate for people aged 16 years and hit 5.1 per cent in September [...]
Starmer is right to play it cool with Trump January 20, 2026 There was a time, really not that long ago, when Davos concerned itself mostly with feel-good sessions on sustainability, inclusive growth, the promise of net zero and various other progressive causes. Who can forget Bono chatting away on stage with Rwanda’s president on the importance of transparency and good governance? Or 2020’s inspiring theme of [...]
Reeves to overhaul visa system for talented migrants in Davos pitch January 20, 2026 Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to talk up new visa schemes aimed at highly-skilled migrants working in tech in a pitch to business leaders and top researchers gathered at Davos. Reeves is set to talk up the Labour government’s new immigration policies as she hopes to get the attention of some of the world’s richest [...]
Kemi Badenoch tells Tory MPs: Don’t damage us from within January 19, 2026 Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has warned backbenchers not to damage the party “from within” as she called a meeting of MPs on Monday afternoon to address defections to Reform UK. Last week, Robert Jenrick and Andrew Rosindell, the shadow minister for foreign affairs under Badenoch’s leadership, announced they had quit to join Nigel Farage’s Reform. [...]
Farage to ‘have some words’ with Trump over ‘hurtful’ UK trade threats January 19, 2026 Nigel Farage has attacked President Trump for his tariff threats against the UK, adding that he would be “having some words” with US administration officials during meetings in Davos on Wednesday. In a statement the Reform UK leader said threats against the UK were “not the kind of thing we would expect”. It is the [...]
Starmer calls for ‘calm’ as US tariff war flares up January 19, 2026 Sir Keir Starmer urged US and EU allies to engage in “calm discussion” in order to stave off a tariff war while re-iterating the UK’s commitment to upholding Greenland’s sovereignty. President Trump stunned allies by threatening to impose additional 10 per cent tariffs on UK imports from next month due to opposition to his plans [...]
Trump tariffs: EU ‘has tools at disposal’ to hit back amid Greenland spat January 19, 2026 The European Union has pledged it has the “tools” to hit back at the US after President Trump’s latest trade offensive amid the deepening Greenland crisis. In a daily briefing the European Commission’s deputy chief spokesperson and trade lead, Olof Gill, said “should the threatened tariffs be imposed, the European Union has tools at its disposal [...]
IMF: UK economy to lag behind growth of advanced economies January 19, 2026 The UK economy is set to grow at a slower pace than the average across advanced economies in each of the next two years, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said, in a warning on the Labour government’s ability competitiveness against world powers. The IMF has kept its UK growth figures for 2026 and 2027 [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Gold soars as Trump’s tariffs threaten trade war January 19, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. It might be a new year but it’s the same issues controlling the global markets. The FTSE 100 closed last week one per cent higher than it started at 10,235.29p. But this came around 24 hours prior to President Donald Trump’s fresh tariff attack on [...]