City raises a glass to Reeves’ reforms July 16, 2025 The City may have been a bit damp and grey yesterday but the Chancellor appeared as a welcome ray of sunshine. At City AM, we haven’t held back in our criticism of this government’s economic policies – and we’ll return to that theme before long, I’m sure – but we also believe in giving credit [...]
Regulation is ‘a boot on the neck of businesses’, Rachel Reeves to warn at Mansion House July 15, 2025 Financial services regulation is “a boot on the neck of businesses,” Rachel Reeves is expected to say as the Chancellor delivers her annual Mansion House speech later today. Reeves will urge watchdogs to “take up the call” of regulating for growth rather than “bend to the temptation of excessive caution” as she seeks to showcase [...]
OBR chief says higher tax is ‘not good’ for growth – or the government July 15, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves risks harming the UK economy’s potential to grow by inflicting extra tax hikes on Brits, the fiscal watchdog has warned, adding that the government risks losing out on returns in the longer run. Rachel Reeves looks poised to raise taxes at this year’s Autumn Budget as leading City analysts believe the higher [...]
Government set up secret £850m scheme to offer Afghans asylum after data breach July 15, 2025 The UK government set up a secret £850m scheme to relocate some 25,000 Afghans and their families after an unprecedented data breach put them at risk of persecution from the Taliban. The leak of the identities of thousands of Afghans, including those applying for asylum, came in early 2022 when a soldier inadvertently sent a [...]
Reeves seeks to spark retail investor revolution July 15, 2025 High street banks Barclays and Lloyds will lead an advertising campaign to encourage more Brits into retail investing as part of a wider effort to get savers to boost the UK economy. In rallying calls to financial services, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has unveiled a campaign to encourage savers to invest in stocks and bonds, drawing [...]
Minister says only ‘average incomes’ up to £39k safe from Reeves’ tax hikes July 15, 2025 A government minister has said that Labour will stick to its manifesto commitment not to raise personal taxes, at least for those on “average incomes” – earning up to £39,000. Successive ministers over multiple days of media rounds have been caught in an increasingly tangled mess of definitions of what it means to be “wealthy”, [...]
Tax debate goes from comedy to tragedy July 15, 2025 When I suggested recently that we were going to experience déjà vu, with another summer of endless tax rise speculation, I didn’t imagine the experience would be quite so profound. And yet, having already enjoyed the spectacle last year of Labour MPs trying to define “working people” they’re now treating us to a rerun of [...]
Rachel Reeves urges Brits to buy stocks as she shuns risk-averse regulators July 15, 2025 Rachael Reeves has thrown her weight behind a campaign to get more Brits investing into stocks and shares as the Chancellor shunned the risk-averse culture of London’s financial regulators. In a wide-ranging address to City execs at Mansion House last night, Reeves vowed to place financial services “at the heart” of the government’s growth agenda [...]
Sajid Javid joins calls to replace ‘unfit’ NHS with insurance model July 14, 2025 Former health secretary Sajid Javid has joined calls for a major overhaul of the National Health Service (NHS) that would see it replaced by a universal social insurance-based model. Javid said a “serious conversation with taxpayers” about how to fund the institution was “long overdue,” throwing his weight behind a paper by Policy Exchange which [...]
Wealth tax would take years to set up, Labour warned July 14, 2025 The introduction of a wealth tax would take years to set up as well as substantial investment in “additional personnel” and tools to track assets, a leading City bank has warned. Cabinet ministers including Keir Starmer have refused to rule out a wealth tax in the last week, with the government preparing for a revenue-raising [...]