Autumn Budget 2026: five no-brainers to boost productivity October 28, 2026 Despite ongoing calls for radical tax and economic reforms to boost productivity, Chancellor John Healey is expected to deliver a cautious, low-key Budget, Tim Sarson You can tell it’s Budget season. The leaves are just starting to turn, Halloween goods fill the shops, and the corridor small talk from my colleagues has moved on from [...]
Iceland boss: Budget must show Labour is listening to business, not just managing decline October 28, 2026 The upcoming Budget must reject managed decline and instead foster a productivity revolution through investment incentives, skills support, and lower employment costs to help British business drive economic growth, says Lord Richard Walker I thought that working across the property, retail and leisure sectors had given me a wide perspective on business and the environment [...]
The Budget lever Healey could pull to tax family business succession October 27, 2026 Thousands of family businesses could face being priced out of passing their business down to their offspring should Chancellor John Healey to use his maiden Budget to clamp down on a little-known rule making it easier for firms to transfer ownership. Treasury officials have been mulling an overhaul of so-called company distribution rules that would [...]
Government issues debt at highest interest rate since financial crisis on eve of Budget October 27, 2026 The Debt Management Office has been forced to sell nearly £5bn of five-year gilts at their highest interest rate since 2008, underscoring the fiscal challenge facing John Healey on the eve of his maiden Budget. The body responsible for selling the UK’s debt said it had issued £4.5bn of bonds maturing in 2032 at a [...]
ICAEW chief: Britain can’t build a better economy one Budget at a time October 27, 2026 To achieve sustainable economic growth, the government must move beyond short-term Budget fixes and provide businesses with long-term certainty through tax stability and regulatory reform, says Alan Vallance “You can’t invest what you don’t have or when you are unsure what extra tax or regulatory burden is around the corner.” That was how one of [...]
As it happened: FTSE 100 slides as oil holds at $115; tech surges October 27, 2026 Welcome back to the City AM FTSE 100 live blog. The FTSE 100 is sliding after a bruising session for heavyweight stocks, while tech continues to perform elsewhere. Brent crude is also trading above $115 per barrel as renewed diplomatic efforts in the Middle East raised hopes of preventing a wider escalation of the US-Iran [...]
Autumn Budget 2026: Healey will buy some time with the bond markets October 27, 2026 Ahead of the upcoming Budget, the Debt Management Office’s financing choices and shifting market demands pose a critical test for government borrowing stability, says Helen Thomas Another year, another Budget. The same party remains in charge, but a fresh cast of characters will deliver it, bringing fresh uncertainty over the government’s economic direction. For John [...]
John Healey is a beer man. Does this spell good news for pubs? October 27, 2026 Geoffrey Howe sipped a gin and tonic, Nigel Lawson quaffed a wine spritzer, while George Osborne and Gordon Brown stuck to mineral water. Ahead of his first Budget, one of the many decisions weighing on Chancellor John Healey’s mind will be whether to get a little squiffy at the despatch box. If he does, it [...]
Healey warned ‘the dam is breaking’ on shop price inflation October 27, 2026 The Chancellor has been warned that the “dam is starting to break” on surging shop price inflation, which retailers had kept at bay with heavy discounting. Shop prices rose by 2.1 per cent in the year to October, according to new data from the British Retail Consortium, ahead of September’s 1.4 per cent and the [...]
Healey to ‘increase minimum wage by 3.9 per cent’ October 26, 2026 Chancellor John Healey will reportedly hike the minimum wage by nearly four per cent at the Budget, setting the floor for wages for all over 21-year-olds at £13.20 for the next year. Healey is expected to deliver a huge pay increase of 3.9 per cent to low-wage workers on Wednesday, according to The Times. However, [...]