FTSE 100 Live: OBR chiefs face MP grilling; Food inflation slows December 2, 2025 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) admitted its “worst failure in the 15-year history” of the fiscal watchdog on Monday. This morning, from 10am, two of its remaining spokespeople will be facing a grilling from the Treasury select committee of MPs. The sensational leak of [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Starmer denies Budget ‘misleading’ as Reeves on brink December 1, 2025 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. It was quite the Budget week to end November and for many more questions were created than answered. Whilst Labour might’ve hoped it would be be their rallying moment – with the lifting of the two-child benefit cap and doubling of the Chancellor’s fiscal buffer [...]
Reeves accused of misleading country over ‘black hole’ in public finances November 28, 2025 Rachel Reeves is in the firing line for “misleading the country” after the chair of the fiscal watchdog poured cold water over claims there was a black hole in public finances. In a new letter addressed to the chair of the Treasury select committee, the OBR chair Richard Hughes said he was taking the “unusual [...]
Asda boss bashes Budget as sales continue to drop November 28, 2025 Asda boss Allen Leighton has hit out at the Autumn Budget as anti-growth and anti-investment as sales as the supermarket giant stumbled due to an IT handover. The executive chairman said Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Budget “didn’t do anything for anybody” and that “there’s nothing the government is doing that is stimulating growth”. Speaking to City AM [...]
Reeves’ Budget tax hikes stopping Monsoon owner’s growth November 28, 2025 The owner of Monsoon and Accessorize has warned the tax rises introduced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves are forcing it to stop investing in its growth. Adena Brands, which is owned by Peter Simon, is “focusing on reducing our cost base over investing in growth” until it sees signs of strengthening consumer demand. The business added [...]
Business leaders fear more tax rises are on the way November 28, 2025 Businesses leaders are bracing for more tax rises even following another hefty cash raid from Rachel Reeves in her second Autumn Budget. Over two thirds of top bosses have said they fear business leaders will be targeted with more tax hikes even after the Chancellor raised taxes to the tune of £26bn on Wednesday. A [...]
Rachel Reeves’ benefit handouts are unchristian, Badenoch says November 28, 2025 Kemi Badenoch has argued that Rachel Reeves’ welfare splurge in the Autumn Budget is inconsistent with Christian values, as she blasted the Labour government for raising taxes to fund increased spending. The Chancellor hiked taxes by £26bn on Wednesday to fund a massive injection of cash into welfare benefits, including the controversial decision to lift [...]
Banks keep up their end of Rachel Reeves’ tax bargain November 27, 2025 The banking industry has given Rachel Reeves some much-needed ammunition as she attempts to defend her tax-heavy Autumn Budget. After being spared from a highly-anticipated cash grab, a fleet of banks announced a fresh pump of capital in the UK economy. Britain’s largest retail bank Lloyds Banking Group unveiled £35bn of new finance for 2026 [...]
Budget 2025: Rachel Reeves announces £26bn tax raid November 26, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced an avalanche of tax rises on the wealthy and on working people, adding up to £26bn to fund extra spending over the next five years, as she vowed to make the country more “secure”. Her biggest announcement included freezing income tax and national insurance thresholds until 2031 to raise £11bn [...]
Budget: Blow to investors and startups ‘hidden’ in small print November 26, 2025 A blow to investors and early-stage businesses has been revealed in the small print of Rachel Reeves‘ Budget. The tax relief available on venture capital trusts has been slashed, according to the full Budget document released by the Treasury following Reeves’s speech in the House of Commons. While the venture capital trusts’ annual and lifetime [...]