Labour scraps Audit Reform Bill to ‘avoid’ costs on firms Accountancy 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 [...]
Ministers to change UK merger rules in bid to speed up deals Business Whitehall is preparing a fundamental reset of the UK’s merger control regime, as ministers seek to accelerate deal-making and strip back some red tape for businesses. The Department for Business and Trade is expected to outline plans this week that would significantly change how the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) reviews takeovers and sector-wide competition [...]
New business secretary should put deregulation top of his agenda Opinion Peter Kyle becomes the tenth business secretary in as many years – he should go where his predecessors didn’t and genuinely cut red tape, says Joe Hill As Westminster calms down from a heady weekend of reshuffle-watching, new ministers will be getting to grips with their new briefs. It’s not an enviable task – when [...]
UK class actions worth £135bn but landmark losses raises questions over regime August 11, 2025 The popularity of class actions continues to rise as the UK remains one of Europe's most active jurisdiction with the total value of cases in the UK surpassing £135bn in 2024.
British Business Bank set on delivering Labour’s growth ambition June 28, 2025 Arguably one of the biggest winners from Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ latest spending splurge, the British Business Bank had its lending capacity beefed up and pledged to back the UK’s innovators with its expanded range. The bank had its funding capacity increased to £25.6bn in the Spending Review from near £15.6bn as it targets eight key [...]
What Invest 2035 will mean for UK professional services June 9, 2025 When the UK government announces its Invest 2035 on Wednesday, law and professional services will be a key component of its 10-year growth plan
Nissan: UK taxpayers to guarantee £1bn loan amid Sunderland plant uncertainty May 28, 2025 The UK taxpayer is to guarantee a £1bn loan to Nissan as part of a major restructuring of the struggling carmaker. The Japanese firm announced plans earlier this month to axe 20,000 jobs globally and shut down seven factories. Confirmation of the restructuring piled uncertainty onto the future of its Sunderland facility, which is the [...]
Small businesses ‘held back’ by £112bn of late payments May 14, 2025 Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are owed some £112bn in late payments, new research has suggested, with buyers “holding back” UK growth. Nearly 5.5m companies with fewer than 250 employees and modest revenues are seen as the “backbone” of the UK economy and key to unlocking growth. But new research by the Centre for Economics [...]
What a trade deal with India means for the UK May 7, 2025 The UK government is heralding a “new era” for British business: after three years of negotiations, a free trade agreement has been signed with India. This is the third agreement the UK has brokered since Brexit and it is also the biggest of them all, given India is the largest single economy that the UK [...]
Ministers call in HSBC, Natwest and Lloyds bosses for small business lending talks May 6, 2025 Top bank bosses were summoned for talks with ministers on Tuesday after a government report revealed that small businesses were having difficulty securing loans. Senior executives from HSBC, Natwest and Lloyds will be in attendance for the meeting, which will be chaired by minister for small business Gareth Thomas. A report from the Department of [...]