FTSE 100 Live: Economy grows 0.1 per cent; Rolls-Royce eyes profit jump November 13, 2025 Good morning from the City AM liveblog team. The FTSE 100 is inching a step closer to the magic 10,000 mark after almost a year of outperforming counterparts across the Atlantic. London’s blue-chip index managed to rally to a 0.12 per cent gain in yesterday’s session closing at 9,911.42p. In the afternoon, it inched to a [...]
UK must stop treating wealth as an offence November 13, 2025 Wealth creators are not a target, but the UK’s greatest economic fuel. The government won't get anywhere before it recognises it.
Autumn Budget: B&Q boss hands Reeves tool kit for growth November 12, 2025 Ahead of the Autumn Budget, City Reporter Samuel Norman sits down with top industry names for a Budget Briefing. This week, the boss of retail stalwart B&Q warns truly fixing the foundations starts with building confidence. After Labour’s monumental 2024 general election sweep, Chancellor Rachel Reeves seized her economic tool kit, telling Britons she was “fixing [...]
Brits confidence in European economy outpaces UK as Budget fears grow November 11, 2025 Brits have admitted to having more confidence in the strength of the European and global economy than the UK as Budget fears consume the country. Fresh Barclays research has revealed Brits confidence in the European economy has ranked above the UK for the tenth consecutive month. Of the 2,000 surveyed, 22 per cent had faith [...]
UK businesses shrug off Budget tax fears in push for growth November 5, 2025 UK businesses enjoyed a boost in activity in October due to improved demand for good, a leading survey has indicated, in signs that the momentum in growth was growing ahead of the Budget. S&P Global’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) has offered the Chancellor and the Bank of England some positive relief ahead of crucial policy [...]
Rachel Reeves blames everyone – apart from herself November 5, 2025 The Chancellor’s speech yesterday was really very odd indeed. It benefited from all the gravitas of a Downing Street address to the nation, but was remarkably thin on substance. She created an atmosphere of high drama but left her audience with nothing but questions to which she was unable or unwilling to provide an answer. [...]
Booming Manchester outshines ‘stagnant’ London November 4, 2025 Greater Manchester’s booming economy is outstripping the rest of the country and throwing into sharp relief the “stagnant” state London has found itself in since the 2008 financial crisis, according to a new report. As Chancellor Rachel Reeves sets out the productivity challenges facing the UK ahead of the Budget, new analysis from Oxford Economics [...]
Autumn Budget could ‘exacerbate’ manufacturing challenges November 3, 2025 Fears that the UK manufacturing industry’s recovery could be “short-lived” have jumped as firms brace for a painful Autumn Budget. The latest S&P Global’s manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) edged up to 49.7 in October, marking a 12-month high for the sector. But this remained stubbornly below the all-important 50.0 threshold, which indicates whether a [...]
Exclusive: Liz Kendall bets £55bn to close UK innovation gap October 30, 2025 Britain’s new tech secretary, Liz Kendall, insists the government’s record £55bn R&D package marks a turning point for UK innovation, but with the country still lagging global rivals in key sectors, questions remain over whether even this scale of investment can close the gap. The funding, confirmed on Thursday by the Department for Science, Innovation [...]
Looking for growth is a lot better than hoping for it October 28, 2025 Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer like to say that economic growth is the defining mission of this government, but as the latest data shows it’s starting to resemble Mission Impossible. While the government deserves credit for addressing some of the deep-rooted issues that have held back growth for so long – whether though planning reform [...]