Employment Rights Bill: Workers to get pro-union pamphlets December 8, 2025 Employers will be mandated to tell workers about the option of joining trade unions under new rules coming into force with the Employment Rights Bill. In one of several changes to workers’ rights to be made, bosses will have to inform new hires about what unions do and how they can join one. The change, backed [...]
Labour’s biggest union backer eyes party split December 7, 2025 Labour’s biggest union backer is considering a significant vote to split from the party in another blow to Starmer’s leadership. Senior officials at the UK’s largest trade union Unite are in talks about whether to call an emergency conference to vote on formal disaffiliation from the Labour party, according to reports from The Telegraph. Sources [...]
Recruiters suffer from sharp slowdown in permanent hiring December 7, 2025 Recruiters suffered a sharp slowdown in setting up permanent placements for job seekers in 2024, with an industry group suggesting the number of positions had fallen by more than a third compared to 2023. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) said the UK economy’s lacklustre performance in recent years had hit businesses seen as essential [...]
Labour minister: Life is s**t for young people December 5, 2025 A Labour minister has offered a candid assessment of life in the UK in reaction to a news story about the costs associated with housing and raising children. In a post on X, Josh Simons, the parliamentary secretary for the Cabinet Office who co-founded the Labour Growth Group, said life for young adults wanting to [...]
Bank of England: Businesses cut staff at fastest pace since pandemic December 5, 2025 British businesses cut jobs at the fastest rate since the pandemic in the run-up to Rachel Reeves’ Autumn Budget. A closely-watched survey from the Bank of England, which quizzes finance directors on their staffing levels, showed employment in the private sector fell by 1.8 per cent in November – the steepest monthly decline since July [...]
Stride criticises FCA for not investigating Treasury December 4, 2025 Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride has criticised the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)’s decision to hold back from launching an investigation into whether the Treasury engaged in market manipulation before the Budget, adding that there was a risk of a “precedent” being set where confidential information is leaked “without consequence”. Earlier on Thursday, FCA chief executive Nikhil [...]
Construction in worst downturn for five-and-a-half years December 4, 2025 The construction sector suffered its worst downturn in output for five and a half years last month, new figures have shown, in a warning to the Labour government as it hopes to build 1.5m homes by 2030. A monthly S&P Global survey showed that the decline in output rapidly accelerated over the month, with the [...]
Reform UK receives £9m donation from billionaire businessman Christopher Harborne December 4, 2025 Reform UK has received the largest ever political donation from a single living person as Thai-based billionaire Christopher Harborne injected £9m into the party. Reform’s precursor organisation, the Brexit Party, previously received donations from Harborne in 2019 and 2020 but it had not yet received donations directly from the billionaire. His £9m donation in August [...]
Strap a rocket to UK banks or watch the City drift, shadow chancellor warns December 4, 2025 Shadow chancellor Mel Stride has called for a tearing down of burdensome City regulation to power up the financial services sector and avoid it losing status. The Tory MP said the pendulum has swung “too far in favour of trying to iron… [and] squeeze risk out of the system”. Stride called for a “bonfire of [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Budget to send borrowing costs soaring; New AIM IPO December 4, 2025 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Sir Keir Starmer has asked the British public to judge his premiership on the government’s ability to “make people feel better off”. Well, in the capital the Prime Minister shouldn’t be expecting a warm reception from young Brits, who are feeling the pinch of the [...]