Total UK government borrowing beats OBR forecast January 22, 2026 UK government has already borrowed more this year than the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast, official data has revealed, wrapping up a difficult 12 months for Rachel Reeves as she grapples with keeping public finances safe from further shocks. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated public sector borrowing to have been £11.6bn over the [...]
Mark Kleinman: Reeves’ ISA reforms pose more risk than reward January 22, 2026 Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly City AM column Reeves’ ISA reforms pose more risk than reward If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That sounds like the right epithet to apply to the Treasury’s approach to reforming individual savings accounts (ISAs), one of the [...]
Budget damage to housing market set to continue, experts warn January 22, 2026 The UK’s housing market will continue to suffer from the impact of months of budget speculation last year as seller confidence languishes, property experts have warned. While sellers and estate agents breathed a sigh of relief when November’s Budget steered clear of most of the property that had been feared, these experts told City AM [...]
FTSE 100 rebounds as Trump rules out taking Greenland by force January 21, 2026 Global markets bounced back into the green on Wednesday after President Donald Trump confirmed the US would not use military action to seize Greenland. In his address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump said: “All the US is asking for is a place called Greenland”. “We never ask for anything and we never [...]
Only pubs set to benefit from business rates U-turn as hoteliers barred January 21, 2026 Pubs will be the only businesses to benefit from the government’s business rates U-turn as other hospitality firms will be shut out from tax relief, Rachel Reeves has hinted. The Chancellor told reporters at Davos that pubs face a different situation to the rest of the sector, likely meaning hotels and other hospitality businesses will [...]
Wealthy London boroughs see house prices plummet amid Budget speculation January 21, 2026 Inner London house prices plummeted at their fastest pace since the global financial crisis in November, after property taxes speculation in the lead up to the Autumn Budget and affordability constraints damaged market activity. The 4.6 per cent year on year drop of house prices in the capital in November followed a 4.3 per cent [...]
Division in Davos: EU warns tariffs could hit US ‘very quickly’ January 21, 2026 The EU has warned that its retaliatory tariffs could be implemented “very quickly” after President Trump doubled down on his desire to annex Greenland. The EU’s economic commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, said the EU was prepared to respond to US tariff threats, dialling up the risk of an extraordinary clash between the world’s largest economy and [...]
Wetherspoon shares sink after business rates knock profit January 21, 2026 Wetherspoon shares slumped on Wednesday after the pub giant laid bare the scale of the financial hit from November’s tax-raising Budget. The FTSE 250 member said cost rises across energy, wages, repairs and business rates had put up costs by a staggering £45m in the 25 weeks to mid-January. That would imply a cost rise [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Trump to rock davos; Stocks dip after inflation January 21, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Inflation spiked above expectations this morning, coming in at 3.4 per cent, according to fresh figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This soared above a poll of economists by Bloomberg expecting 3.3 per cent. “Inflation ticked up a little in December, driven partly [...]
With not much else to offer, Reeves pitches ‘stable’ UK to Davos elite January 21, 2026 The Canadian PM and former governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, told an audience at Davos yesterday that “the old order is not coming back,” and that “there’s been a rupture in the world.” He said the structures we took for granted have been replaced by “a system of intensifying great power rivalry [...]