Government to hit regulators with performance targets to drive innovation March 10, 2025 Regulators will be slapped with new performance targets in an effort to stimulate technological innovation and drive investment in the UK. According to Lord Patrick Vallance, the science minister, the benchmarks will be designed to accelerate innovation. Lord Vallance has suggested that this drive for innovation could result in commercial delivery drones, self-driving vehicles, and [...]
City chief to warn UK has become ‘allergic to risk’ February 12, 2025 The UK has become “allergic to risk”, the antidote to which “can’t come soon enough”, the City of London’s policy chair will warn in a speech today. Speaking at an annual jamboree on City policy, Chris Hayward will call for a cultural overhaul of how politicians and regulators perceive risk, and propose a slew of [...]
Chancellor Rachel Reeves ‘won’t apologise’ for reforming UK regulation January 29, 2025 Rachel Reeves has said that she “won’t apologise for wanting to reform how regulation works in Britain” after a major economic speech which saw her back a third runway at Heathrow. The Chancellor unveiled a suite of policies the Treasury said would “kickstart” economic growth, including an “action plan” intended to instil a pro-growth approach [...]
CMA to “brainstorm” growth ideas with business groups as pressure mounts January 27, 2025 The competition watchdog is set to be grilled by some of the UK’s biggest business bodies tomorrow as it looks to shore up confidence following the ousting of its chair by ministers last week. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which has faced anger from both the government and private sector over what has been [...]
‘It’s a clear message’: Reeves’ CMA scalp fires warning to regulators January 23, 2025 The government has sent a “clear message” to UK regulators by ousting the chair of competition watchdog, in what lawyers described as the “most overtly political” regulatory intervention of recent years. Marcus Bokkerink, who joined the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in 2022, was forced out of his role due to a “different approach” on [...]
The rise of the regulators December 10, 2024 Regulators have expanded massively over the last 50 years, in terms of headcount, expenditure and scope. This has created a risk aversion ratchet which is hampering growth and damaging democracy – there is another way, says James Vitali Over the past fifty years, a silent revolution has taken place in the British constitution. While central [...]
The Notebook: Jeremy Hunt’s fight with the FCA sets a dangerous precedent May 29, 2024 Lucy McNulty takes the Notebook pen to talk watchdog politics, election grandstanding, and what the FCA could learn from the PRA.
City group calls for scrutiny of UK regulators’ impact on competitiveness against international peers April 18, 2024 Greater comparison of the UK's financial regulators to their international counterparts is needed to better evaluate their secondary objective for competitiveness and growth, a top City body has argued.