Badenoch’s inheritance tax gamble Economics The Midday Market report is a new newsletter from City AM, giving you fresh analysis on the biggest stories in the City straight into your inbox every lunchtime. Today, Ali Lyon chews over Kemi Badenoch’s Tory conference inheritance tax overhaul, and what it might mean for the UK’s irrational tax system. Sign up to the [...]
Badenoch puts Tories on difficult path to the right destination Politics Party conference season has come to an end, having barely registered for most voters beyond an extra dose of politics on the news and in their feeds. Party leaders always have to balance two audiences: their supporters in the hall and the sceptics at home. As a new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham’s conference speech was [...]
Despite what they say, the Tories are still in hock to their greying base Opinion Badenoch is developing a coherent policy agenda, but without a plan for helping Nick, 30 ans, the Tories will remain a party only for the old.
Cut stamp duty to reap £4bn windfall, Berkeley urges Healey October 6, 2026 One of Britain’s biggest housebuilders has urged John Healey to slash stamp duty on newly built homes, in a move which it says would hand the Treasury a £4.2bn windfall. In its Budget submission, London-listed Berkeley Group told the Chancellor that urgent action was needed to prevent the housing market from “sliding over an economic [...]
Top Tory pleads with young people to stay in Britain October 5, 2026 Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith has urged young people to stay in Britain and support the Conservatives as he highlighted the Tory pitch to young people amid a row over the party’s commitment to keeping the triple lock pension. In a speech to party members on Monday, Griffith said Tory policies to scrap stamp duty and [...]
Property tax uncertainty causes London luxury rents to soar September 21, 2026 Uncertainty over how the government might shake up property taxes at next month’s Budget is contributing to huge increases in the cost of renting a luxury house in London. Luxury property experts said fears that Andy Burnham could crack down on high-value homes, along with an influx of demand from the US and the Middle [...]
London house price slowdown worsens as luxury areas lose value September 16, 2026 House prices losses in London accelerated in June as the capital’s most sought-after postcodes shed value again. The average house price in London dropped by 3.3 per cent in July to £550,000, worse than June’s 2.5 per cent fall, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The capital’s most affluent postcodes have suffered sharp [...]
Barratt Redrow hopes to defy housebuilding gloom by splashing cash September 15, 2026 As some of London’s listed housebuilders take emergency measures to cut costs amid rising building costs and stagnant demand for homes, one firm is splashing the cash. Barratt Redrow, which will announce its full-year numbers on Wednesday, defied the miserly approach taken by its rivals earlier this summer when it said it will buy back [...]
Stamp duty reform is ‘urgent,’ Berkeley tells Burnham September 11, 2026 Berkeley has urged Andy Burnham to commit to “urgent reform” to stamp duty, which it says has become a “binding constraint” on housebuilders and buyers. The FTSE 250 firm said that stamp duty is to blame for the slump in demand for new homes, because it makes first-time-buying unaffordable and dissuades existing homeowners from moving [...]
Mortgage rate hikes cost London homebuyers £35,000 August 27, 2026 The surging mortgage rates caused by the Iran war have forced the average London homebuyer to fork out an extra £35,500 for their deposit. The rising cost of borrowing caused by the Middle East conflict has meant that the average deposit in the UK is £18,400 higher than in January – though costs have risen [...]