Take it from someone homeless, cutting stamp duty will improve lives October 9, 2025 The Conservatives will make homeownership easier, but we must make it easier to build too, says Laurence Fredricks I am a senior researcher at Onward, leading our work on housing policy, and a Policy Fellow at Conservative YIMBY. But as a consequence of London’s housing affordability and availability problem, I am also homeless. Months of [...]
Autumn Budget: ‘Window is closing’ on Labour’s growth mission October 9, 2025 Ahead of the Autumn Budget, City Reporter Samuel Norman sits down with top industry names for a Budget Briefing. This week, chief executive of BusinessLDN shares what he thinks could be the capital’s 21st century moment. The “window is closing” on the government’s mission to achieve economic growth, the boss of London’s business advocacy group [...]
Nine in ten investors would back UK stocks if stamp duty scrapped October 9, 2025 Rachel Reeves is facing renewed calls to scrap stamp duty in a bid to boost the City’s market attractiveness on the global stage. Almost nine in ten UK retail investors said they would hike their investment in the country’s stocks if the levy – often dubbed a ‘shares tax’ – was scrapped, according to fresh [...]
Kemi gets the stamp of approval, but for how long? October 8, 2025 Kemi Badenoch’s speech at Conservative Party Conference was a vital moment to reset her leadership and reclaim her party’s mantle as the party of business. She rose to it, says Alys Denby One of the chief joys of Conservative Party Conference is being denounced as “Tory scum” by a protester standing outside in the rain. [...]
Kemi Badenoch pledges to abolish stamp duty October 8, 2025 Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has pledged to abolish stamp duty on primary residences to help support people moving into their first home as she centred her speech on backing people wishing to “get ahead in life”. In a speech delivered to Conservative Party members at its Manchester conference, Badenoch said the Tories would cut stamp [...]
Rachel Reeves plots stamp duty exemption for newly listed shares October 2, 2025 There are growing hopes for a revival for London’s moribund IPO market after reports chancellor Rachel Reeves is preparing to unveil a stamp duty exemption on shares of newly-listed companies. The move, which is set to be announced at the forthcoming Budget in November, would remove the 0.5 per cent tax charge on the buying [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Tesco shares rally; OpenAI nets $500bn price tag October 2, 2025 Good morning from the City AM liveblog team. The FTSE 100 is leading the City higher this morning as it continues to build on records sealed earlier in the week. The index rose 0.2 per cent to 9,464.91 this morning, following on from yesterday’s gains. Also continuing its rally was gold, propelled on by the [...]
Reeves considering ‘staggered stamp duty payments’ to boost housing market September 18, 2025 A proposal to spread stamp duty payments across several years, in an effort to drive growth and boost the housing market, is among changes to property tax being considered by the Treasury ahead of Budget discussions with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Suggested reforms to stamp duty would allow house buyers to pay the [...]
Reeves urged to give stamp duty holiday for fresh stock exchange listings September 14, 2025 Rachel Reeves has been urged to give a stamp duty holiday for companies when they list on London’s stock exchange as her Taskforce looks for ways to boost the beleaguered bourse. Representatives of the chancellor’s listings taskforce, which she set up after her Mansion House speech in July, have floated an up-to-five-year break on stamp [...]
Cabinet reshuffle: Lucy Rigby replaces Emma Reynolds as City minister September 6, 2025 Former solicitor general Lucy Rigby has been made Economic Secretary to the Treasury, a role often called the City minister, in the latest development in Starmer’s reshuffle. Rigby replaces Emma Reynolds, a former City lobbyist who had held the role since last July but who has now become environment secretary. In a post on X, Rigby said she was [...]