Butlin’s boss: We’re not going to tax ourselves to success August 26, 2025 The chief executive of holiday park chain Butlin’s has hit out at Chancellor Rachel Reeves after saying increases taxes on businesses is not the way to improve the UK economy. Speaking on an up-coming episode of City AM‘s Boardroom Uncovered show, Jon Hendry Pickup said the country is “not going to tax ourselves to success” [...]
Rachel Reeves to slash environmental protections to boost builders August 18, 2025 Rachel Reeves is looking to take the axe to environmental protections blocking infrastructure projects in a bid to boost Labour’s building pledges. The Chancellor is considering reforms to prevent nature concerns from inhibiting new developments as she desperately looks to supercharge her growth agenda. Labour’s Planning and Infrastructure bill is in the committee stage at [...]
UK’s AI vision faces infrastructure reality check July 25, 2025 The UK government has set ambitions to become a global leader in AI research, safety and commercialisation. Over £2.5bn has been committed to compute infrastructure, with new supercomputers being built in Edinburgh and Bristol, and “AI Growth Zones” being launched across regions including Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. But a growing chorus of voices [...]
Starmer and Macron hope for ‘progress’ on defence and migration at summit July 5, 2025 Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have said they hope to make “good progress” on issues including migration and defence when they meet next week, Number 10 has said. The two leaders will hold a summit when the French President travels to the UK for a state visit next week, with the two leaders speaking [...]
Exclusive: Starmer and Macron assemble top bosses for summit July 4, 2025 Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron are planning to bring together 20 of their countries’ top business leaders for a cross-sector gathering as part of the French President’s first state visit to the UK, City AM can reveal. Set to take place on Wednesday, chief executives and founders from France and Britain will convene in London [...]
Rachel Reeves at risk of becoming shortest-serving Labour Chancellor July 2, 2025 Rachel Reeves is at risk of becoming the shortest-serving Labour Chancellor in history after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer declined to give her a public show of support. The PM was facing questions at Prime Minister’s Questions today over his handling of a welfare reform package which has been stripped of key elements to limit [...]
Government announces concessions to welfare bill in ‘screeching U-turn’ June 27, 2025 People who currently receive the personal independence payment (Pip) will continue to do so after the government made concessions to Labour rebels on controversial welfare reforms. A letter from Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall to MPs said adjustments to universal credit would also see incomes protected. The announcement comes after crisis talks with backbenchers, [...]
Starmer thanks business for shouldering tax burden June 26, 2025 Keir Starmer has thanked the British business community for bearing the brunt of his government’s tax raid in last year’s Budget, acknowledging he had asked a lot of UK plc since entering office. Addressing the British Chambers of Commerce’s (BCC) annual conference, the Prime Minister said the £23bn hike to employer national insurance contributions (NICS) [...]
UK cement sector ‘at risk of cracking’ despite industrial strategy June 23, 2025 Production in the UK cement sector is rapidly declining, according to industry leaders, despite government efforts to slash high electricity prices as part of its industrial strategy published on Monday. Prime Minister Keir Starmer appealed to thousands of manufacturers across the country with plans to reduce energy bills by 25 per cent from 2027 after [...]
UK business confidence bounces back from Trump’s tariff blow May 30, 2025 UK business confidence rallied in May as global financial markets made their recovery from President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught. Lloyds Bank business barometer jumped 11 points over the last month to 50 per cent. – marking a nine month high. The lender surveys 1,200 companies and weighs up the percentage of firms that have a [...]