Manufacturing order books suffer sharp drop October 23, 2025 Manufacturing activity in October suffered a sharp drop amid high interest rates and uncertainty around the upcoming Budget, a new survey has found. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI)’s latest industrial trends survey has shown that the total orders balance fell to minus 38. The CBI said September’s figure showed a score of minus 28. [...]
Treasury’s LLP tax proposal could add £46,000 burden per partner October 23, 2025 Law firms’ partners could face an additional £1.4bn in tax each year if the Treasury goes ahead with imposing a 15 per cent rate of national insurance contributions on LLPs. According to data provided by HMRC to UHY Hacker Young, partners of law firms made a total of £9.2bn in profits in the latest year. [...]
How to actually grow the economy October 23, 2025 In this special edition of The Week in Business, City AM Editor Christian May talks to Lord Matthew Elliott about his new book, co-authored with Dr Arthur Laffer, Douglas McWilliams and Lord Michael Hintze: Prosperity Through Growth – Boosting Living Standards in an Age of Autocracy and AI. The book is based on interviews with [...]
Tony Blair calls on Labour to ditch key net zero target October 23, 2025 Tony Blair’s think tank has called for the government to ditch its 2030 clean power target as it urged the Labour government to focus on making electricity cheaper in order to persuade Brits to use it over gas. In a report published by the Tony Blair Institute (TBI), researchers called for the government to “solve” [...]
Lloyds finance boss refuses to rule out motor finance legal challenge October 23, 2025 The finance boss of Lloyds Banking Group has refused to rule out a legal challenge to the financial watchdog’s motor finance redress scheme after the bank’s provision for payouts under the scheme dealt a blow to its bottom line. William Chalmers, the chief financial officer of Lloyds, said the FTSE 100 giant was “concerned” about [...]
Is Brexit really to blame for the Chancellor’s growth headache? October 23, 2025 As the government prepares the public psyche for substantial tax hikes at next month’s Budget, the Chancellor has taken a Brexit-shaped risk. Keir Starmer’s government has largely opted for caution over talking about relations with the European Union. The Prime Minister has insisted that re-opening the Brexit debate would bring only “turmoil” but he also [...]
St James’s Place continues on its path to redemption October 23, 2025 The UK’s leading wealth manager, St James’s Place, has continued on with its work to move past its 2024 downfall, reporting a “strong quarter” as funds under management hit record highs. Gross inflows increased to £5.7bn, a 30 per cent jump from the £4.4bn recorded the previous year, while net inflows jumped 98 per cent, [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Lloyds takes profit beat, LSEG new investment October 23, 2025 Good morning from the City AM liveblog team. Just how much is the motor finance redress scheme going to cost Britain’s biggest banks? Yesterday’s results from Barclays offered an insight – and it wasn’t pretty. The Canary Wharf-based bank almost quadrupled the provision it had set aside to cover motor finance claims, from under £100m [...]
Autumn Budget: Reeves told avoid ‘pick and mix’ tax grabs October 23, 2025 Ahead of the Autumn Budget, City Reporter Samuel Norman sits down with top industry names for a Budget Briefing. This week, the managing director of TheCityUK warns Reeves not to patch up the tax tire just for it to deflate once more. The Chancellor has touted financial and professional services for their role “at the [...]
Only one in three Brits think home ownership is achievable in their lifetime October 23, 2025 Only 30 per cent of Brits expect to be able to afford a home within their lifetime, according to fresh research. Home ownership has become increasingly out of reach for Brits in the last three decades as wage increases have failed to keep up with rocketing house prices. The findings, from Barclays, represent a stark [...]