Keir Starmer rocked by full-blown crisis as PM marks first year in office July 3, 2025 Keir Starmer is facing a full-blown political crisis as he marks his first year in office under pressure from disgruntled MPs, frustrated businesses and jittery financial markets. Speculation grew yesterday that Chancellor Rachel Reeves could be ousted from Number 11 after the PM failed to back her during questions in the House of Commons, with [...]
Financial and professional services sector ‘bedrock’ to UK economic growth July 3, 2025 The UK-based financial and professional services industry has continued to be "a bedrock of national economic strength", with nearly 2.5m people employed
Business confidence hit by tax fears as Rachel Reeves’ headroom crumbles July 2, 2025 British business confidence has been hammered by Labour’s tax blows but fears remain heightened the government will return for more. A survey by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) revealed 56 per cent of firms were particularly concerned about their tax burden, which comes as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer failed to rule out further [...]
Sacking Reeves would make a bad situation even worse July 2, 2025 This government has made plenty of mistakes but ditching Rachel Reeves would be by far the biggest. While my advice to ministers remains “I wouldn’t have started from here” I have to recognise that a misstep now could make a bad situation worse. And the situation is bad. As Labour marks its first full year [...]
M&A volumes jump as US bidders snap up UK tech July 2, 2025 US private equity firms are continuing to swoop for UK tech companies leading to a jump in merger and acquisition (M&A) volumes. Giants from across the Atlantic have taken a heightened interest in UK stock, which analysts pegged to the “cheap and undervalued” nature of equities. UK public M&A activity almost tripled in the first [...]
Gilt yields spike as doubt grows over future of Rachel Reeves July 2, 2025 Gilt yields spiked shortly after Keir Starmer refused to confirm whether Rachel Reeves would remain as Chancellor in an eventful PMQs during which she appeared visibly upset. The prime minister defended the government’s U-turn on the welfare bill, which could now prevent Labour from making £4.8bn savings baked into the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)’s [...]
Motor finance drags FOS complaints to highest since PPI scandal July 2, 2025 The motor finance row has dragged complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) to the highest level since the PPI scandal. Consumers lodged 305,726 complaints with the FOS in the year ending March 31 2025, which edged towards highs of 388,392 in year ending March 2019. Complaints regarding motor finance led the spike at 73,328. [...]
Bank of England policymaker urges faster interest rate cuts July 2, 2025 Bank of England dove Alan Taylor has urged his colleagues on the Monetary Policy Committee to vote for faster interest rate cuts to allow a “soft landing” on the inflation path. Bank officials voted to hold interest rates at 4.25 per cent in June, with inflation bouncing back up to 3.4 per cent in April [...]
Reeves on growth ‘hell slide’ after welfare U-turn as rebels call for wealth tax July 2, 2025 Rachel Reeves faces a “hell slide” in her ambition to balance economic growth with her “iron clad” fiscal rules following Labour’s U-turn on welfare. The Chancellor had hoped government plans for welfare reform would shed £5bn in spending as they targeted restrictions on personal independence payments (PIP) and limited the sickness-related element of universal credit. The [...]
Welfare: Starmer’s authority shattered as Reeves faces £5bn headache July 2, 2025 Sir Keir Starmer has suffered a devastating hit to his authority whilst a £5bn spending headache looms for Rachel Reeves following the government’s u-turn to avoid a catastrophic defeat of its welfare bill. Just days away from his one year anniversary in Downing Street, the PM faced the most substantial backbench rebellion of his premiership [...]