Here’s how to fix London listings Opinion We need a whole of government effort to halt Britain’s companies falling prey to overseas bids, says Andrew Griffith Mitie’s takeover by rival facilities management group OCS marks the London Stock Exchange’s eleventh £1bn takeover so far this year. That’s before the Prologis bid for Segro. The cry will go up about the London Stock [...]
Burnham accused of gutting tech department’s ‘biggest strength’ Tech Andy Burnham’s decision to abolish the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) will split up the teams it was created to bring together, according to its former top civil servant. A leaked internal government document shows AI, digital and science responsibilities being divided between three departments as ministers begin dismantling DSIT less than three [...]
Healey: Squeezed businesses also need ‘breathing space’ Politics Chancellor John Healey has said he is “just as concerned” by costs facing businesses as those facing households, adding that bosses also required “breathing space” to manage burdens from energy, labour and supply chains. Echoing Andy Burnham’s pledge to provide “breathing space” on the cost of living, Healey said he would aim to ease cost [...]
‘Businesses are not cash machines’ – Badenoch calls on Burnham to rule out tax rises July 23, 2026 Kemi Badenoch has called on Andy Burnham to rule out tax rises as the new Prime Minister has made a series of small unfunded promises. The Tory leader said Burnham seemed “like a nice guy” and had a “sense of humour” yet she ridiculed the Prime Minister’s early flurry of policies. In her speech overlooking [...]
Will Burnham take the pressure off business? Don’t bank on it July 23, 2026 Andy Burnham’s big ambitions come with a big price tag. Our analysis shows a £22bn black hole of unfunded commitments, including the costs of honouring decisions announced in the dying days of Keir Starmer’s government, such as NHS pay rises and the Defence Investment Plan. If you add in the new PM’s other great ideas, [...]
Nearly 1m people to pay higher tax ‘by stealth’ July 22, 2026 Nearly one million people are being dragged into higher tax bands as the government’s “stealth” freezes take effect, according to new analysis. Data crunched by the Taxpayers’ Alliance has shown that fiscal drag – where freezes on tax bands mean workers are forced to pay more into HMRC as wages grow – will impact 1m [...]
UK government probes OpenAI breach after ‘unprecedented’ hack July 22, 2026 The UK government is probing the first known case of an artificial intelligence model breaking out of a controlled test by itself and hacking another company’s systems. Officials at the government-backed AI Security Institute (AISI) are investigating the security breach at OpenAI and whether similar incidents could occur at other top developers, a spokesperson told [...]
Anthropic payout piles pressure on UK ministers in AI copyright row July 22, 2026 The publishing industry has urged ministers to force AI companies to license copyrighted content after Anthropic agreed a record $1.5bn (£1.1bn) settlement over its use of pirated books to train AI models. Dan Conway, chief executive of the Publishers Association, told City AM the agreement should serve as a warning to AI developers operating in [...]
Former Southern Water boss charged with conspiracy to defraud July 22, 2026 The former boss of Southern Water is among four of the water firm’s ex-employees set to face criminal proceedings for conspiracy to defraud. The Environment Agency (EA) alleges that between January 2012 and December 2017 Matthew Wright helped manipulate the operator self-monitoring testing regime by implementing “artificial no-flow events” at wastewater treatment works. The government [...]
AI reduces founders’ need for capital, says Revolut Business July 22, 2026 AI is reducing the amount of capital startups need to build global businesses, shifting the battle for founders away from funding and towards which countries offer the best environment to scale, according to the head of Revolut Business. Speaking to City AM, James Gibson said AI had dramatically lowered the cost of building and operating [...]