Should Burnham dash for an early election? August 17, 2026 High on the Burnham bounce, an early election could be a tempting proposition for Labour. But the PM should heed caution, writes Eliot Wilson.
As It Happened: Stocks dip as oil’s ‘slowing demand’ in focus; Iran threatens to extend war August 14, 2026 Welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Oil prices are holding up at $87 per barrel this morning as investors remain locked in wait-and-see mode while monitoring new updates coming out of US-Iran negotiations and efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranian regime handed a major blow to peace optimism after suggestining it could [...]
Tory and Labour councillors spar over £300m Hammersmith Bridge plans August 14, 2026 Tensions are mounting between Labour and Tory councillors in nearby authorities over restoration plans for Hammersmith Bridge, which has been closed to motorists for seven years. Arch rivals in Hammersmith & Fulham and Wandsworth councils have sparred over an application to a £1bn government fund for infrastructure. The lack of progress over the bridge’s repair [...]
Vodafone defends migrant SIM scheme after Reform threat August 13, 2026 Vodafone has defended its charity SIM card programme after Reform UK threatened the telecoms giant with government contract bans and its bosses with prison over thousands of cards distributed through Care4Calais. The telecoms group said its programme provides SIM cards to registered UK charities for distribution to vulnerable people in Britain, after Reform shadow home [...]
War and tax: How the UK economy could get knocked off course August 13, 2026 Labour ministers may have some reason to be cheerful about the UK economy’s performance. Torsten Bell, the pensions minister who has long desired top jobs in the Treasury, lambasted “gloomsters” shortly after official data revealed growth in the second quarter of the year was 0.4 per cent. Even Rachel Reeves, who has remained largely silent [...]
Stamp duty on shares is ‘biggest handbrake’ says UK bank chief August 13, 2026 The boss of a London-listed bank and former Labour party donor has called for stamp duty on shares to be ditched in the Autumn Budget to boost trading from retail investors. Ian Corfield, the boss of Secure Trust Bank, told City AM one of the firm’s “biggest challenges is trying to generate liquidity into the [...]
UK economy weathers Iran war shocks but slowdown incoming August 13, 2026 The UK economy grew 0.4 per cent between April and June, official data has revealed, in a sign that businesses and consumers have so far weathered the worst shocks of the war in Iran. The growth figure from the Office for National Statistics was in line with analysts’ expectations but came alongside a surprise boost [...]
Devolution should mean regions competing for investment August 13, 2026 The next phase of devolution should focus less on how funding is distributed and more on how growth is rewarded, says Gus Wiseman For more than 30 years, governments have tried to rebalance England’s economy by directing funding towards regions outside London and the South East. Many of those programmes have delivered worthwhile projects, but [...]
Ten bold ideas to fire up the British economy August 13, 2026 City AM is about to take its traditional two-week break from printing the newspaper. Very French of us, I know. Don’t worry – the team’s not going anywhere and the website, app, newsletters and studios will continue to fire on all cylinders. But since this is the last Editor’s Letter I’ll pen before we fire [...]
Government debt repayment ‘could rise to half’ of total taxes August 13, 2026 Children and young people today could see nearly half of their taxes spent on servicing government debt, new modelling by a favoured Labour think tank has suggested. Research by the Institute for Public Policy Research, a left-leaning think tank that was formerly the workplace of several Labour ministers and advisers, has shown that debt interest [...]