FTSE 100 Live: Blow for Reeves as economy shrank ahead of Budget December 12, 2025 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Today fresh economic data has given another crucial assessment of the Chancellor’s growth agenda. The UK economy shrank 0.1 per cent in October as businesses paused investments amid consistent rumours around upcoming tax hikes in Rachel Reeves’ second Autumn Budget. A Bloomberg poll of City economists had predicted the Office [...]
Public spending fuelled growth spurt ‘no cause for celebration’ December 12, 2025 Labour’s “spend now, tax later” approach to fiscal policy will drive higher growth than previously expected, an industry group has said, but will leave UK public finances in a “vulnerable” position. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) upgraded its growth forecast for next year from 1 per cent to 1.3 per cent, with an extra [...]
Martin Lewis discovers the stock market December 11, 2025 All of us at City AM would like to give a heartfelt congratulations to personal finance guru Martin Lewis for his discovery of the stock market. This newfound enthusiasm could even see him in the running for the City Champion gong at next year’s City AM Awards. Lewis opened his ITV money show this week [...]
Lib Dems and Tories erupt in row over Employment Rights Bill December 11, 2025 The Liberal Democrats and the Tories have clashed over a late evening vote on the Employment Rights Bill that saw LibDem peers fall in behind the Labour government. Tory business speaker Andrew Griffith accused the Liberal Democrats of voting with Labour in the House of Lords on Wednesday night on the basis that the party [...]
2025: It’s been one hell of a year for UK business December 11, 2025 From political drama to market volatility, cyber attacks, takeovers and trade wars – 2025 has not been plain sailing. January: motor finance and angry farmers We began the year reporting on the exodus from the London stock exchange noting that 2024 had been the quietest year on record for new listings and we suggested that [...]
Big banks SME lending comeback slowed down by Budget jitters December 11, 2025 High street banks’ return to small business lending slowed in the third quarter of 2025 after the chaos on the road to the Autumn Budget dampened activity in the economy. Big banks dished out nearly £4.2bn in total loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the three months to 30 September – a level [...]
Rachel Reeves’ Budget was ‘monumentally mishandled,’ says London-listed bank December 11, 2025 A London-listed bank has given its scathing assessment of Rachel Reeves’ second Autumn Budget and warned of the impact it will have on consumer confidence. S&U – which was founded in 1938 and once known as Sports and Utilities – said the performance of its motor finance and property financing arms was “remarkably resilient given [...]
Sadiq Khan has derailed Labour’s nationalisation plans December 11, 2025 How is Keir Starmer’s plan to renationalise Britain’s railways going? Badly, if events in London are anything to go by. Yesterday we learned that Transport for London has awarded a £3bn, 10-year contract to First Group to operate the London Overground when the current contract with Arriva expires next year. That’s in direct conflict with [...]
English Common Law: Britain’s greatest soft power December 11, 2025 From London’s boardrooms to Abu Dhabi’s courtrooms, English law shapes the rules of global business as it quietly but decisively finds itself at the heart of international deals and disputes. The late Joseph S. Nye defined ‘soft power’ in the 1980s as “The ability to affect others to obtain the outcomes one wants through attraction [...]
Labour rail pledge in doubt after £3bn private contract to run London Overground December 11, 2025 London Mayor Said Khan has caused a row within the Labour party after First Group was awarded a £3bn deal to operate the London Overground, a move which seemingly flies in the face of Labour’s manifesto commitment to bring railways back into public ownership. On Tuesday the London-listed transport group revealed that it would begin [...]