FTSE 100 Live: Barclays slumps on credit card cap, Fed’s Jerome Powell faces probe January 12, 2026 Good morning from the City AM liveblog team. The FTSE 100 broke through the five-figure mark last week in a welcome start to the year for the London markets. The index saw its best annual performance in 2025 since the recovery from the financial crash in 2009. That was helped along in no small part [...]
Business confidence lowest in nearly five years, BDO says January 12, 2026 Business confidence fell to its lowest level in nearly five years, an advisory company indicated, as the Labour government is expected to oversee a small improvement in the UK economy this year. BDO’s optimism index, which tracks sentiment by surveying 4,000 executives, dropped to its weakest reading since January 2021 at the end of last [...]
Manufacturers warn UK faces ‘tipping point’ on competitiveness January 12, 2026 The Labour government has been handed a major warning over the future of the manufacturing industry as the sector battles rising costs and pressures to shift business to shift overseas. A fresh survey from the sector’s industry body Make UK showed senior executives in manufacturing firms feared cost pressures would soon reach a “tipping point”. [...]
Trump official warns UK on ‘Russia-style’ X ban after Grok row January 11, 2026 A key Trump administration official has sent the UK a firm warning following speculation Elon Musk’s X platform may face a ban after a scandal around AI-generated images. Sarah Rogers, under-secretary for public diplomacy at the US State Department, issued a series of messages criticising the UK on the rumoured ban. Rogers said the UK [...]
Whitehall in talks with City for non-dom reform after exodus January 11, 2026 Whitehall is locked in talks with City bigwigs as the Labour government seeks to attract wealthy investors to the UK following the tumultuous fallout to the scrapping of the non-dom regime. The non-dom status was changed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the Autumn Budget 2024 and was swapped for a residence-based system that taxes all [...]
Starmer and Reeves ‘credibility shot’ after pubs tax U-turn, says Badenoch January 11, 2026 The credibility of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves has faced a bruising after they were forced to make a dramatic U-turn on their business rates reform for pubs, the leader of the Conservative party has said. Ministers are set to water down the business rates bombshell slapped on pubs following fierce [...]
Musk hits out at ‘fascist’ UK as row over X and its Grok AI escalates January 10, 2026 Elon Musk has accused Keir Starmer’s Government of being “fascist” after ministers stepped up threats to ban social media site X over AI-generated sexualised images. The tech tycoon claimed critics of his X platform “want any excuse for censorship” as he appeared defiant despite the outcry over the use of the Grok artificial intelligence feature [...]
Migrant visa applications plummet in test to Reeves January 10, 2026 Migrants’ skilled worker visa applications plummeted in December, posing a test to Rachel Reeves and economists at the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to take control of public finances. New figures showed that the number of skilled worker visa applications dropped to 2,500 in December, having increased to a peak of 10,100 in April 2024. [...]
Britain does not have to accept industrial decline January 9, 2026 Britain's industrial decline was not inevitable. It's time to revive Britain's industrial economy as a national priority, writes Rian Chad Whitton.
Pound to suffer ‘until May’ amid Starmer leadership troubles January 9, 2026 Sterling will suffer from speculation over Keir Starmer’s leadership until at least the May elections, economists have predicted, with 2026 tipped to become another year where Westminster infighting sparks City jitters. Analysts at Investec have suggested that the further strengthening of the pound will be held back by continued questions over Starmer’s authority across the [...]