Will the Autumn Budget push up inflation? October 30, 2025 For a few weeks, there was one thing Rachel Reeves appeared to speak about more than anything else: inflation. Earlier this month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirmed inflation hit 3.8 per cent in the year to September, nearly double the Bank of England’s target rate. The IMF and the OECD said the UK [...]
The tax trap catching thousands of working pensioners October 30, 2025 Thousands of working pensioners found themselves ensnared in the income tax trap last year, as frozen thresholds yanked them into the higher tax bracket. According to a freedom of information request to HMRC by Interactive Investor, 77,000 pensioners found themselves paying 60 per cent income tax, up from just 34,000 three years ago. It was [...]
Tories call for Starmer to sack Rachel Reeves October 30, 2025 The Tories are calling for Keir Starmer to sack Rachel Reeves as Chancellor for breaking the law. In a ratcheting up of the political pressure on Reeves, the opposition party has said the Chancellor should be fired for failing to register her family home when she rented it out before moving to Downing Street. In [...]
Rachel Reeves rented out her home without a licence October 30, 2025 Sir Keir Starmer has ruled out an investigation into Rachel Reeves after she admitted that she rented out her family home without securing a licence. The Chancellor referred herself to an independent ethics adviser after being made aware on Wednesday that Southwark council required her to obtain a “selective” licence to let a property. Reeves [...]
How London’s luxury property market ground to a halt October 30, 2025 On Bishops Avenue, it is quiet. On a recent weekend walk down the mile-long parade of luxury mansions, not a single other person could be spotted strolling along the pavement. The property market for Hampstead-based The Bishops Avenue, known locally as Billionaire’s Row, is equally quiet. Aside from one high-end house snapped up by a [...]
Record number of UK businesses face financial woes ahead of Budget October 30, 2025 The number of UK businesses in ‘critical’ financial distress has surged as the economy cries out for certainty in Rachel Reeves’ November Budget. The number of businesses in ‘critical’ financial distress surged 78 per cent year-on-year, to 55,530 in the third quarter of 2025, up from 31,201 in the same quarter last year. The latest [...]
Rachel Reeves considers income tax hike and national insurance cut October 30, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves is eyeing up a simultaneous 2p hike to income tax and 2p cut to national insurance, it has been reported, in an effort to raise some £6bn. Reeves is considering the controversial tax hike, according to The Telegraph, which would breach the Labour Party manifesto and risk infuriating voters. It would also [...]
FTSE 100 Live: OpenAI plots IPO, Shell kicks off $3.5bn buyback October 30, 2025 Good morning from the City AM liveblog team. The war of words between banks and private credit ratcheted up on Wednesday, after a trio of bosses from private lenders rounded on claims their industry played a pivotal role in a string of recent debt-related collapses, branding it “misinformation”. During a fiery evidence session in the [...]
Could this be the clearest sign yet that the rich are leaving Britain? October 30, 2025 It’s hard to know quite how many of the super-rich are leaving London. Some say departure numbers are well into four figures so far this year – others that the estimates are overstated. We can’t get a precise number, but one thing is for sure: it’s happening. The anecdotal evidence of high net worth folk [...]
Mel Stride rules out electoral pact with Reform October 30, 2025 Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride has insisted the Conservatives will not strike an electoral deal with Reform UK due to their “completely ruinous” economic agenda. In an interview with a new online magazine led by the centre-right think tank Bright Blue, Stride said his party should avoid “indulging in populist politics” and focus on calling out [...]