Employment falls despite manufacturing output hitting new high February 2, 2026 Employment across the manufacturing sector dropped despite output jumping to its highest level in 17 months, new data has shown. Manufacturers continued shedding staff due to high pay and tax pressures, according to S&P Global’s latest purchasing managers index (PMI). The poor reading for the labour market came in direct conflict with more positive results [...]
Urban Pubs and Bars defies hospitality gloom with doubling of profit February 2, 2026 One of London’s biggest pub chains has defied hospitality gloom after posting a more than doubling of profit. Urban Pubs and Bars, which operates more than fifty venues across the capital including The Wren in Bank, the Commercial Tavern in Spitalfields and the Punch Tavern in Fleet Street, saw pre-trax profit climb to £1.7m for [...]
Mandelson to Epstein: JP Morgan should ‘threaten’ UK over banker tax February 2, 2026 Lord Peter Mandelson told Jeffrey Epstein that the boss of banking giant JP Morgan should “mildly threaten” the UK Treasury over a tax on banker bonuses whilst the peer was serving as business secretary. New bombshell revelations in the latest drop of the Epstein files by the US Department of Justice showed Mandelson, who worked [...]
Hundreds of Treasury jobs at risk in civil servant cost-cutting shakeup February 2, 2026 Rachel Reeves wants to slash about 300 of her department’s roughly 2,100 staff by 2030, as HM Treasury plans to offer officials up to £100,000 to take voluntary leave.The proposed cuts to the Treasury are part of a wider drive to reduce Whitehall’s administrative costs by 16 per cent, according to the Financial Times. The [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Miners lead stock fall as gold rout deepens February 2, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. There’s one big event the City is looking towards this week but all signs point to zero surprises. On Thursday, the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee will meet for the first time this year and decide whether to take the chop to interest rates. [...]
Arm boss says lack of risk appetite ‘holding UK back’ February 2, 2026 The chief executive of British semiconductor company Arm has said the UK’s lack of risk appetite is holding businesses back. Speaking on the Master Investor Podcast with Wilfred Frost, Rene Hass, who leads the Nasdaq-listed firm Arm holdings, said startups in the UK struggled to grow because of scale opportunities in the UK arising from [...]
Premium bonds fall short as investors miss out on thousands February 2, 2026 Premium bond holders are falling short compared to UK investors, missing out on thousands by choosing to dodge the stock market. Brits who keep capital instead of premium bonds instead of stocks could be losing out on almost £3,800 in earnings, according to data from investment platform Lightyear. The average premium bond holder with the [...]
Crackdown on social media migrant adverts to begin, Home Office says February 1, 2026 Social media users who tout illegal routes into the UK face up to five years in prison, starting on Monday. The Home Office will activate part of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act, passed last year, as part of its crackdown on adverts telling migrants how they can circumvent immigration checks. Border security minister [...]
Jenrick’s defection was “a mistake”, senior Tory claims February 1, 2026 A member of the shadow cabinet has said Robert Jenrick’s defection from the Conservatives to Reform UK was “a mistake”, fuelled by “frustrated personal ambition”. Shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, said Jenrick’s decision to join Nigel Farage’s party came from his upset about not being named party leader. Speaking to Sky News’s Trevor Phillips, he [...]
Starmer looks to woo Japanese investors amid Asia trip backlash January 31, 2026 Keir Starmer said he would hold discussions with investors and business owners in Japan after landing in Tokyo, with the Prime Minister hoping to defy critics of his recent trip to China with new deals to boost the UK economy. Speaking on a plane from Shanghai to Tokyo, Starmer said discussions with Prime Minister Sanae [...]