Is Rachel Reeves breaking up with the OBR? May 14, 2025 City AM’s City Editor, Simon Hunt, unpicks the stories that get the Square Mile talking Rachel Reeves will do anything to keep the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) on side. Or so we thought. The chancellor made a number of last-minute changes to her Spring Statement to ensure her fiscal headroom stayed on target, including [...]
FCA to rip up insurance rules in drive for growth May 14, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority has outlined plans to ditch “outdated or duplicated” insurance rules in a bid to help firms reduce costs and drive competition. The City regulator’s fresh proposals would hand firms greater responsibility over reviewing the value of their product. This would involve companies using the risks and characteristics of each individual product [...]
Business Secretary can’t commit to lower energy costs in industrial strategy May 14, 2025 Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds was unable to confirm whether the government’s upcoming industrial strategy will include a roadmap to lower industrial energy costs and help for businesses wrestling with high prices. Reynolds faced questions from MPs on the Business and Trade committee yesterday over whether he could guarantee lower costs for industry. He told the [...]
UK jobs markets suffers a fainting fit…will the patient get worse? May 14, 2025 We now know that since the start of the year the number of payrolled employees in the UK has fallen by around 100,000 – adding to the emerging narrative that when it comes to employment, things are going in the wrong direction. Fewer people employed, fewer vacancies and fewer jobs likely to be created. The [...]
‘Cautious welcome’: City bigwigs react to Mansion House Accord May 14, 2025 City analysts and politicians have been probing the ramifications of the Mansion House Accord, a new deal spearheaded by the government that aims to encourage more diverse investments by pension funds. The accord, which was signed by seventeen major pension funds yesterday, is a voluntary commitment to allocate ten per cent of funds to private [...]
UK research fund suffering from Labour’s lack of strategy, watchdog says May 14, 2025 The government should give the UK’s largest single public fund for scientific and technological research more deadlines and clearer targets in order for projects to succeed, an independent watchdog has said. The National Audit Office (NAO) said the government should better communicate its policy priorities to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which has a budget [...]
Defence secretary tells City sector is ‘open for business’ May 13, 2025 Defence secretary John Healey has unveiled plans to open a “marketplace” that will allow suppliers from different areas of the economy to support defence firms, telling an audience at the London Stock Exchange that “UK defence is open for business.” Healey announced the new scheme linking up the defence sector with companies in software, data [...]
Home Secretary defends PM’s immigration speech after backlash May 13, 2025 The Home Secretary has defended the Prime Minister’s choice of language after he received criticism for claiming that the UK risked becoming “an island of strangers” without major reform to the immigration system. Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, who was suspended from Labour after voting against welfare reforms, posted on X: “Talk of an “island [...]
Entrepreneurs! We need YOU to back Britain May 13, 2025 Governments don’t create growth, businesses do – and it’s time for Britain’s business leaders to move beyond the negativity and back this great country, says John Caudwell I’ve always believed in Britain. Through the ups and the downs – from the boom years and the Brexit battles to the huge challenges presented by the Covid [...]
Starmer’s trade deal triumphs fail to impress UK voters May 13, 2025 With Sir Keir Starmer’s approval ratings languishing below those of both the Reform UK and Conservative leaders, Downing Street would have hoped that signing trade deals with India and the US last week could have turned the dial on the PM’s unpopularity. However, despite the diplomatic coups voters appeared unmoved by Starmer’s success on the world [...]