AI data centre race reaches rural Devon as Xlinks eyes £3.6bn campus June 29, 2026 Britain’s race to build the infrastructure underpinning AI is moving beyond its traditional data centre heartlands, with Xlinks unveiling plans for a £3.6bn AI campus in north Devon as developers search for land and grid capacity. The energy developer, whose Morocco-UK power project was shelved by the government earlier this year, wants to build a [...]
‘Anti-growth’: Labour blocks City of London skyscraper plans June 29, 2026 The government has been branded “anti-growth” by the City of London Corporation after a minister blocked plans to build tall buildings near the Tower of London. In a letter to planning chiefs, the housing minister Matthew Pennycock said the authority for the Square Mile should not be able to go ahead with its skyscraper plans [...]
Is Andy Burnham a left-wing Liz Truss? June 29, 2026 Say what you like about Andy Burnham (and I intend to say a lot) but he’s not short on ambition. Armed with a single by election victory he now intends to oversee “the biggest change in our lifetime to the way Britain is run.” The PM-in-waiting had popped down to London for some selfies before [...]
Sky owner Comcast announces plan to split June 29, 2026 Comcast, the US media behemoth which owns Sky TV, has announced plans to split in two. The deal comes just as Sky is agreeing terms of a multi-billion-pound acquisition of part of ITV, which would unite the UK’s biggest pay-TV provider with the channels and streaming platform of its dominant free-to-air service. London traders looked unperturbed at [...]
‘Biggest change in our lifetime’ – Burnham vows ‘greater public control’ over utilities June 29, 2026 Andy Burnham has vowed to empower local government to take “greater public control” over energy, housing, water and transport as councils are set to be handed greater powers as part of sweeping economic and political reform. In a speech on Monday setting out his 10-year vision to raise living standards, the likely next Prime Minister [...]
British American Tobacco rolls out plan for thousands of job cuts in AI streamlining June 29, 2026 British American Tobacco is to cut thousands of jobs in the latest sign of artificial intelligence transforming outsourcing initiatives at some of the City’s biggest names. The FTSE 100 firm expects to cut 5,500 jobs by the end of the year, it said in a statement on Monday. Alongside the cuts, 3,500 more jobs will [...]
BT tops FTSE 100 after finding new home for international business with Verizon joint venture June 29, 2026 BT unveiled a new home for its international operations on Monday, in a move the £19.5bn firm called a “milestone”, which sent its shares to the top of the FTSE 100. A joint venture with Verizon of the US will target multinational customers and help the former monopoly concentrate on its domestic market. BT will [...]
As it happened: Supreme Court blocks Trump sacking; Andy Burnham vows ‘greater public control’; Comcast spin-off June 29, 2026 Good afternoon from the City AM liveblog team. News of a major spin-off deal in the media sector is providing the main talking point during the New York trading day, helping lift stocks up after the tech sector weighed on the market over the previous session. Sky owner Comcast’s announcement that it will set up [...]
Burnham to unveil plans for devolution and ‘reindustrialisation’ June 28, 2026 Andy Burnham will unveil plans to devolve power away from London and shift some government operations to a “Number 10 in the North”, as the Prime Minister-to-be calls for a change in “how Britain is governed”. In a speech focused on growth on Monday morning, Burnham will say that a 10-year plan will focus on [...]
Whoever’s our next PM, please let the City help you June 28, 2026 No matter who inhabits 10 and 11 Downing Street, the City Corporation is ready to help drive growth, writes Chris Hayward.