By: Ali Lyon

Ali Lyon is the chief reporter at City AM, responsible for covering the full gamut of business, finance and wealth news. He has been at City AM full-time since July 2024. Get in touch with tips via email: ali.lyon@cityam.com. Follow Ali on X: @alilyon_94

Connect on socials

All 987 Articles

Bank of England cuts interest rates to near three-year low

December 18, 2025

The Bank of England has delivered a pre-Christmas rate cut, reducing its central interest rate to 3.75 per cent amid a deteriorating labour market and signs price rises will continue to slow into the new year. In a close 5-4 vote that was decided by Andrew Bailey, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) chose to reduce [...]
Britain is ‘too pessimistic’ to succeed

December 18, 2025

Britain is in the grips of an overly pessimistic mindset that is preventing it from taking the risks and making the reforms needed to reawaken its economy, the former chair of Deutsche Bank has said. Dr Paul Achleitner said that while structural issues were largely behind the paucity of growth across Europe and the UK, [...]
Government injects £120m into Ineos’s Grangemouth plant

December 17, 2025

The government has piled over £100m into Britain’s last remaining ethylene plant in Grangemouth, saving hundreds of livelihoods after its owner warned that sky-high energy costs had left it on the brink of closure. Ministers inked a “landmark partnership” with Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos on Wednesday to secure the future of the Falkirk plant, which [...]
FCA boss: Treasury and MPs slowing deregulation push

December 16, 2025

The pedestrian pace of government and parliament is preventing City watchdogs from introducing pro-growth measures fast enough, the boss of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said as he called for the introduction of statutory timetables to ensure the Treasury ratifies deregulation faster. Nikhil Rathi told the Treasury Committee that the FCA was “moving as [...]
Reform government would partially nationalise Rolls-Royce through ‘strategic stake’

December 16, 2025

A Reform government would partially nationalise Rolls-Royce as a quid pro quo for helping it ramp up its small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear programme “as fast as it possibly can”, its policy chief has said. In a wide-ranging interview setting out his party’s plans for the UK economy, Zia Yusuf told City AM that Reform [...]
‘Picking winners? This is about backing champions’ – Reform’s Zia Yusuf on a radical approach to business

December 16, 2025

Reform has by any measure enjoyed an incredible 2025. But for much of the poll-topping year, its economic vision has remained an unknown entity. Ali Lyon met policy chief Zia Yusuf to hear, for the first time, his party’s plans for Britain’s flatlining economy and the millions of businesses in it. Zia Yusuf is feeling [...]
Tribunal backlog hits record high ahead of workers’ rights bill

December 12, 2025

The backlog of employment tribunal cases hit a record high between July and September, in a further sign that the UK’s legal system will struggle to absorb any uptick in unfair dismissal claims caused by the government’s workers’ rights package. According to newly released Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures, there were a record 515,000 open [...]
Andrew Bailey: Private credit should have looser rules than banks

December 11, 2025

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has said regulation of the booming private credit sector should be more light-touch than traditional lenders despite the central bank’s fears that a blow-up of the industry remains one of the most significant threats to UK financial stability. Bailey told an online event that the fallout from a banking [...]
Millions more to get financial advice as part of FCA red tape shake-up

December 11, 2025

More than 18m savers will benefit from more detailed advice on their investments and pension in the next decade as part of a radical shake-up of financial red tape that the City watchdog has hailed as “game-changing”. The Financial Conduct Authority’s ‘targeted support programme’ will give financial services firms the ability to give tailored suggestions [...]
Landlords bar Labour MPs from pubs as hospitality backlash mounts

December 11, 2025

Hundreds of landlords have barred Labour MPs from their pubs as the hospitality sector stepped up its condemnation of a controversial business rates overhaul announced at last month’s Budget. Publicans across the country have locked their doors to Labour politicians, claiming the tax changes will disproportionately harm hospitality and push more boozers to the wall. [...]

The real AI risk isn’t job losses, it’s who can see what

Everton renew Stake partnership just months after Gambling Commission warning

A Midsummer Night’s Dream review: Fairy punk production doesn’t quite take flight

By: Ali Lyon

All 987 Articles

Subscribe