By: Ali Lyon

Chief reporter 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

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Inheritance tax haul hits another record

February 20, 2026

The government raked in a record amount of cash from inheritance tax, as receipts for the unpopular levy were boosted by frozen thresholds sucking in a record number of taxpayers and ballooning asset prices. The exchequer collected a total of £7.1bn between April 2025 and January 2026 from the tax, official HMRC figures show, a [...]
MPs want overhaul of Heathrow regulation before third runway

February 20, 2026

Nearly nine in 10 members of parliament do not think Heathrow’s ambitious third runway expansion should go ahead unless there is a major overhaul of its regulatory framework to help bring down costs. A fresh poll of British lawmakers found that 84 per cent are reluctant to vote through the historic expansion without the west [...]
Global Counsel to be placed into administration

February 19, 2026

Global Counsel’s 130 staff have been informed that the lobbying company founded by Peter Mandelson will be placed into administration as soon as tomorrow. City AM understands that despite a number of clients deciding to stay with the firm, the loss of business following the former US ambassador’s fall from grace has been substantial. A [...]
Manufacturing woes deepen as output falls again

February 19, 2026

The struggles afflicting Britain’s ailing manufacturing sector show no sign of reversing according to a closely watched poll, with industry participants reporting output volumes and order books had both continued to fall. According to the latest CBI industrial trends survey, production from the UK manufacturing sector fell by a weighted balance of 14 per cent [...]
Exclusive: Octopus to swerve new private stock exchange

February 19, 2026

Octopus Energy will not join the delayed Pisces private stock market when it launches, its boss Greg Jackson has said, in a sign the utilities giant is distancing itself from the project after attending an event for interested companies last summer. Jackson told City AM that his multi-billion-pound firm had “no plans” to trade its [...]
Reform UK: Robert Jenrick promises to ‘defuse benefits bomb’

February 18, 2026

Reform UK will restore the two-child benefits cap if it wins the next election, Robert Jenrick has confirmed in a speech in which he branded the Britain’s benefits system an “economic and moral disaster”. In his first formal remarks as the party’s Treasury spokesman, the former Tory shadow justice secretary confirmed Reform no longer supported [...]
Exclusive: Fintech unicorns lukewarm on Reeves’ stamp duty holiday

February 18, 2026

Two of Britain’s most exciting IPO candidates have told peers that the Treasury’s recent overhaul of stamp duty on shares will not be enough to convince them to list in London, City AM can reveal. Payments giant Zilch and banking software provider Thought Machine both used a recent meeting of industry heavyweights to raise concerns [...]
FCA chief: We can’t solve every problem with new rules

February 18, 2026

The Financial Conduct Authority will avoid introducing fresh rules as its stock response to new forms of market failure, its boss has said, as the regulator looks to avoid time-consuming consultation processes and speed up its action. Nikhil Rathi told the Fairer Finance podcast that “not every problem can be solved quickly” by the watchdog [...]
Jefferies: Starmer unlikely to be in office by July

February 17, 2026

Sir Keir Starmer is likely to be ousted from office before the end of July, according to a top investment bank which warned that irrespective of whether there’s a change in leadership the Labour party is likely to lurch leftwards on economic policy. Analysts at Jefferies said the Prime Minister had been left vulnerable by [...]
Hamilton Lane’s Erik Hirsch: We’re seeing a private credit witch hunt

February 17, 2026

Depending on which central banking chief you talk to, the burgeoning private credit industry is either a cause of insomnia, a “dark corner” of finance or an arcane lending practice whose participants are behaving like bankers in the run-up to the global financial crisis. To Hamilton Lane boss Erik Hirsch, though, it is simply an [...]

Fifa’s credibility is shot because it can’t decide what it wants to be

Fifa’s credibility is shot because it can’t decide what it wants to be

Ford Mustang Sutton CS800DH review: Taming a wild horse

By: Ali Lyon

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