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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Autumn Budget: Investor confidence crisis ‘remains live’

December 1, 2025

The likelihood of an investor confidence crisis in UK assets after last week’s Autumn Budget “remains live” and markets will “gradually lose faith” in the government’s fiscal plans despite the initial reaction being largely positive, an economics consultancy has said. A fresh analysis published by Oxford Economics said the government’s frontloaded spending and backloaded tax [...]
‘We’ve been lied to’: Hospitality in uproar over business rates overhaul

November 28, 2025

A 5p reduction in business rates for hospitality and retail was held up by the Chancellor as a sign the government was listening to their concerns. But – writes Ali Lyon – as business owners calculated what it meant for their bottom line, they discovered that the devil was in the detail. It was supposed [...]
‘Fiscal fiction’: IFS challenges Reeves’ tax measures

November 27, 2025

The Chancellor may need to come back for more tax rises at a future Budget, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) which warned much of the headroom Rachel Reeves carved out for herself relied on “near heroic restraint” on departmental spending in an election year. Helen Miller, the think tank’s director, said that [...]
UK remains in ‘weak fiscal position’ after Budget

November 27, 2025

The UK remains in a weak fiscal position after Wednesday’s Budget despite the Chancellor launching an historic fiscal consolidation in an attempt to shore up the public finances and avoid another tax raising budget, several top economists have warned. Rachel Reeves chose to hike taxes by £26bn via a vast combination of sector-specific levies, pension [...]
Autumn Budget: Reeves pushes ahead with ‘mansion’ tax

November 26, 2025

A mansion tax will be introduced on homes worth more than £2m, Rachel Reeves confirmed, despite warnings from the property industry that the move was fraught with practical difficulties and would lead to a fire sale of high-end homes. The Chancellor ploughed ahead with widely rumoured plans to apply a “high-value council tax surcharge” on [...]
OBR accidentally publishes full Budget before Reeves speech

November 26, 2025

The government will freeze income tax thresholds, implement a mansion tax and freeze fuel duty according to an unprecedented leak from the government’s fiscal watchdog that revealed its full scorecard for the Budget update before the Chancellor delivered her speech. The Office for Budget Responsibility released its full report on the government’s fiscal plans for [...]
Budget: Income tax thresholds frozen by Rachel Reeves

November 26, 2025

Income tax thresholds will be frozen until the end of the decade, despite the Chancellor previously branding the tax trick as a “stealth tax” tantamount to “pickpocketing”from working people. According to the OBR’s unprecedented leak of Budget contents, the Chancellor chose to freeze the bands at which different rates of income tax are introduced for [...]
Rival Heathrow bidder vows to plough on despite proposal snub

November 26, 2025

The hotel billionaire behind a rival bid to develop Heathrow’s third runway has vowed to continue his pursuit to oversee the expansion despite ministers favouring a proposal submitted by the hub’s current owner that involves rerouting the M25. Transport secretary Heidi Alexander confirmed on her decision to proceed with the £49bn vision from Heathrow Airport [...]
Bond market braces for gilt and sterling tremors

November 26, 2025

Bond market participants are bracing for a fresh round of turbulence in the aftermath of Wednesday’s Budget, with investors rejigging their exposure to gilts having warned the Chancellor’s fiscal plans are “very much under the microscope”. Rachel Reeves is expected to use her second major fiscal shake-up mount a historic tax and spend consolidation in [...]
BCC boss: Enough taxes. The Budget must tell a positive story

November 25, 2025

Last autumn, the British Chambers of Commerce and its members were left shell-shocked when a party that promised to be the most ‘pro-business in history’ used its maiden Budget to deliver a succession of hammer blows to the private sector. Having shouldered the burden last year, boss Shevaun Haviland wants this year’s instalment to paint [...]

UK economy grew slower than expected at the end of 2025

Sport’s overreachers like Sussex and Leicester are guilty of hope not greed

Four funky and flavoursome Jamaican Rums

By: Ali Lyon

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