By: Christian May

Editor-in-Chief Christian May is the Editor-in-Chief of City AM. He served in the role from 2015 to 2020 and returned in 2024. He writes the daily Editor's Letter for print and online and releases The Week in Business roundup video each Thursday. He is particularly interested in the health of London's capital markets, economic policy, politics, regulation and business activity in the City of London. He regularly appears in the broadcast media and presents a daily Business News slot on LBC at 0730, Monday to Friday. Find Christian on X and LinkedIn.

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Week in Business: Will Starmer Slash the State?

March 13, 2025

Javier Milei, Elon Musk, and now Keir Starmer? The PM says he wants to reform the state - just don't call it austerity.
Will Starmer’s chainsaw be Black & Decker or Fisher Price?

March 13, 2025

On Monday I used this column to ask who, if anyone, will have the courage to take a chainsaw to the British state. It’s an inelegant metaphor, but an effective one as Argentina’s Javier Milei and Elon Musk in the US revel in the process of hacking away at state infrastructure. Milei won his election [...]
Starmer needs to “smash the gangs” behind shoplifting and phone theft

March 12, 2025

The clip shared on social media yesterday by the BBC’s Nicky Campbell was unremarkable only because variations of it can be seen every day. Two men frantically empty shop shelves of cosmetics, pouring them into large bags while onlookers film the outrageous scene. They make no effort to hide their faces and when their bags are [...]
Labour’s growth agenda? Necessary but not sufficient.

March 11, 2025

Ministers will be deeply frustrated at the lack of economic growth, though they ought not to be surprised. Their own missteps have been well covered in this newspaper, and week after week new survey data reveals the extent to which government policies have dampened spirits, reduced hiring and spooked confidence. However, while their opening salvo [...]
Week in Business: Who will Rachel Reeves blame for higher taxes in Spring Statement?

March 6, 2025

City AM Editor Christian May looks at the biggest business stories in his weekly video, today focusing on the UK economy and upcoming Spring Statement.
Reeves is gearing up for a blame game

March 6, 2025

You can hear the spin a mile away; as the Chancellor’s team prepares for the Spring Statement the groundwork is being laid. Despite the fact that the inevitable consequences of the government’s multi-billion pound tax raid on businesses have been clear for months, with economic growth suffocated, sources close to the Chancellor are telling the [...]
Net Zero: weak economic growth, high energy prices and stagnant productivity?

March 5, 2025

How many times have we heard the argument that there is no trade-off between pursuing Net Zero and economic growth? The argument lies at the heat of the country’s economic, climate and environmental policy debate. The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, repeats the mantra at every opportunity – “clean energy and Net Zero equals good jobs [...]
A win on the world stage masks mounting trouble at home

March 4, 2025

Keir Starmer has won plaudits for his decision to increase defence spending (albeit by less than the amount he’s given Ed Miliband to run a pretend energy company) and voters appear to be firmly behind the PM’s decision to fund this modest splurge by raiding the international development budget. The latest City AM Freshwater Strategy [...]
Week in Business: Will more defence spending mean higher taxes?

February 27, 2025

Cutting the international aid budget to boost defence spending – sounds like a fair exchange in a time of war and hazard – but there’s more to this announcement than meets the eye. The Prime Minister was deadly serious when he stood up in the Commons this week to declare that the country faces a [...]
Is Kemi Badenoch up for the fight?

February 27, 2025

What is Kemi Badenoch for? If you’re now asking yourself “who’s Kemi Badenoch?” then she really is in trouble. In the four months since being elected leader of the Conservative Party, she has attempted to make a virtue out of vagueness. She explains, not unreasonably, that her party has to reflect on what went wrong [...]

Baillie Gifford in line for Anthropic windfall just months after £3.6bn SpaceX bonanza

England’s secret weapon against World Cup heat? British company’s £26 product

Old Pulteney releases 50-year-old whisky for 200th anniversary

By: Christian May

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