Brown dubs Mandelson row as ‘serious’ test for Starmer February 7, 2026 Gordon Brown has increased pressure on Keir Starmer by warning that the controversy surrounding Peter Mandelson’s links to Jeffrey Epstein represents a ‘serious’ test of the prime minister’s authority and judgement. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Brown defended Starmer’s personal integrity but said the Labour leader now faced an urgent task to restore trust after appointing [...]
China ties force co-founder exit at UK AI startup Fractile February 5, 2026 Co-founder of British AI chip startup Fractile left the company after concerns were raised internally about his links to China amid growing scrutiny of national security risks across the UK’s strategic tech sector. Yuhang Song, Fractile’s former chief technology officer, departed the business in May 2024 following questions over his academic background and earlier ties [...]
Court ruling tests Britain’s £1bn data centre power plans – and energy policy February 5, 2026 A High Court challenge to a £1bn data centre beside the M25 has exposed a glaring issue for Britain’s ambitious AI build out. Power hungry projects are effectively being approved before anyone is sure where the power will come from. The government has accepted that planning permission for a 90MW hyperscale facility at Iver in [...]
Visma hesitation tests London’s IPO revival February 5, 2026 Plans for what would be London’s biggest float in years are being held, as a brutal sell-off in global software stocks forces private equity to rethink. Visma, the €19bn (£16.6bn) software group backed by Hg Capital, may delay a London listing until the second half of the year, after markets turned sharply against the sector. [...]
Bank of England Live: Interest rates held in narrow 5-4 call February 5, 2026 Good morning and welcome to the City AM liveblog. The Bank of England’s monetary committee has decided to hold rates in its first meet of the year. Markets – and City AM‘s own Shadow MPC – had placed their bets on a hold as the Bank continues its gradual chop to the base rate. In [...]
Making Tax Digital set to boost SME productivity February 5, 2026 Britain’s push to digitise tax ahead of the Making Tax Digital (MTD) deadline is set to help close its productivity gap with countries like France and Germany, City AM understands. According to Starling Bank, wider use of digital financial tools by SMEs could add £25.3bn to the economy, helping to narrow the UK’s productivity gap [...]
Musk’s mega merger raises stakes for SpaceX IPO February 4, 2026 Musk’s decision to absorb xAI into SpaceX may strengthen its growth narrative ahead of a mooted IPO. Or, it could add a trifecta of complexity, regulatory exposure and executive risk at a particularly sensitive moment. The all-stock deal values the combined group at around $1.25 trillion (£910bn), making it the world’s most valuable private company [...]
AMD’s AI push gathers pace behind Nvidia February 4, 2026 Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) delivered another quarter of rapid growth, beating Wall Street forecasts on both revenue and earnings. Yet its shares tumbled as investors weighed what the numbers mean in a market still dominated by chip giant Nvidia. The chipmaker reported fourth quarter revenue of $10.27bn (£7.49bn), up 34 per cent year on year, [...]
LSEG, Sage, Rightmove shares fall as Anthropic AI rattles markets February 4, 2026 Shares in global software giants tumbled again on Wednesday morning as the latest AI innovation from Anthropic rattled global markets. The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) extended Tuesday’s losses falling near two per cent in early trading to lows of 6,774.00p before clawing back some gains. Meanwhile Rightmove led the index’s fallers, with a slump [...]
Anthropic’s new AI legal tool wipes billions off European data stocks February 3, 2026 Shares in Europe’s biggest data, publishing and legal software groups slumped after AI giant Anthropic unveiled a new tool aimed directly at in-house lawyers. The move rattled investors who had long viewed the sector as an AI winner. In London, Relx fell close to 11 per cent, while Pearson dropped around four per cent. London [...]
