Analysts dampen outlook for FTSE 100 banks as tax clouds gather October 21, 2025 The UK’s top banks are gearing up for a third-quarter reporting season where all eyes will be on the Labour government’s second Autumn Budget. Speculation of a bank tax hike has dominated chatter around the sector in recent months and elevated fears across the City. It also comes alongside flaring tensions between the lending industry [...]
Labour’s alarmed by the Green surge? So am I. October 21, 2025 Spare a thought for Keir Starmer; he seems to have been so busy fighting a monster on the right, in the form of Nigel Farage, that he hasn’t noticed another deadly enemy emerging on the left. At least, that’s the concern expressed by some Labour MPs alarmed by the rise of the Greens and, specifically, [...]
Liverpool Street Chop House: Should you go over Hawksmoor, Boisdale? October 20, 2025 The closure of Threadneedle Street’s M Restaurant earlier this year, after a decade slinging the capital’s finest steak, was a genuine blow. One of the restaurants that helped the Square Mile shake off its stuffy reputation, it combined a meticulous, scholarly appreciation of meat with a sense of fun, even whimsy. Robot waiters, wine vending [...]
AWS outage: Amazon says recovery is underway October 20, 2025 A swathe of apps and online services went down on Monday morning, including Zoom, Slack and Coinbase. This follows a global Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage, with knock on effects hitting millions of users of thousands of apps and websites. Amazon has said that services are “seeing significant signs of recovery”, with Lloyds Bank saying [...]
Rachel Reeves’ growth policies scored by City AM October 20, 2025 As Rachel Reeves does her maths ahead of the 26 November Budget, she will hope that Labour’s policies have delivered enough growth to limit the number of tax hikes needed to restore her £9.9bn fiscal headroom. The fiscal black hole facing the Treasury could be between £20bn and £30bn due to higher borrowing costs, productivity [...]
Betfred founder: Tax rises are “biggest threat” to the industry October 19, 2025 Betfred shops could vanish from UK high streets if Chancellor Rachel Reeves carries out a potential tax raid in the November budget, the company’s co-founder and chairman has warned. Fred Done, who founded the business in 1967 with his brother, hailed tax rises as the “biggest threat” to the industry he has seen in his [...]
FTSE suffers worst day since April amid credit market jitters October 17, 2025 The FTSE 100 suffered its worst session since April on Friday, after a sell-off in US regional banks caused jitters to sweep through global equities markets. Banks led losses on the UK’s blue-chip index as a risk-off mood prevailed across the world, with bond yields falling and the price of gold hitting yet another all-time [...]
FTSE 100 Live: BBVA Sabadell bid falls through, tax rises in focus October 17, 2025 Good morning from the City AM liveblog team. Rachel Reeves isn’t going to introduce a Wealth Tax, but she is going to tax the wealthy. She isn’t going to impose austerity, but she is going to get spending under control. Confused? Speculation over the contents of next month’s Budget has reached fever pitch, and it’s [...]
On this day in 1814: The London Beer Flood October 17, 2025 On this day in 1814, the perils of drink would show themselves in an unexpected but deadly way in the London Beer Flood, writes Eliot Wilson.
Local councils are standing in the way of regenerating our high streets October 17, 2025 Local councils make running a business in Britain a bureaucratic nightmare, says Preston Benson I moved here from the United States over 20 years ago, became a British citizen along the way, and have spent my career investing in the UK’s towns and cities. I have learned you can survive a pandemic, an energy crisis, [...]