Reeves plans Autumn Budget tax raid on mansions November 1, 2025 Rachel Reeves is strongly considering a change to council tax payments as a way for owners of more expensive houses to pay more, according to people familiar with the matter. The move would be instead of a direct selling tax on expensive houses, which experts have warned would simply gum up the market as fewer [...]
Will the Autumn Budget push up inflation? October 30, 2025 For a few weeks, there was one thing Rachel Reeves appeared to speak about more than anything else: inflation. Earlier this month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirmed inflation hit 3.8 per cent in the year to September, nearly double the Bank of England’s target rate. The IMF and the OECD said the UK [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Natwest ups guidance, Retail sales rise October 24, 2025 Good morning from the City AM liveblog team. As we get closer and closer to the Budget, businesses are becoming more and more vocal on their concerns over what could be in store. Yesterday it was the turn of London estate agent Foxton’s, which warned of softened demand as a result of Budget uncertainty. “Macroeconomic [...]
RSM UK approves merger with US arm, backing partnership over private equity October 23, 2025 Accountancy firm RSM UK has greenlit a merger with its US sister, RSM US, to create a $5bn (£3.75bn) new partnership structure, in the first major transatlantic combination in the accountancy sector. It was reported last October that both firms were in talks, with a focus on the mid-market. On Thursday, after a “near-unanimous vote” [...]
London flat prices slump as market gets ‘reshaped’ October 22, 2025 The price of London flat has dropped year on year as prices remain under pressure from low demand and high supply. The average price of a flat in London fell by 2.6 per cent year on year to £445,000, according to the ONS. “This is a tough time to be selling a flat,” Jonathon Hopper, CEO [...]
Premier Inn owner warns of ‘mounting pressure’ of tax rises before Budget October 16, 2025 Whitbred, the owner of Premier Inn, has warned that tax rises are becoming more likely and could pose a serious risk to the UK’s hospitality industry. Chancellor Rachel Reeves faces a £40bn gap in the nation’s finances, which is ever-more likely to be filled by a tax-raising Autumn Budget. The target of those tax rises [...]
Detached, ignorant, and selfish: City broker blasts the Treasury October 14, 2025 City broker Shore Capital has blasted the Treasury as incapable of creating economic growth, as Britain gears up for a tax-raising budget. Rumours of various taxes that Rachel Reeves might introduce in this Autumn’s budget in an attempt to plug a £40bn gap in the nation’s finances have been swirling, despite strong pushback from companies and consumers. [...]
Capital gains tax raid should have ‘health warning’, Labour warned October 6, 2025 Labour risks stunting growth and discouraging investment if it pursues further capital gains hikes, tax advisers have warned, as reforms proposed by top think tanks were pushed back on by industry figures. Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer have talked up the prospects of attracting investment in the UK and making the wider tax system fairer [...]
JD Wetherspoon: Profit rockets as Tim Martin takes jab at tax rises October 3, 2025 JD Wetherspoon has reported another successful quarter after outperforming the wider hospitality market again, although boss Tim Martin has warned on the effects of taxing the sector too hard. The pub giant told markets this morning that like-for-like sales rose 5.1 per cent year on year, while revenue rose 4.5 per cent to £2.12bn. Profit [...]
Hotel demand ‘holds strong’ while staff costs eat into profit October 1, 2025 Demand for UK hotels rose in August, although higher staff costs means that hoteliers saw profit drop. Occupancy increased from 81.4 per cent to 82.1 per cent in August year-on-year, and rose slightly from 84.2 per cent to 84.5 per cent in London, according to RSM and Hotstats. But room rates remained flat as consumers [...]