Rachel Reeves mulls second booze tax hike November 12, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves is considering an increase in taxes on alcohol in line with a higher reading of inflation in a repeat of last year’s Budget, according to reports. Reeves could hike duties by the retail prices index (RPI) inflation rate in a bid to raise more cash to fill an estimated £30bn fiscal hole [...]
Bond markets ignore Starmer briefings and Westminster gossip November 12, 2025 Bond markets shrugged at Keir Starmer’s team’s attacks against Cabinet ministers and Westminster gossip suggesting a leadership contest was emerging after investors were dragged into briefing wars. On Tuesday night, a briefing war erupted in Westminster as Keir Starmer’s allies told journalists that there would be a rout in the bond markets if the Prime [...]
Three quarters of Brits think UK ‘heading in wrong direction’ as Budget looms November 12, 2025 The UK is heading in the wrong direction, most Brits believe, in the latest sign of rising gloom about the state of the country’s economy. A City AM/Freshwater Strategy poll has shown that 76 per cent of voters are pessimistic about the future of the country, the highest level of pessimism recorded since our polling [...]
Musk’s $trillion pay package is impossible to justify November 11, 2025 The Notebook, where the City’s movers and shakers have their say. Today it’s investment analyst Susannah Streeter with the pen Radio phone-ins, social media feeds and TV news programmes have all been taken over by talk of Elon Musk’s trillion-dollar deal. I was woken super early by one producer and the phone barely stopped ringing, [...]
Rachel Reeves concedes manifesto pledges may be dropped November 10, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has suggested that Labour manifesto commitments will be ditched amid a “significantly worse” economic inheritance than expected last year. In an interview with the BBC, Reeves said she would prefer to increase government spending on infrastructure rather than cut taxes for Britons. When asked whether the government would stick to manifesto commitments, [...]
AI bubble tensions flare after Wall Street’s £750bn hit November 10, 2025 The bubbling market tensions continued to simmer on Monday as Wall Street sprung back to life after a week of AI jitters and tech nerves. US markets were coming off a week where AI-related firms lost over £750bn in market value led by a £350bn plunge in chipmaker Nvidia, which lost nearly ten per cent [...]
City execs plot new junior market to rival AIM November 10, 2025 A group of City execs have laid out plans for a new small-cap market in a bid to rival the ailing AIM and rejuvenate London’s public markets. Former Boku boss Jon Prideaux and former AIM chief executive Martin Graham are understood to have approached investors over a £4m fundraising to launch the new exchange, known [...]
Nandy insists Government takes promises ‘very seriously’ despite income tax U-turn November 9, 2025 Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has insisted the Government takes its promises “very, very seriously” despite a probable major manifesto U-turn on income tax. The Labour Government told the UK’s fiscal watchdog that it would break its manifesto commitment and raise income tax in the upcoming budget late last week. Ahead of the 2024 election, Labour [...]
Sky in talks to buy ITV’s broadcasting arm for £1.6bn November 7, 2025 ITV has confirmed it is in early talks with Sky over the possible sale of its media and entertainment division, in a move that could reshape the UK television industry. In a statement to the market on Friday, ITV announced that it was in “preliminary discussions” regarding a potential sale of its broadcasting and streaming [...]
FTSE 100 Live: ITV and Sky takeover chatter; House prices rise November 7, 2025 Good morning from the City AM liveblog team. Yesterday, the Bank of England cut rates in a 5-4 decision with Governor Andrew Bailey playing decider. Policymakers at the Bank said the crunch decision weighed up contractions in the jobs market, which could lower inflation levels, and high inflation expectations of around 4 per cent among [...]