Budget ‘chaos’ may stall interest rate cuts November 26, 2025 The “chaos” around Budget measures may delay further interest rate cuts as the Bank of England figures through the effects of a flurry of tax rises, despite Rachel Reeves’ stated commitment to set the conditions for borrowing costs to be lowered. The Chancellor has said curbing the cost of living was a key “priority” at [...]
Bond market braces for gilt and sterling tremors November 26, 2025 Bond market participants are bracing for a fresh round of turbulence in the aftermath of Wednesday’s Budget, with investors rejigging their exposure to gilts having warned the Chancellor’s fiscal plans are “very much under the microscope”. Rachel Reeves is expected to use her second major fiscal shake-up mount a historic tax and spend consolidation in [...]
Business chiefs: Employment will be hit by minimum wage hike November 25, 2025 Business chiefs have criticised Rachel Reeves’ decision to hike the national living wage by more than 4 per cent for most British workers at the Budget. In a final announcement before unveiling the full set of fiscal measures, the Chancellor said she would back the Low Pay Commission’s recommendations to raise the minimum wage to [...]
Confidence in commercial real estate hit by Building Safety Act delays November 25, 2025 Regulatory delays under the Building Safety Act have negatively impacted the vast majority of institutional real estate investors, according to new data. Originally implemented to tackle safety concerns in light of the devastating Grenfell fire, the Building Safety Act (BSR) has now created significant planning delays and “undermined market confidence”, according to Investec Real Estate’s bi-annual Future [...]
Next hikes dividend after NIMBY backlash sparks Essex land sale November 25, 2025 Retail giant Next has offloaded a highly contested piece of land in Essex after a group of NIMBYs blocked its plans to build a distribution centre. The firm completed the sale on November 21, bringing to a close its intention to develop the Waltham Abbey site and generating £54m in cash. Next has said it [...]
Reeves demands bank chiefs back Budget November 25, 2025 Top bank chiefs are expected to praise Rachel Reeves’ Budget measures, according to reports, as the Chancellor looks set to dismiss calls for extra taxes on the sector. Lenders are being encouraged to back the government and follow through with extra investment plans to support Britons up and down the country, a report in the [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Pound braces for painful Budget; Kingfisher shares lead rally November 25, 2025 Good morning from the City AM liveblog team. At long last, we are just one day away from the Budget, in which Rachel Reeves is expected to unveil tens of billions of pounds in tax rises. This despite the fact that she promised taxes wouldn’t go up after last year’s hikes. Who is to blame? [...]
Ex-OBR chiefs: Reeves was warned about productivity downgrade November 25, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves was warned about costly productivity downgrades and should have left a bigger fiscal headroom at the Spring Statement, former Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) officials have said. Speaking to City AM, a number of leading economists raised questions around Reeves’ statements suggesting an OBR review of productivity trend forecasts has forced her [...]
OBR to downgrade growth forecasts ‘in every year’ to 2030 November 24, 2025 The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is set to downgrade growth forecasts at the Budget this week for every year of the forecast period amid revisions to trend productivity projections. Sky News reports that the OBR is expected to cut its growth predictions, which have been more optimistic than those published by City forecasters, in [...]
Here’s what to expect on Budget day November 24, 2025 An unusually late and extraordinarily widely briefed Budget has attracted more nerves and anticipation than any in recent memory. So when Rachel Reeves takes to the dispatch box just after midday on Wednesday, she is set to do so with the knowledge that her fate – and the Prime Minister’s – rest on placating at [...]