Bank of England poised to slow bond sale programme September 14, 2026 The Bank of England is likely to slow its unusual approach to offloading gilts after conceding it had pushed up borrowing costs at a time when government bond yields have hit near-record highs, economists have predicted. The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee will vote to reduce the pace of its ‘quantitative tightening’ programme from £70bn to [...]
Bank of England predicted to raise interest rates this year September 14, 2026 The Bank of England will raise interest rates to four per cent by the end of the year, a top Wall Street bank has warned. Goldman Sachs has upgraded its interest rate expectations amid concerns that inflation could jump higher than previously expected. The bank said an interest rate hike this year was more likely [...]
Nationalising London buses fixes a nonexistent problem September 14, 2026 City Hall already controls London’s bus network, so why is Sadiq Khan humouring a proposal to build a publicly owned bus operator.
How much do regulations cost the average UK business in 2026? September 14, 2026 No one single regulation is responsible for businesses' current woes. The accumulation of taxes has become greater than the sum of its parts.
Claridge’s swings to £10m loss as luxury hotel warns on ‘adverse impact’ of tax hikes September 11, 2026 Claridge’s has suffered a loss of just under £10m as the iconic London business warned government tax hikes were taking their toll. The five-star Mayfair hotel, which opened its doors in 1898 before expanding via a five storey ‘mega basement’ in 2021, recorded a loss after tax of £9.7m for 2025, reversing a £2m profit [...]
Wetherspoon boss: ‘Not up to Burnham’ to choose who is on the high street September 11, 2026 Britain’s pubs have few more committed defenders than Sir Tim Martin. The Norwich-born businessman founded JD Wetherspoon in 1979 when he bought his first pub in Muswell Hill, initially named Martin’s Free House. Since rebranding the pub to Wetherspoon – named after a former teacher of Martin’s who could not control his class – it [...]
Four interest rate hikes loom despite surprise economic growth September 11, 2026 The Bank of England is expected to hike interest rates as many as four times within the next year, City figures have said, after the economy delivered surprise growth in July. The central bank is expected to be buoyed by this morning’s GDP figures, which saw the UK economy grow by 0.4 per cent in [...]
Surge in borrowing costs could force Healey to deliver ‘emergency Budget’ September 10, 2026 Surging government bond yields could force John Healey to deliver an “emergency Budget” in which the UK’s new Chancellor drives through a wave of spending cuts in a bid to bear down on Britain’s ballooning debt pile. UK gilt yields have this week surged to the highest rates seen in decades amid rising uncertainty over [...]
The aristocratic landowner taking record rent from ‘cradle-to-grave’ health empire September 10, 2026 One of London’s biggest landowning families raked in record rent from its Marylebone property empire last year, helped by a surge in demand at its ‘cradle-to-grave’ private healthcare district. Howard de Walden Estates, which owns the Harley Street health district and the residential Marylebone Village, grew its rental income from the estate by 9.3 per [...]
John Lewis posts £120m loss as Labour tax raid pushes up costs September 10, 2026 The owner of John Lewis fell to a loss of more than £120m in the first half of its trading year as the retail giant hit out at Labour tax raids for “the increased costs of doing business”. The John Lewis Partnership, which also owns Waitrose, posted a pre-tax loss of £124m, 41 per cent [...]