A year of hard Labour: UK plc’s verdict on Starmer and Reeves July 3, 2025 Just a year ago, Keir Starmer’s Labour party won an historic general election victory having promised to be “the most pro-business government this country has seen’. Ali Lyon sees whether industry and business leaders feel the party has met that vow 12 months on. As some of the great and good of Britain’s storied business [...]
Labour versus the bond markets, businesses and ballots July 3, 2025 Birthdays aren’t best celebrated on a hangover but Labour’s senior leaders will be waking up with a painful headache this morning after haemorrhaging support from both bond markets and backbenchers. As dozens of Labour MPs discovered the level of influence they held over whips in parliament, unsympathetic bond traders flexed their own powers as medium-term [...]
Keir Starmer rocked by full-blown crisis as PM marks first year in office July 3, 2025 Keir Starmer is facing a full-blown political crisis as he marks his first year in office under pressure from disgruntled MPs, frustrated businesses and jittery financial markets. Speculation grew yesterday that Chancellor Rachel Reeves could be ousted from Number 11 after the PM failed to back her during questions in the House of Commons, with [...]
Financial and professional services sector ‘bedrock’ to UK economic growth July 3, 2025 The UK-based financial and professional services industry has continued to be "a bedrock of national economic strength", with nearly 2.5m people employed
Uber, AA and Royal Mail urge Khan to scrap EV congestion charge plans July 3, 2025 A host of businesses including Uber, the AA and Royal Mail have urged Sadiq Khan to re-think rolling back the exemption for electric vehicles in London’s congestion charge. Some 28 business and green groups published an open letter to the Mayor arguing that changing the discount would threaten London’s clean air ambitions, while prompting a [...]
Sacking Reeves would make a bad situation even worse July 2, 2025 This government has made plenty of mistakes but ditching Rachel Reeves would be by far the biggest. While my advice to ministers remains “I wouldn’t have started from here” I have to recognise that a misstep now could make a bad situation worse. And the situation is bad. As Labour marks its first full year [...]
London Museum welcomes return of Smithfield shops and bars parade July 2, 2025 Smithfield’s parade of shops and bars is set to return to the City as part of the Museum of London’s move to Farringdon. The museum, which is moving from 150 London Wall, will redevelop not just the market but the properties surrounding it, hoping to draw in around two million visitors annually. Each property will [...]
Does anyone come out clean from Heathrow Airport power outage? July 2, 2025 Who comes out clean from the chaos that engulfed Heathrow Airport in March? Today’s revelations from the NESO report were damning for National Grid, the operator of the North Hyde substation that burst into flames, leading to a 16-hour power outage at the UK’s biggest airport. There had been back and forth for weeks between [...]
Gilt yields spike as doubt grows over future of Rachel Reeves July 2, 2025 Gilt yields spiked shortly after Keir Starmer refused to confirm whether Rachel Reeves would remain as Chancellor in an eventful PMQs during which she appeared visibly upset. The prime minister defended the government’s U-turn on the welfare bill, which could now prevent Labour from making £4.8bn savings baked into the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)’s [...]
Former UBS banker wins top court battle in £80m divorce row July 2, 2025 The high-profile divorce clash between Clive Standish and his wife over £80m of assets linked to a tax planning scheme hits the end of the legal road