Banks shut eight branches a week since 2016 July 10, 2025 British banks have accelerated their retreat from the high street, shutting an average of eight branches a week since 2016 in a dash to bulk up digital offerings. Nearly 3,700 sites closed between 2016 and 2024, creating 41 ‘banking deserts,’ which refer to local authorities where at least one branch shut for every 10,000 residents. [...]
Reform top the polls but voters cool on Nigel Farage July 9, 2025 Reform UK continues to ride high in the opinion polls – climbing 16 points since last year’s election – yet voters appeared to have cooled on Nigel Farage as new City AM polling suggests he’s lost some of his shine. A post-government slump in support for the Conservative Party and lack of approval for the [...]
Will High Net Worths save LVMH’s share price? July 9, 2025 LVMH’s share price has taken a battering as nervous investors shy away from luxury companies amid a global downturn in the market. Its share price has fallen by more than 35 per cent since the end of January; it now trades at its lowest forward earnings multiple in seven years – roughly half that of [...]
Without professional standards in tech, an AI Post Office scandal is inevitable July 9, 2025 The Post Office Horizon scandal must be a national reckoning with what happens when tech is deployed without proper oversight or accountability, says Dan Howl “It is almost impossible to ascertain, with any degree of accuracy, the number of persons who have suffered as a result of the misplaced reliance upon data produced by Horizon.” [...]
Brits back spending cuts over tax rises July 8, 2025 Voters prefer spending cuts over tax rises, fresh polling has found, putting Chancellor Rachel Reeves at odds with an electorate that has become frustrated with her economic policies. Rachel Reeves set spending pledges in stone in June when she confirmed Labour would boost day-to-day departmental and capital spending, with the NHS receiving a fresh three-year [...]
Post Office and Fujitsu chiefs ‘maintained fiction’ on faulty Horizon system July 8, 2025 Post Office and Fujitsu managers were aware the Horizon IT system was flawed and “maintained a fiction” that the accounting data it produced was accurate. In his report on the first part of an inquiry into the Post Office scandal, chair Sir Wyn Williams said dozens of postmaster victims of “wholly unacceptable behaviour” by business [...]
Rishi Sunak will donate Goldman Sachs salary to charity July 8, 2025 Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has rejoined Goldman Sachs as a senior adviser, adding to post-government roles he holds while still sitting as an MP, though his salary from the investment banking giant will be donated to a maths charity. Sunak worked at Goldman Sachs as a summer intern in 2000 and as an analyst [...]
Charities ‘penalised’ by Rachel Reeves’ taxes July 8, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ hike to employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) has “penalised” staff at charities up and down the UK, a new study has suggested. Rachel Reeves has reportedly suggested the £20bn tax raid on mid-sized firms was “low hanging fruit” to provide extra funding for the NHS and schools. But the collateral damage from [...]
Labour voters are suffering from buyers’ remorse July 8, 2025 32 per cent of those who voted Labour in 2024 say that they regret voting the way that they did at the last General Election, compared to just 15 per cent of all voters, according to the latest City AM/Freshwater Strategy Poll, says Matthew Lesh Even the Chancellor’s harshest critics must have felt a flicker [...]
London is running out of prime office real estate July 5, 2025 With demand for prime office space set to significantly outstrip supply, landlords and investors should seize opportunity now.