2025: It’s been one hell of a year for UK business
From political drama to market volatility, cyber attacks, takeovers and trade wars – 2025 has not been plain sailing.
January: motor finance and angry farmers
We began the year reporting on the exodus from the London stock exchange noting that 2024 had been the quietest year on record for new listings and we suggested that 2025 wouldn’t be much better.
January also saw the start of what would become a weekly run of stories speculating on tax hikes to come in this year’s Budget – a prophecy grimly fulfilled.
We also saw the first stories about then City minister Tulip Siddiq coming under pressure over her family’s political activities in Bangladesh – she didn’t last long and quit her post by mid January when we were also reporting on business confidence levels falling to their lowest level since Liz Truss.
Meanwhile the motor finance row was in full swing with news that the Chancellor wanted to intervene on behalf of the banks as she was fearful of the impact an adverse court ruling would have on the sector.
As farmers blocked Whitehall in a row over inheritance tax changes, Sadiq Khan was kicking off over the government’s proposed support for Heathrow expansion.
As the month ended the first jitters about looming Trump tariffs were taking their toll on global markets and the UK economy was struggling to get out of first gear.
February: job losses and corporate drama
By February, the retail sector was warning of the ‘hammer blow’ to jobs following the government’s first Budget – they weren’t wrong about that – and defence stocks popped as Starmer talked up the ‘generational’ security challenge facing the UK.
Thames Water was circling the drain and Unilever ousted its CEO.
March: red tape ripped up
March began with bad news in the jobs market as firms braced for the hike to National Insurance. City institution Aberdeen announced it would reinsert the vowels back into its name following its controversial consonant heavy rebrand.
Trump went to war with Canada, well almost, declaring it should become the 51st US state and the pipeline of firms planning to list on the London stock exchange hit a 24 year low. City regulators began looking for ways to implement the Chancellor’s pro-growth marching orders with the FCA dropping plans to impose diversity, equity and inclusion targets on City firms.
March ended with the Chancellor’s Spring Statement where a wobble on welfare cuts meant her effort to restore her fiscal headroom was basically laughed at by the City and everyone began to anticipate major tax hikes being announced later in the year.
April: Trump shocks the world
In April we were treated to Trump’s ‘liberation day’ – a barrage of tariff announcements that caused global shockwaves and upended the international trading order. Meanwhile City bonuses ticked upwards after the bonus cap was scrapped and gold began a rally that would last into the year. M&S was crippled by a cyber hack that would ultimately cost it hundreds of millions of pounds.
May: Goodbye non-doms
In May, the erratic nature of Trump’s tariff policy continued to drag on growth and we began reporting on the exodus of non-doms. At the Morning Wire Awards that month former Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane warned that “radical reform was needed to break the UK out of a doom loop.”
Thames Water execs got a pasting after splashing the cash on bonuses and Paris overtook London in an influential ranking of tech-sector hotspots.
Reform UK continued its march towards the top of the polls, more IPO woes hit London and the boss of Heathrow confessed to sleeping through the major fire that shut down his airport.
June: City takeovers
In June US investors swooped on no fewer than three UK tech firms in a flurry of takeovers that suggested to many in the City that the UK was incapable of holding on to its own fast growing firms.
The wealth exodus continued, Kemi Badenoch pitched her party to the City saying “we get business and Labour doesn’t” and Santander snapped up TSB for £3bn.
July: Budget rumours start
In July reports emerged that Downing Street was planning to target the wealthy at its Autumn Budget – and didn’t they just – while Revolut huffed and puffed its way through regulatory hurdles to inch closer to securing its full fat banking licence.
Diageo’s boss quit as the Guinness-maker struggled and staff at the City watchdog threatened strike action over changes designed to limit working from home.
August: ropey public finances
In August the motor finance ruling allowed banks to breathe a modest sigh of relief and a Morning Wire poll showed voters considered Reform to be “the party of business.” Growth was anaemic and public finances came under pressure.
September: unstoppable AI
In September the talk in Westminster was of major black holes, productivity downgrades, bad growth numbers and a tax raising Budget – all of which hit confidence, while Jaguar Land Rover was hit by a major cyber attack and Angela Rayner quit the government over dodgy property tax arrangements.
Tube strikes crippled London, Peter Mandelson was under scrutiny for his Jeffrey Epstein links – something that would force him out of the Ambassador’s mansion – and pharma giant Merck pulled out of a £1bn UK investment saying the country was “not competitive.”
The AI boom continued with US giants announcing billions of pounds of investment in the UK and valuations of tech firms in the US continued to balloon.
Budget speculation was reaching fever pitch by late September with rumours of wealth taxes and bank taxes causing concern in the City. Reeves was warning publicly of “hard choices to come.”
October: the rise of the shadow banks
In October, Revolut’s founder joined the growing march of the mega-rich out of the UK and the economy was clearly spluttering with growth slowing and unemployment rising. Meanwhile concerns continued to grow over the rise of shadow banking – non bank lending – lightly regulated and growing fast, it was cited as a major threat to the UK’s financial stability. Political uncertainty and cyber attacks were also cited as prime risks.
November: Budget chaos
That set the scene for November’s Budget which was characterised by chaotic briefings, billions in new taxes and unprecedented lows for Labour’s poll ratings.
All in all, 2025 should be remembered as a year of contradictions: the FTSE hit record highs but the health of the public market is in serious doubt; the government talked about growth, growth, growth but it’s fallen every quarter; the UK’s start-up scene continued to flourish even as wealthy founders bailed for Dubai; major infrastructure projects were signed off but the construction sector ends the year in recession.
We have muddled through. Success has come in spite of the government. 2026 will be a tough year for economic growth and a tough year for Keir Starmer but if British businesses survived this year, then surely the only way is up.