FTSE 100 Live: Budget and bubbles continue to set agenda November 17, 2025 Good morning and welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog. We are now just over a week out from the Labour government’s second Budget and last week rogue Westminster briefings sent ripples through markets. After continuous weeks and media outings teasing a manifesto-breaking income tax hike, the government rowed back with several reports pointing to [...]
Business activity rebounds but Budget nerves could damage growth November 16, 2025 UK private sector activity marked its largest monthly rise of the year in October, but momentum could be shattered by increasing Budget speculation. According to the latest business trends report from accountancy firm BDO, which measures businesses turnover and economic activity, output rose to 97.49 past month, up from 96.25 in September. This marked the [...]
Resident doctor strike turnout is down, NHS chief says November 16, 2025 Strike turnout is down, the chief executive of the NHS has said, as resident doctors continue their five-day action over pay and conditions. Sir James Mackey said there are “some really encouraging early indications” that fewer resident doctors are striking than in any of the previous 12 rounds of industrial action. Medics in England walked [...]
Home Secretary: Illegal migration is causing “huge divides” November 16, 2025 Illegal migration is causing “huge divides” in the UK and must be brought under control to maintain consent for any form of asylum system, the Home Secretary has said. Shabana Mahmood said the Government needed to “deal with the pull factors that draw people in the first place” as she plans to announce a new [...]
International students should not be treated as migrants November 15, 2025 Framing a tax on students as a migration control is a misguided move that punishes one of Britain's greatest assets, says Virenda Sharma.
Autumn Budget: What does the income tax U-turn mean for your salary? November 14, 2025 In a major U-turn, Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ is understood to have ripped up plans to hike income tax in the looming Autumn Budget. Reeves was poised to hitch up income tax by 2p at the end of the month, whilst cutting national insurance – for lower earners – by the same amount. While the decision [...]
UK bonds sell off after income tax U-turn November 14, 2025 UK government bonds sold off sharply on Friday morning, as markets recoiled from the government’s decision to row back on plans to plug much of its multibillion-pound black hole with a manifesto-busting income tax hike. The yield on 10-year gilts – the common benchmark for the government’s long-term ability to borrow – climbed by some [...]
Rachel Reeves panics markets by ditching plans for income tax hike November 14, 2025 Rachel Reeves is understood to have scrapped plans to break Labour’s manifesto and hike income tax in the forthcoming Autumn Budget. The Chancellor was poised to hike income tax by 2p whilst cutting national insurance by the same amount in a move that would break Labour’s pledge to not raise taxes on ‘working people.’ Over [...]
Will the Budget push the economy off the cliff? November 13, 2025 Downing Street is in chaos and the economy has flatlined. Now, with just a couple of weeks to go until we find out what’s really in Rachel Reeves’ Budget, Britain’s bosses are getting restless. It used to be the case that Chancellor’s went quiet in the run-up to a Budget, keeping their powder dry and [...]
Productivity growth twitchy in wake-up call for OBR and Reeves November 13, 2025 Productivity levels stuttered in the third quarter of the year, an initial estimate has shown, subverting the Chancellor’s hopes of boosting output in the UK economy. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Thursday morning that quarterly growth in output per hour rates was 0.7 per cent, the highest level since the end of [...]