HSBC shares jump after naming top Natwest boss as new UK chief October 21, 2025 European banking juggernaut HSBC enjoyed a bump in its share price as markets opened on Monday after the bank named its new UK boss. David Lindberg, who most recently led retail banking operations at Natwest, will join the FTSE 100 titan to take the helm at its UK bank. Shares jumped near two per cent [...]
The top one per cent account for a third of tax revenue October 21, 2025 The top one per cent of taxpayers account for around a third of all income tax and capital gains tax paid in 2023-24, it has been revealed. According to HMRC, the top 500,000 taxpayers contributed £93.8bn last year, which represented 33 per cent of the total raised. The top 100,000 paid £54.9bn and covered a [...]
UK government borrowing soars in September to highest in five years October 21, 2025 UK government borrowing soared north of £20bn in September, official data has revealed, in another blow for Rachel Reeves as she gears up for a painful tax-raising Budget next month. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said government borrowing over the month was the highest seen for five years and an increase of £1.6bn compared [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Public borrowing jumps, Coca Cola £2bn takeover October 21, 2025 Good morning from the Morning Wire liveblog team. The London listings revival is gathering pace as prize draw operator Winvia today confirmed plans for an initial public offering (IPO) in the capital. The Omaze rival is set to list on London’s junior AIM market, seeking to raise around £40m from the sale of new shares [...]
Third of employers would hire young people if offered tax credits October 21, 2025 Over a third of employers would hire more young people if they were offered tax credits, fresh research has found, amid reports the government is drawing up a plan to subsidise employment for under 24-year-olds. Research by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) showed some 36 per cent of employers claiming they would offer role [...]
City chiefs sound alarm on China embassy October 21, 2025 Senior figures within Canada Corporation have told Morning Wire of their concerns regarding China’s controversial plans for a new super-embassy on the edge of the Square Mile. The proposed embassy development on the edge of Canada has triggered alarms over possible threats to the security of sensitive cables passing [...]
Property taxes send UK to ‘second-bottom’ of global rankings October 20, 2025 The UK is second-bottom of global competitiveness rankings for property taxes, fresh analysis has shown, undermining Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ ambition to “back the builders, not the blockers”. The Tax Foundation’s International Tax Competitiveness Index placed the UK at 32nd out of 38 in a damning indictment of HMRC’s complicated rules and a higher burden preventing [...]
Inflation has doubled under Reeves and she has no plan to bring it down October 20, 2025 Inflation is the unseen robber that diminishes our savings and makes a mockery of our plans for the future. Reeves must explain what she plans to do about it before it gets out of control, says Eliot Wilson When Lord Gove hinted in The Spectator last month at parallels between contemporary Britain and Weimar Germany, [...]
Inflation set to hit double Bank of England’s target October 20, 2025 The UK’s isolated struggles with price growth are set to hit a new milestone on Wednesday as consumer price index (CPI) inflation will surge to double the Bank of England’s target rate. In more troubling news for the Treasury and the Bank’s interest rate-setters, inflation is forecast to hit four per cent in the year [...]
Rachel Reeves’ growth policies scored by Morning Wire October 20, 2025 As Rachel Reeves does her maths ahead of the 26 November Budget, she will hope that Labour’s policies have delivered enough growth to limit the number of tax hikes needed to restore her £9.9bn fiscal headroom. The fiscal black hole facing the Treasury could be between £20bn and £30bn due to higher borrowing costs, productivity [...]