Week in Business: The billionaires backing Britain May 1, 2025 BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Virgin supremo Sir Richard Branson, businessman John Caudwell and JP Morgan top dog Jamie Dimon – quite the quartet – have all made some fascinating interventions this week. Let’s start with BlackRock, the world’s largest investor, running more than $11 trillion on behalf of pension funds, private clients and sovereign wealth [...]
Lloyds’ finance boss slams ring-fencing amid waning growth forecast May 1, 2025 Lloyds‘ finance boss raised the alarm on lenders’ ability to help drive growth due to restrictions from the ring-fencing regime. The bank trimmed its UK GDP expectations and has projected a rise in unemployment in the latest warning sign for the health of the British economy. The FTSE 100 giant pencilled in 0.2 per cent [...]
Mercer: Pension funds need better pick of UK investments for key deal to work May 1, 2025 The government’s proposed pensions deal will not boost growth unless better UK investment opportunities are put on offer, the boss of one of Britain’s biggest funds has warned. In an interview with Morning Wire, Benoit Hudon suggested a stronger pipeline of UK assets was needed as current options did not deliver good enough returns for [...]
IoD: Business leaders remain frustrated with Reeves May 1, 2025 UK business leaders are less optimistic about wage growth and cost expectations remain high, a new survey has suggested, in signs that Chancellor Reeves will continue to face a “strong sense of frustration” from company bosses. The Labour government could yet offer businesses olive branches as it rolls out its industrial strategy and spending review [...]
Labour to be handed ‘spying powers’ on bank accounts in Fraud Bill April 30, 2025 Labour is facing fresh questions over its Fraud Bill, which has been slammed for handing the government “spying powers”. The legislation, which passed in the Commons on Wednesday, bulks up the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) ability to recover money directly from fraudsters’ bank accounts. The DWP pledged the reforms would deliver “the biggest [...]
Recruitment surges for employment lawyers as businesses worry about worker rights overhaul April 30, 2025 Law firms are actively seeking to bulk out their practices as the pending employment law overhaul drives uncertainty at businesses
Fresh row over plan to mandate pension fund investments April 30, 2025 A row has erupted over reports the government is plotting to set mandates on pension fund allocations, while the chief architect of the so-called Mansion House reforms – which aimed to encourage the deployment of pension fund assets into unlisted equities – has distanced himself from the move. Pension bosses are understood to have been [...]
Construction firms lose hope but businesses are ‘showing resilience’ April 30, 2025 Construction firms have grown despondent about their business prospects despite signs of resilience across the UK economy, a new survey has found. The sector is key to the housing secretary Angela Rayner’s plans to build 1.5m homes by 2030 though early signs suggest the ambitious target will not be met. Construction saw a bigger drop [...]
Taxes and tariffs combine to ‘drag business sentiment’ April 30, 2025 The double whammy of Rachel Reeves’ taxes and Donald Trump’s tariffs have dragged confidence in business volumes to their lowest level in more than two years, fresh data has found, further clouding prospects for the British economy. The UK has already suffered from lacklustre growth over the last few years as real GDP only expanded [...]
Tony Blair is right to call for ‘reset’ of ludicrous Net Zero debate April 30, 2025 If energy secretary Ed Miliband still believes that critics of his dash to Net Zero are peddlers of “nonsense and lies” he has a new name to add to his list of dangerous misinformation merchants: Tony Blair. I do appreciate that some people believe that his name belongs on exactly that kind of list, but [...]