Khan urges Reeves to bring back tax-free shopping January 15, 2026 Mayor Sadiq Khan has called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to bring back tax-free shopping for tourists to drive public revenue gains. Khan has lobbied the Treasury to re-introduce VAT-free shopping for visitors more than four years after the previous Conservative government scrapped the perk. Conservative City Hall member Thomas Turrell raised the issue of tourism [...]
Watch: We’ll regret granting this embassy to hostile China January 15, 2026 Is China our enemy or our ally? Is it an adversary or a partner? The trading relationship is huge, but so are the security risks. In the City, China means big business. Last year the UK exported £30bn worth of goods and services to China while we bought £70bn worth from them. But we exported [...]
Starmer in dire straits as British voters pessimistic on almost every issue January 15, 2026 Leaders rarely fail because of a single decision. Starmer's problem is that voters are pessimistic on almost every major measure.
Sadiq Khan: AI could bring ‘mass unemployment’ to London January 15, 2026 Sadiq Khan has warned that AI could become a “weapon of mass destruction” for jobs across London unless the government takes proactive action to ease its impact on work. The London Mayor said AI’s impact on the capital city will be “nothing short of colossal” over the coming years. In a Mansion House speech to [...]
Oxford Biomedica share prices jumps after takeover talks January 15, 2026 Oxford Biomedica’s share price has rocketed in early morning trading after Swedish private equity firm EQT entered takeover talks for the gene and cell therapy group. Shares jumped 10.65 per cent to 889 pence, with shares rocketing 121.4 per cent over the past year. The FTSE 250 company said it has received an unsolicited approach [...]
Schroders shares smash two-year high after surge in new business January 15, 2026 Wealth manager Schroders notched a two-year high on its stock price on Thursday morning after an influx of new business led to a major uptick in management fees. The FTSE 100 asset manager told markets it was expecting full-year operating profit to come in at £745m, up from £603m from the year prior. Shares rose [...]
Gary’s Economics predictions are unravelling January 15, 2026 The new year is a great time to check whether past predictions have stood the test of time. So I revisited the forecasts of one of London’s better-known economic sooth-sayers, Gary Stevenson, known to you and me as Gary’s Economics thanks to his viral Youtube channel. Two years ago, almost to the day, Gary released [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Gold surges amid Trump tensions; JLR leads growth rebound January 15, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the Morning Wire liveblog. Rachel Reeves’ report card for 2025 has received another dim review with fresh figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing growth came in at a sluggish 0.1 per cent in the three months to November 2025. This was led by a modest rebound [...]
Forest swerves TfL’s e-scooter trial January 15, 2026 Major bike lenders are snubbing Transport for London’s e-scooter rollout as the capital’s micromobility players question regulations around trials. TfL opened the bidding for the next phase of its e-scooter experiment last week. But major electric bike operators may snub the chance to introduce e-scooters into fleets of rental vehicles across the capital, Morning Wire [...]
Defence splurge cannot fund planned expansion, military chief says January 14, 2026 The Labour government’s commitment to increase defence expenditure to 2.5 per cent of GDP from next year will not fully fund the planned expansion of the armed forces, a top military official has warned. Sir RIchard Knighton, chief of the defence staff, told MPs on Monday the rise in government funding would not be enough [...]