Top Tory slams ‘ivory tower’ financial regulators as takeover bids blight London Stock Exchange
The shadow business secretary has hit out at “ivory tower financial regulators”, accusing them of failing to spend enough time dealing with the problems facing London’s capital markets and hampering UK competitiveness.
Conservative MP Andrew Griffith blamed watchdogs like the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for the state of the London Stock Exchange, which was blighted by takeover deals in the first half of the year, with reports stating the value of bids is 27 times that of new entrants.
Griffith argued that while both Labour and Conservative ministers “get the problem and want to fix this” as well as boost economic growth, regulators are instead “spending their time jetting off to regulatory mutual admiration fests” and “need to get with the programme”.
Writing on social media platform X, Griffith said: “It’s a scandal and the damage they have done to the City has been tolerated for far too long”.
The City has seen 28 proposed takeovers of UK companies worth more than £100bn so far this year, according to Peel Hunt, including testing company Intertek, insurer Beazley and ingredients firm Tate & Lyle.
Stamp duty and sluggish growth
Griffith also hit out at the continuation of stamp duty on shares, with investors forced to pay a 0.5 per cent tax to invest in UK-quoted companies.
In a bid to revitalise the exchange and silence critics, in the 2025 Autumn Budget, chancellor Rachel Reeves introduced a three year stamp duty holiday for newly listed shares. But Griffith argued the move has does little to lure investors in.
He said: “When the government puts up tax on alcohol or tobacco it’s because they want less of it. Why does anyone think the same logic doesn’t apply to stamp duty on UK share trading? Especially when competitors don’t levy same.”
The former economic secretary to the Treasury, also urged the UK to “fall back in love with risk”, with industry figures having previously called out both investors and regulators over their cautious and risk-averse approach to the stock market.
This sluggish growth has weakened London’s global appeal, alongside heavy regulation and high costs, with Griffith also pointing to energy prices, and made it harder for businesses to want to operate in the UK.
‘Epic self harm’
The UK economy has also been dragged down by the majority of British workers “having no agency” in how their pension is invested, with large institutions who manage workplace schemes cutting back on buying UK shares in the last two decades.
But Griffith rejected Labour’s strategies to push UK pension capital into the domestic economy, which have included the Mansion House Accord and the heavily scaled back mandation powers in the Pension Schemes Act, arguing instead for individual autonomy.
He said: “The answer is not more complicated tax rules and regulations, or letting a socialist Chancellor invest your pension for you, it’s giving individuals more control.”
The shadow minister also claimed the UK has become too embroiled in “left-leaning” rules, such as capping executive pay and strict Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) targets, with the heavy policing on social policies restricting growth, branding it “epic self harm”.
London’s over-regulated landscape has been called a key driver in both takeovers and companies opting to list elsewhere, such as New York where investors and businesses are given more flexibility.