For Starmer, things can only get worse December 18, 2025 It’s been a bad year for Starmer, characterised by scandals, economic woes and plummeting poll ratings – and it looks 2026 is going to be no better, says Tom Harwood As we all enjoy late December’s time honoured if questionable traditions of frantic Christmas shopping, parties and hangovers – please spare a thought for one [...]
Starmer threatens Abramovich with court over £2.5bn Chelsea proceeds December 17, 2025 Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to take Roman Abramovich to court unless he hands over the £2.5bn proceeds from his sale of Chelsea FC to humanitarian causes in Ukraine. The huge windfall has been frozen in a UK bank account since May 2022, when the sanctioned Russian oligarch sold Chelsea to a US consortium [...]
Arrogant Labour has played fast and loose with the jobs market December 17, 2025 As the first full calendar year of life under this Labour government comes to a close, it’s an appropriate time to reflect on how they’ve done and how their promises to renew Britain marry up with reality. How can I put this delicately? Ministers should slope off to their constituencies this Christmas with their heads [...]
Government injects £120m into Ineos’s Grangemouth plant December 17, 2025 The government has piled over £100m into Britain’s last remaining ethylene plant in Grangemouth, saving hundreds of livelihoods after its owner warned that sky-high energy costs had left it on the brink of closure. Ministers inked a “landmark partnership” with Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos on Wednesday to secure the future of the Falkirk plant, which [...]
Redundancies hit highest level since pandemic as unemployment climbs higher December 16, 2025 The UK unemployment rate jumped above the 5 per cent mark and redundancies surged to their highest level since the pandemic. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published damning figures on Tuesday morning that will likely send chills throughout the Labour government ministers ahead of the Christmas break. It said the number of payrolled employess [...]
FCA boss: Treasury and MPs slowing deregulation push December 16, 2025 The pedestrian pace of government and parliament is preventing City watchdogs from introducing pro-growth measures fast enough, the boss of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said as he called for the introduction of statutory timetables to ensure the Treasury ratifies deregulation faster. Nikhil Rathi told the Treasury Committee that the FCA was “moving as [...]
US puts UK tech deal on ice after Budget digital tax move December 16, 2025 Washington has paused the flagship US-UK tech pact just weeks after Rachel Reeves doubled down on Britain’s digital services tax in her Autumn Budget, sharpening fears that the levy has become a pressure point in wider trade talks with Trump’s administration. The so-called Tech Prosperity Deal, unveiled during Trump’s state visit back in September and [...]
Global recruiter SThree hit by ailing UK jobs market December 16, 2025 Global recruiter SThree has felt the pinch of the deteriorating UK jobs market with the region becoming the group’s worst performing large market. The consultancy – which specialises in connecting workers in science, tech engineering and mathematics with companies in need of staff – recorded a 26 per cent slump in fees in the UK [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Ofwat £11m fine; Unemployment at four-year high December 16, 2025 Good morning and welcome back to the City PM liveblog. We received another gloomy snapshot of the economy ahead of the ever-important Bank of England rate decision on Thursday. New unemployment data showed another blow for the Labour government, which has denied that its policies have had an on the ailing jobs market. The UK [...]
The City is thirsty for more detail from Reform December 16, 2025 Appearing before MPs yesterday, Keir Starmer bemoaned the “consultations, regulations [and] arms-length bodies” that create “a thicket of reasons why you can’t do something.” He was responding to a question from Dame Meg Hillier, the Labour MP who chairs the committee in front of which he was appearing, about whether he had prepared enough for [...]
