FTSE 100 Live: Diploma leads stocks as pound ticks up; Oil dips March 18, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City PM liveblog. The FTSE 100 index closed up 0.8 per cent higher on Tuesday at 10,403.60p. The gains were accompanied by a stronger performance from the pound, which finished up $1.334 by the time London markets closed, compared to $1.329 on Monday. Sterling and the City were [...]
Political comfort blanket masquerading as a growth strategy March 18, 2026 Rachel Reeves has warned that we’ve entered “an age of insecurity” – and she wasn’t referring to Keir Starmer’s precarious grip on power. In declaring that “globalisation as we’ve known it is over” the Chancellor set out her response to this hard-edged new reality, focusing on regional growth, closer ties with the EU and a [...]
State handouts for oil are no way to help the poorest March 18, 2026 If government steps in whenever there is a so-called crisis then people will stop saving for a rainy day in the false belief government will always be there to supply them with an umbrella, says Charles Amos This week Keir Starmer announced a £53m support package for vulnerable people who use oil as their main [...]
Cash incentives keep Brits sticking with the high-street March 18, 2026 Digital banks are luring a number of Brits away from traditional providers, but cash incentives are leading many to stick with high-street banks. Almost 50 per cent of UK adults have now opened a digital only bank account, a near 10 per cent increase from last year, according to the latest report from comparison site [...]
Reeves pledges ‘strategic state’ amid end of globalisation March 17, 2026 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has promised to create an “active and strategic” state as she warned that “globalisation as we once knew it is dead”. In a flagship lecture at the Bayes Business School on her growth agenda, Reeves suggested the size of the state had been expanded since Labour took office as part of a [...]
Energy bills bailout speculation sparks bond sell-off fears March 17, 2026 An unfunded government intervention to subsidise household energy bills would trigger a gilt market rout likely to push the UK’s long-term borrowing costs to the highest they have been since 1997, bond investors and economists have warned. David Zahn, head of European fixed income at Franklin Templeton, told City PM that the prospect of ministers [...]
Reeves broke “promises” on farmer inheritance tax reforms, court hears March 17, 2026 Rachel Reeves “broke promises” when she failed to consult over changes to inheritance tax (IHT) reliefs in her first Autumn Budget, a court has heard. The Chancellor’s proposed changes to agricultural property relief (APR) and business property relief (BPR) represent one of the biggest shifts in IHT policy in decades. In the 2024 Autumn Budget, [...]
Reform UK pledge energy tax cut in swipe at Labour March 17, 2026 Robert Jenrick has said Reform UK would strip VAT from energy bills months after the government flirted with the £2bn tax cut, deepening the party’s row with Labour. The “shadow chancellor” said Reform would strip VAT and green levies from household energy bills if it came to power, thereby saving households an estimated £200. Party [...]
Bank of England ‘should wait’ before cutting interest rates, City PM Shadow MPC says March 17, 2026 The Bank of England should “wait and see” how long the war in Iran goes on for before cutting interest rates again, leading economists on City PM’s Shadow Monetary Policy Committee have said. The crisis in the Middle East has pushed up energy prices and heightened fears that the UK economy is heading for a [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks inch up; Gas prices surge after drone attacks March 17, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City PM liveblog. The FTSE 100 closed up 0.5 per cent yesterday, settling at 10,317.69p led by a three per cent jump in Endeavour Mining. It came as global markets were brought some reprieve from declining oil prices. The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil [...]
