Good morning from the City AM liveblog team.
15 months on from Labour’s stunning general election victory and a month out from its next budget, how is the City feeling about the current government?
It’s safe to say that enthusiasm has waned a little since high expectations were set last year. Some City analysts are careful with their words, pointing to a series of domestic “challenges” or “headwinds” facing businesses, alluding to “issues” such as “fiscal policy”. Others, such as those at Shore Capital, are a little more blunt.
Describing Britain’s political leaders as “detached, ignorant, and selfish”, Shore Capital analysts Clive Black and David Hughes said the Treasury “just do[es] not understand the damage they are causing to this country’s consumer economy.”
“[The Treasury is] incapable of either creating the conditions for private capital to flourish or controlling Government expenditure, making for a never-ending debate on what taxes to increase,” Black and Hughes said.
“Unsurprisingly, consumer confidence is low and spending constrained, with nervousness ahead of the Budget abound,” the analysts said, adding: “To be clear, the prime source of that UK food inflation is the policies of the British Government, [and] taxes on labour.”
Few in the Square Mile will confidently repeat Black and Hughes’ remarks without some trepidation, but many may be quietly nodding along.
Here’s a summary of our top headlines from yesterday:
Retail sales slow as Budget and inflation weigh on spending plans
IMF downgrades UK growth and warns inflation will be highest in G7
Bellway says fears of Autumn tax raid has hit housing demand
‘Exceptional’ M&S chair Archie Norman cleared for three more years in role
Revolut’s UK banking licence bid faces global risk scrutiny
Goodbye Nutmeg, hello Clove: New investing service lands £10m funding
It’s a strike for Hollywood Bowl as record revenue drives continued expansion plans
Billionaire Issa brothers finally repay EG Group loan used to buy private jet