Budget is good for jobs, claims Rachel Reeves
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Rachel Reeves has claimed her tax-raiding Budget will be “good for jobs and good for growth”, despite warnings from employers they will be forced to slash hiring.
Speaking at the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) annual conference in London, she hit back at critics of the Budget and insisted it was vital to get the public finances “on a firm footing”.
She said: “It’s really important that the sums add up and I’m determined to be the Chancellor that puts our public finances on a firm footing after all the instability that we’ve faced these last few years.
“I’ve had lots of feedback on the Budget but what I haven’t had is any credible alternatives to what I did to put our public finances on a firm footing.
“If you take the measures from the Budget in the round, the Office for Budget Responsibility says that unemployment falls, employment levels rise, wages rise, real household disposable incomes increase over the course of this parliament. So if you take the measures that I set out in the Budget in the round, it’s good for jobs and it’s good for growth.”
She added: “If I hadn’t made those difficult decisions, then we wouldn’t have been able to bring the stability back to the economy that is desperately needed.”
It comes despite a warning from employers that they will be forced into dramatic cost-cutting to offset the impact of her £25bn National Insurance raid.
A poll of 266 business leaders by the CBI found almost two-thirds plan to slash hiring plans as a result of the Budget. Almost half said they will be forced to lay off staff, while 46pc are looking to delay pay rises for their workforce.
Ms Reeves’s comments sparked a backlash from business leaders and economists.
Rupert Soames, chairman of the CBI, said businesses have been “milked as the cash cow”.
He said: “Many of the things in the Budget are helpful. For instance, the corporate tax road map. But there is no doubt here, that in this Budget, business has been milked as the cash cow...
“We have a Budget which makes employing people, particularly the young, part time and low pay much more expensive.
“And we have an employment rights bill which makes employing people much more risky and an adventure playground for lawyers. These policies are directly in conflict with each other.”
He added: “It’s hardly surprising that business people are scratching their heads and asking themselves: ‘What really is the Government trying to achieve, and how do these policies hang together?”
Madsen Pirie, president of the Adam Smith Institute, said: “Rachel Reeves says ... that she does not plan to have another Budget like this. She has wiped the slate clean. In fact it is growth she has wiped clean.”
Mel Stride, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, said: “Rachel Reeves has some gall to stand in front of business leaders and suggest that she is on their side.
“Labour’s National Insurance jobs tax will punish businesses across the country - making it harder for them to create jobs, driving down wages and discouraging investment.
“Thanks to Labour’s choices, independent forecasts are predicting growth slowing, inflation rising and borrowing soaring. It is clear all Rachel Reeves has delivered so far is a litany of broken promises.”
Read the latest updates below.
06:24 PM GMT
Signing off...
Thanks for joining us today on the Markets live blog.
Chris Price will be back in the morning from around 7am. In the meantime, you can read all our latest business and financial stories here.
06:21 PM GMT
Smaller US stocks hit all-time after Trump boost
The Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller listed companies in the US, hit a record high this afternoon. It has been boosted by expectations of tax cuts under a second Donald Trump administration, along with the prospect of lower borrowing costs.
The index hit an all-time high of 2,458.99, eclipsing the previous high it touched three years ago. The index has gained more than 8pc since the Nov 5 US presidential election.
Expectations that Trump, along with a Republican Congress, can make good on his promise of lower taxes, import tariff hikes and less rigid regulations have been the latest tailwinds for this group of stocks.
Small cap companies have been in the spotlight since the US Federal Reserve commenced its rate cutting cycle in September, as investors expect them to perform better in a low-interest-rate environment.
05:55 PM GMT
Readers react to Rachel Reeves at the CBI
After Rachel Reeves claimed her tax-raiding Budget will be “good for jobs and good for growth”, readers in the comments argued the Chancellor “is clutching at straws. Anybody can see the Labour Party are anti-business”.
Join the conversation in the comments section and have your say.
05:47 PM GMT
Wall Street touches record highs amid global stock rises
Global stock markets rose today as investors welcomed the incoming Donald Trump’s pick of hedge fund manager, Scott Bessent, as the next US Treasury Secretary.
Wall Street indexes gained ground, with the S&P 500 and the Dow touching record highs during trading.
Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder in New York, said: “What we’re in is a Trump rally. Markets like a Republican because they figure taxes aren’t going up and hopefully will go down.”
In an interview published on Sunday, Mr Bessent told the Wall Street Journal that both tax and spending cuts were priorities.
Mr Bessent had told CNBC earlier in November, before his selection as Treasury secretary, that he would recommend that “tariffs be layered in gradually”.
The MSCI World index, a measure of global stocks, is currently up 0.2pc. The S&P 500 rose as much as 0.9pc.
05:29 PM GMT
CBI chairman says businessess ‘milked as the cash cow’ in rebuke to Reeves
Rupert Soames, chairman of the CBI, said businesses have been “milked as the cash cow” in Labour’s autumn Budget.
Speaking after Chancellor Rachel Reeves at the business group’s annual conference, he said: “Many of the things in the Budget are helpful. For instance, the corporate tax road map. But there is no doubt here, that in this Budget, business has been milked as the cash cow.”
Mr Soames also accused the Government of making policies which are “directly in conflict with one another”, calling Labour’s employment rights bill “an adventure playground for lawyers”.
“This week, the Department of Work and Pensions is going to produce a paper setting out actions to help get a meaningful number of the nine million (jobless people) back into work.
“But at the same time, we have a Budget which makes employing people, particularly the young, part time and low pay much more expensive.
“And we have an employment rights bill which makes employing people much more risky and an adventure playground for lawyers. These policies are directly in conflict with each other.”
He continued: “It’s hardly surprising that business people are scratching their heads and asking themselves: ‘What really is the government trying to achieve, and how do these policies hang together?”
05:17 PM GMT
Global rally pushes FTSE 100 to 1-month closing high
The FTSE 100 touched a one-month closing high on Monday, joining a global rally fuelled by Scott Bessent’s nomination as USTreasury secretary.
Kingfisher shares tumbled 13.2pc, the biggest decliner among the FTSE 100 components, after it warned of a £45m hit to 2025/26 profits from tax-raising measures in both the UK and France.
“Kingfisher has a growth problem and until the backdrop radically improves, it is stuck in quicksand, slowing sinking,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell. “Consumer sentiment remains patchy and economic growth lacklustre, which suggests darker days ahead for Kingfisher.”
The blue-chip FTSE 100 however rose 0.4pc to its strongest close since October 22.
The mid-cap FTSE 250 index advanced 0.8pc to hit a near one-month closing peak.
Shares in ITV jumped 8.6pc after Sky News reported that the British broadcaster behind Coronation Street could be a takeover target for a team led by CVC Capital Partners.
05:07 PM GMT
Reeves says she will remove barriers to investment
The Government should provide a “rock of stability” so businesses can be confident in their future plans, Rachel Reeves has said.
She told the Confederation of British Industry conference the Government can create the conditions to encourage business investment.
“That’s providing that rock of stability so that businesses can look to the future with confidence, knowing that the rules of the game have been set, and they now have been.
“But also the work that we can do to remove those barriers that are stopping you before investing.
“Whether it’s because it takes too long to get things through the planning system, whether it’s because, as an entrepreneur, you find it much easier to raise finance in the US than you do in the UK, and so you gradually shift towards the US, rather than listing and keeping your intellectual property here in the UK.
“Whether it is struggling to access the skills, either because ... there are too many people trapped out of work because of sickness and ill health, or because we’re not open enough to global talent from around the world.”
As Chancellor, she said it is her job to “corral the whole of government” to remove barriers that stop or delay investment into Britain.
04:52 PM GMT
‘I’m not coming back with more borrowing or more taxes’, says Rachel Reeves
The Chancellor told the CBI conference she would not be coming back with more borrowing or taxes.
Asked if she could confirm there would be no more big tax rises on businesses, Rachel Reeves said: “I faced a problem, and I faced into it, and we have now drawn a line under the fiction peddled by the previous government.
“We’ve put our public finances back on a firm footing, and we’ve now set the budgets for public services for the duration of this Parliament.
“Public services now need to live within their means because I’m really clear, I’m not coming back with more borrowing or more taxes.”
04:28 PM GMT
‘We have wiped the slate clean’, claims Reeves
The Government has “wiped the slate clean”, Rachel Reeves has told the CBI, as she suggested that she will not have to deliver a similar Budget again.
“While the decisions were difficult, I do believe it was better to do all of that in one go.”
Madsen Pirie, president of the Adam Smith Institute, told The Telegraph: “Rachel Reeves says to the CBI conference that she does not plan to have another budget like this. She has ‘wiped the slate clean.’ In fact it is growth she has wiped clean.
“Half of businesses are now reported to be considering cutting jobs, and two-thirds are rethinking plans to hire new staff. The extra costs she has put on employment means that there will be less of it.
“She says she has been ensuring working people don’t face higher taxes in their payslips, but her Budget has made this inevitable.
“Echoing Margaret Thatcher, she says there is no alternative. But there is one, as Margaret Thatcher herself dramatically showed.
“It is to cut the taxes and regulations that cripple small businesses and start-ups. It is to cut spending on public sector wages. It is to encourage pension investment instead of raiding it to fund reckless government spending. It is to create the condition under which business can expand rather than government.
“It is to let sense overrule ideology.”
04:25 PM GMT
Economy ‘will only grow’ if investment comes back, says Reeves
Rachel Reeves told the CBI conference that “we need to bring that investment back to Britain” that has been staying away.
Noting the global investment summit that the Government held in October, she said: “We’re going to return investment. We’re going to bring growth back.”
04:21 PM GMT
Criticism of Budget lacks solutions, claims Reeves
Chancellor Rachel Reeves told business leaders she has heard a lot of “feedback” on her Budget but not many “alternatives” to her decisions.
She told the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference: “I’ve heard a lot of feedback. What I haven’t heard are many alternatives.”
She said the “difficult decisions” have provided the “stability and the platform that we need to move forward.”
“If I hadn’t have made those difficult decisions, then we wouldn’t have been able to bring the stability, back to the economy that is desperately needed.”
“We have now drawn a line under the inheritance that I faced. Public finances are now on a firm footing, and also our public services are funded in a proper way, and we’ve now set the envelope for those public services for the rest of this Parliament, which means we’re not going to have to come back for more.”
04:07 PM GMT
Investment bank says Tesla stock surge down to ‘animal spirits’
The jump in Tesla’s share price since the election of Donald Trump as US president is mostly down to “animal spirits”, a leading investment bank has suggested.
Analysts at UBS have told clients that their target price for the stock is $226, down from the current share price of £353.
“The rise in Tesla stock is mostly driven by animal spirits/momentum,” they said.
04:01 PM GMT
HSBC sustainability chief quits amid backlash at green rules
HSBC’s head of sustainability has quit the bank after her role was relegated in a management revamp amid a wider backlash against green finance.
Celine Herweijer, who has held the role of chief sustainability officer since July 2021, will leave at the end of the year to “pursue new opportunities,” HSBC said on Monday.
The former PwC executive will be replaced on an interim basis by Julian Wentzel, currently head of global banking in the Middle East.
Ms Herweijer exit coincides with a cost-cutting drive by Georges Elhedery, the new HSBC chief executive, and a move to scrap the sustainability role from the bank’s executive committee.
03:56 PM GMT
Coffee prices jump to highest in 27 years on supply worries
The cost of a cup of coffee could be about to get more expensive amid mounting worries of a shortage in supply.
The price of arabica beans on the commodity markets jumped 2.8pc today. It is up 93.7pc over the past year.
Bloomberg reported that coffee futures in New York are now at their highest price since 1997.
03:39 PM GMT
Wall Street cheers Trump’s Treasury pick
Wall Street rose this afternoon as investors reacted favourably to Donald Trump’s decision to nominate hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to be the US Treasury secretary.
The S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow hit record highs, while the tech-focused Nasdaq also rose.
Mr Trump ended weeks of speculation when he named his choice late on Friday, with some investment strategists saying Bessent could take measures to restrain further government borrowing, even as he follows through on fiscal and trade campaign pledges.
Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York, said:
He [Bessent] might have a moderate approach to tariffs and that’s good news, because one of the fears is that if Trump does impose strong tariffs, that could be inflationary and would mean the Fed would have to perhaps reverse the present monetary policy.
Big banks gained, with Goldman Sachs rising 0.5pc, JPMorgan up 0.8pc and Morgan Stanley adding 0.1pc.
03:31 PM GMT
Tories have ‘no policies or understanding of why they lost so badly’
The Conservatives lost the election because they “talked Right, governed Left”, according to Telegraph readers.
Here is a selection of some views from the comments section and you can join the debate below.
At this point, I’ll say thank you for following our updates so far and hand you over to Alex Singleton, who will guide you through Rachel Reeves’s CBI speech later and the reaction.
03:20 PM GMT
Bank of England must be ‘vigilant’ to threat of economic slowdown, says Deputy Governor
The Bank of England must be “vigilant” to signals of an economic slowdown in the UK as recent data shows signs of weaker growth, one of its deputy governors has warned.
Speaking at a conference hosted by King’s College London, Clare Lombardelli, Deputy Governor of Monetary Policy, said: “There is a further risk that the UK economy proves less resilient than expected.
“We have seen some slowing in other countries in Europe and need to be vigilant to it as the UK shares some similarities with other European economies.
“And last week’s ‘flash’ PMIs for November may suggest some slowing in the UK too.”
S&P Global’s composite UK purchasing managers index (PMI) last week show the private sector shrank in November, with the index falling to a 13-month low of 49.9 in the wake of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s record tax-raising Budget.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) earlier this month also showed that GDP growth cooled from 0.5pc in the second quarter to 0.1pc between July and September.
However, Ms Lombardelli said that she did not take “a strong signal” from a single data release.
She warned that the Bank’s battle with inflation is not over yet and said the Monetary Policy Committee should be wary of cutting interest rates too quickly because of sticky wage inflation.
Ms Lombardelli said: “It’s often been said that the last mile may be the hardest, and that’s where we are now.”
02:54 PM GMT
German steelmaker to offload 11,000 jobs
In Europe, German industrial giant Thyssenkrupp said that it plans to cut around 5,000 jobs at its steel subsidiary by 2030 and outsource a further 6,000 as it looks to put the crisis-hit division on a stable footing.
The cuts would fall on both “production and administration”, while the further reduction of the payroll would happen through “outsourcing to external service providers or the sale of business activities”, Thyssenkrupp said.
Currently around 27,000 people are employed in the steel division, which has been battered by high production costs and fierce competition from Asian rivals.
While reducing the headcount, Thyssenkrupp said it would lower its production capacity to around nine million tonnes from 11.5 million tonnes.
The group will also seek to sell its shares in the Krupp Mannesmann steelworks in the western German city of Duisburg, where Thyssenkrupp is based.
02:42 PM GMT
Big projects ‘taking too long’, says Badenoch
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch suggested that the UK is “taking too long” to get big projects completed.
Asked at the CBI annual conference how long projects such as roadbuilding or housebuilding should take, she said: “I think the question about how long should we take is (...) it’s like asking how long is a piece of string.
“We are taking too long, we know we are taking too long because when I was business secretary many investors would complain about how long it took to get anything done in the UK versus Spain versus Italy.”
She said that “we should be looking at what our competitor economies are doing and we should be asking ourselves ‘why it is that there is so much obstruction to getting things delivered”‘ and that “we are burdening ourselves in a way that is stopping anything from happening”.
02:36 PM GMT
Wall Street surges after Trump’s treasury secretary nomination
US stocks jumped at the opening bell after Donald Trump chose a “safe pair of hands” hedge fund manager to be his treasury secretary.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1pc at the open to 44,748.64 after Scott Bessent’s nomination in the incoming Trump administration.
The S&P 500 rose 0.7pc to 6,012.93​, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8pc to 19,160.20.
02:24 PM GMT
Badenoch aims to ‘rewire the state’ to boost economy
Kemi Badenoch said “we need to completely change the way we talk about how our economy works”.
The Conservative leader was asked about what taxes or services she would cut to fill the “black hole” the Labour Government claims was left in the public finances by the Tories.
Ms Badenoch told the CBI annual conference in London she is “not talking about which tax we will tweak here or which service we’re going to cut there”.
She said: “We need to completely change the way we talk about how our economy works.
“What is it that we’re trying to so? What should government be doing? How should it do better? Are we having people in the most productive places?”
She said that the change would take “a lot of work” and mean “deep, real reviews asking the right questions”.
“That’s what we’re going to do. If we’re going to rewire the state, we need to start from there and not just adjust little knobs and levers on tax or insurance.”
02:20 PM GMT
We will look again at National Insurance rise, says Badenoch
Kemi Badenoch would not say for certain whether a Conservative government would reverse Labour’s changes to employer National Insurance contributions (Nics), but suggested they would “look again”.
Taking questions at the CBI annual conference in London, the Leader of the Opposition said that “where we can see that a change that has been brought in in the Budget... will not raise any money, we will change that.”
But, she added: “What I’m not going to do is comment on every bit of micro-policy. There will be different budgets, there will be new things that occur, the system may change.
“What I am starting with is principles, we believe that employer’s National Insurance, while necessary to help us fund public services, is a tax on jobs.”
She added: “The fact that so many organisations - especially those that have people who are on the lowest wages - are saying that this is becoming unaffordable means that we should look again, and that’s one of the first things that we’re going to be doing when we start our policy platform.”
02:05 PM GMT
Badenoch says ‘bureaucratic state’ holding back economy
Kemi Badenoch has attacked Labour’s tax raid on business as she warned that Britain’s “bureaucratic state” was holding back the economy.
The Tory leader said the government’s “unprecedented raid” would hurt jobs and growth, adding to the threat from additional employment laws from 2026.
Addressing the CBI annual conference, Ms Badenoch said: “We are all talking about the consequences of the budget, but we do not yet know what the full consequences of their legislative program will be, like their employment rights bill designed by trade unions.
“Every big business started out as a small business, and that is why I’m so concerned that the burden on them is still increasing: taxes, corporation tax, employers, National Insurance and new regulations.
“The new government believes that invisible businesses can absorb these costs, but it is everyday people who bear the brunt, either in higher prices or lower wages, sometimes both. And they see the jobs which are lost as a result, but no one ever sees the jobs that never gets created.”
Ms Badenoch conceded that the “Conservatives lost the confidence of business” ahead of the election” as she called for a rewriting of the relationship between government and business.
“I have seen the system from the inside, and it is broken,” she said.
“Every day in the legislature, someone has a great new idea that sounds nice in principle but in practice, creates more red tape, more bureaucracy, more burden. The incentive for us as politicians is for us to keep announcing new nice things.
“The way to fix things is not just about creating new laws.
“We must not be a bureaucratic state. We need to get a proper diagnosis of what is going wrong.”
01:59 PM GMT
Burden on small businesses is increasing, says Badenoch
Kemi Badenoch warned that small businesses are facing an increasing burden as she laid out her “principles” for dealing with companies.
She told the CBI annual conference: “We need to have free and fair and competition. Not monopolies, not rent-seeking, not corporatism but a genuine competition that allows new entrants in and those that are no longer productive to evolve or leave the economy.
“That is what free enterprise is about. We the Conservatives must be the party of business - not just big business, not just corporates, but small business too.
“Every big business started out as a small business and that is why I’m so concerned that the burden on them is still increasing, with taxes, corporation tax, employers National Insurance and new regulations.
The new Government believes that invisible businesses can absorb these costs but it is everyday people who bear the brunt either in higher prices or lower wages, sometimes both.”
01:50 PM GMT
Bosses ‘knew Tories were going to lose’ the election, says Badenoch
Kemi Badenoch said Britain does not yet know the full consequences of the Budget, which raised taxes by £40bn, including a £25bn National Insurance hike for employers.
The Leader of the Opposition also raised concerns about the Government’s Employment Rights Bill “designed by trade unions”.
However, Ms Badenoch said there was no point complaining about Labour when it was obvious the Conservatives had “lost the confidence of business”.
She said bosses had raced to Labour’s “prawn cocktail or smoked salmon” offensive last year because they “knew we were going to lose” and thought the last government did not understand what their needs or concerns were.
01:44 PM GMT
Labour doubling down on Tory mistakes, says Kemi Badenoch
Kemi Badenoch has begun speaking at the CBI annual conference by warning that the Government is “doubling down” on the mistakes made by the Tories.
The Conservative leader said: “We Conservatives got things wrong and unless we explain where we got things wrong, we will repeat those mistakes.
“My father was a GP. He always told me that if you get the diagnosis wrong, the treatment won’t work. You will keep treating the patient over and over again but they will never get better and that is what I fear is about to happen in the UK.
“We haven’t done the work to understand what the root causes of our problems are and I’m worried because the Labour party are not just repeating many of the mistakes which we made in government, they are doubling down on them and combining them with an unprecedented raid on business.”
01:18 PM GMT
Wall Street poised for record rally after Bessent named next treasury secretary
The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high in premarket trading after a hedge fund boss was nominated as treasury secretary in the incoming Trump administration.
President-elect Donald Trump ended weeks of speculation when he named Scott Bessent late on Friday, with some investment strategists saying he could take measures to restrain further government borrowing.
Yields on Treasury bonds had surged after Trump’s victory on expectations that his policies could stoke inflationary pressures and slow down the pace of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts.
However, bond markets have rallied around the world today.
Joe McCann, chief executive at Asymmetric in Miami, said: “The beauty of this nomination is that Bessent is a fiscal conservative.
“This sets the stage for more fiscal discipline, which the market is really going to welcome.”
In premarket trading, the Dow was up 0.7pc, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 had gained 0.5pc.
12:59 PM GMT
Miliband must ‘show benefit’ of green transition, says GB Energy boss
The boss of Great British Energy appeared to urge the Government to resist Ed Miliband’s call to take on “blockers” of renewable energy schemes, as he said new clean power projects must “show benefit” to local groups.
Jurgen Maier, chairman of the newly established public body, said policymakers must “take communities with us” during the green energy transition.
His comments come as Labour tries to decarbonise Britain’s power grid by the end of the decade, in a push that will require a massive ramp up in the amount of pylons and wind farms in rural areas to meet growing energy demand.
The policies have already provoked a backlash, with local councils taking legal action earlier this year over plans to build a solar farm in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, though the action was later dropped.
Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, has vowed to take on “blockers” opposed to the rollout of new turbines and pylons, calling it a matter of “national security” and “economic justice”.
Officials are also consulting on reforms to the planning system, to help push through green energy schemes more quickly.
But when outlining GB Energy’s plans at the CBI’s annual conference, Mr Maier said: “In all of this we need to take our communities with us.”
He said: “We do need to put an infrastructure and planning Bill through but actually you do have to go through planning and take communities with us.
“We want to invest in community energy schemes, local power schemes... to show we can pass some of the benefits of this great renewable energy on to our consumers, which I don’t think we’ve done enough of yet.”
12:39 PM GMT
BT hires deal specialist as it prepares for sale of global division
BT has appointed a telecoms deal specialist to its board as it gears up for a potential sale of its global division.
Rima Qureshi, who has over three decades of experience in the industry, will join BT’s board at the beginning of March.
Ms Qureshi was most recently chief strategy officer at US mobile giant Verizon, while she also held senior roles at Ericsson, including head of mergers and acquisitions.
It comes as BT gears up for a carve-out and potential sale of its struggling global division, which provides mobile and broadband services to business customers around the globe.
Allison Kirkby, chief executive of BT, has said the company has held talks with prospective buyers as she looks to further simplify the group.
BT chairman Adam Crozier said: “We are delighted to be welcoming Rima as a director in March. Her extensive operational, strategic and telecommunications experience will be of significant value to the board and its committees.”
Ms Qureshi, who also sits on the board of MasterCard and Canadian retail giant Loblaw, said: “I’m very much looking forward to joining BT Group and hope that my experience over many years in the telecommunications industry will positively contribute to future board discussions and decision-making.”
12:09 PM GMT
Labour just don’t understand business, says shadow minister
The shadow business secretary said the closest most Labour MPs had got to the private sector companies was “standing outside one on a picket line”.
Andrew Griffith criticised the Government as business leaders gathered at the CBI annual conference, where the lobbying group’s chief executive Rain Newton-Smith said the tax-raising Budget had placed bosses in “crisis containment” mode.
Mr Griffith tweeted: “Labour just don’t understand business.
“The closest that most Labour MPs have been to a private sector business is standing outside one on a picket line.”
11:54 AM GMT
ITV surges amid takeover speculation
Love Island broadcasting giant ITV has seen its shares leap higher on reports the group is being eyed for a possible takeover.
Shares in ITV surged as much as 9.5pc to lead the FTSE 250 after it was reported by Sky News at the weekend that private equity firm CVC Capital Partners was looking to team up with other potential bidders for the British broadcaster.
It is understood that CVC is joining forces with a European broadcaster to consider a bid for parts or all of ITV.
The reported takeover interest follows a share price slump in recent months for the group behind hit shows I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! and Love Island, whose stock has fallen 7pc over the past month.
It is thought that CVC is mulling over a deal that would see it buy the production arm, ITV Studios, with the European broadcast partner taking over the broadcasting business and ITVX streaming platform.
RedBird Capital-owned All3Media and Mediawan, which is backed by the private equity firm KKR, are also said to be potential bidders interested in ITV Studios.
CVC Capital Partners declined to comment, while ITV has been approached for comment.
11:39 AM GMT
Oil edges down despite Ukraine and Middle East tensions
Oil prices have inched lower after their strongest rise in nearly two months last week amid the escalating conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Brent crude slipped 0.2pc below $75 a barrel after jumping almost 6pc last week, with US-produced West Texas Intermediate down 0.3pc near $71.
It comes as long-range weapons were used by both Russia and Ukraine, escalating the two-and-a-half-year war.
Meanwhile, Iran said it will increase its nuclear fuel-making capacity after being censured by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency.
Vivek Dhar, an analyst at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said the action and Iran’s response “heightens the likelihood that Trump will look to enforce sanctions against Iran’s oil exports when he comes into power”.
11:15 AM GMT
Britain needs more optimism to attract investment, says Smith & Nephew boss
British policymakers and boardrooms must be more optimistic about the UK economy if the country is to attract business investment, according to the boss of Smith & Nephew.
Deepak Nath, chief executive of the global medical company, said the UK still punched above its weight in terms of being an investment destination, even though the size of its economy meant other markets were more attractive.
Citing the FTSE 100 company’s decision to remain in the UK in 2022 after more than a century of doing business - Mr Nath said the UK’s business ecosystem was important.
However, referring to CBI chairman Rupert Soames’s role as chairman of his company, Mr Nath added that a “level of optimism in board group discussions” was “an important part of boardroom decisions” on investment.
Ms Reeves was accused of talking down the economy ahead of announcing a £40bn tax raid that hit businesses and workers.
11:02 AM GMT
Britain becoming uninvestable under Starmer, warns McVitie’s boss
Britain has become a less attractive place to do business, the boss of one of the UK’s biggest manufacturers has warned.
Salman Amin, chief executive of Pladis, which makes McVitie’s biscuits including Chocolate Digestives, said his sentiment about the UK had completely changed from a decade ago.
He told the CBI conference that the company had been “super bullish on the United Kingdom, in fact, by far our greatest investment across all of our countries over the last decade or so has come to the UK”, with north of £2bn of investment.
However, Mr Amin added that the investment case had weakened over the past couple of years, suggesting that Ms Reeves’s Budget and her predecessor Jeremy Hunt’s decision to increase corporation tax had done damage.
He said: “It’s becoming harder to understand what the case for investment is … to make a difference in the growth rate of the economy.”
10:43 AM GMT
Business should ‘co-design’ policy with ministers, says Newton-Smith
Before closing her speech, CBI chief Rain Newton-Smith said ministers must work closer with businesses in future after the shock of the Budget tax hikes.
“From now on, we need to shift from consultation to co-design,” she told the group’s conference in London.
“Tax rises like this must never again be simply done to business. That’s the road to unintended consequences.
“Instead, we need an elevated partnership for a higher purpose.”
10:40 AM GMT
Businesses face ‘heavy burden’, warns CBI boss
Rain Newton-Smith, chief executive of the Confederation of British Industry, told her organisation’s annual conference: “What really defines growth is the decisions made in boardrooms up and down the country.
“It’s CFOs (chief financial officers) asking, ‘can we afford to invest? Can we afford to expand? Can we afford to take a chance on new people?’
“Well after the Budget, the answer we’re hearing from so many firms is still ‘not yet’.
“The rise in national insurance, the stark lowering of the threshold, caught us all off guard.
“Along with the expansion and the rise of the national living wage - which everyone wants to accommodate - and the potential cost of the Employment Rights Bill, they put a heavy burden on business.”
10:25 AM GMT
CBI boss warns over ‘spectre of rising protectionism’
The head of the CBI suggested the arrival of Donald Trump had left Britain in an “uncertain world” where “no one can be sure what’s coming”.
The president-elect has promised to impose tariffs on foreign goods entering the US economy to encourage companies to spend with American firms.
Rain Newton-Smith did not refer to Mr Trump by name, but told the lobbying group’s annual conference: “When we look at international scene, no one can be sure what’s coming.
“The long and tragic car in Ukraine, the devastating conflict in the Middle East, the spectre of rising protectionism and sabre rattling from across the Pond.
“In an uncertain world it is even more important that we stand up for what we believe in.
“That we raise up the voice of business, that we reach out our hands across borders and we’ve seen the commitment from the Government to lead internationally, their leadership at Cop29, where ultimately only investment by business will truly tackle climate change.”
10:21 AM GMT
CBI boss begins speech with Peppa Pig jibe
CBI boss Rain Newton Smith has taken to the stage in room of 300 or so business leaders to kick off the CBI annual conference.
She started by acknowledging the difficulties facing the business group over the past couple of years, which saw many companies resign their membership of the lobby group amid a series of misconduct scandals.
In a room that was about three quarters full, she still found space in her speech for a Peppa Pig reference in a jibe at Boris Johnson’s rambling speech from a few years ago.
Business executives so far are keeping an open mind - though they are pointing out some of the unintended consequences.
One animal food trade rep says his members are most disgruntled about Rachel Reeves’s decision to impose inheritance tax on farmers.
10:03 AM GMT
Pound rises after policymaker backs ‘gradual’ cuts
The value of the pound has edged up after a Bank of England policymaker said she was concerned that the process of bringing inflation back to target was slowing down.
Sterling was up 0.3pc against the dollar to $1.257 after Clare Lombardelli warned there are “some signs that the process of wage disinflation may be slowing”.
She said she supports a “gradual” cutting of interest rates. Money markets indicate there is about a 13pc chance of a reduction in borrowing costs in December, down from 15pc on Friday.
Sterling was also given a boost from the appointment of Scott Bessent as US treasury secretary, who is expected to keep a lid on surging US debt.
The pound was last down 0.3pc against the euro, which is worth 83.4p.
09:49 AM GMT
Confidence in ‘floundering’ German economy falls
German bosses are less confident about their prospects as they grapple with a “floundering” economy, an industry survey shows.
The Ifo Institute said sentiment among companies in Germany “has become gloomier” as bosses made a “worse assessment of the current situation”.
Its business climate index fell to 85.7 points in November, down from 86.5 points in October.
The Ifo said: “Expectations fell slightly. The German economy is floundering.”
09:32 AM GMT
Britain in ‘hardest’ last mile on inflation, says Bank of England deputy governor
The process of bringing inflation back to the Bank of England’s 2pc target may be slowing down, one of its policymakers has warned.
Clare Lombardelli, a member of the Monetary Policy Committee which sets interest rates, said she supports a “gradual” lowering of borrowing costs as the direction of wages and services prices had become “unclear”.
She said the chances of inflation falling steadily to target or remaining persistent were “broadly balanced” but warned she was “more worried about the possible consequences” if the pace of price rises proved stubborn.
Speaking at the Bank of England Watchers Conference in London, she said: “There are some signs that the process of wage disinflation may be slowing, so it’s too early to declare victory on inflation.
“It’s often been said that the last mile may be the hardest, and that’s where we are now.
“This is why I support a gradual removal of monetary policy restriction and will be monitoring the flow of data over the coming months so we can calibrate our policy path as needed.”
09:11 AM GMT
Scott Bessent: Who is Trump’s new treasury pick?
Scott Bessent was one of George Soros’ right-hand men when the liberal billionaire bet against the pound on Black Wednesday.
Mr Bessent, then in his early 30s, was part of one of the most famous trades in history and helped net the Soros Fund some $1.5 billion in the space of a month. For Britain, it was a national humiliation that “broke the Bank of England”.
Mr Bessent, whom Mr Trump once praised as a “nice-looking guy and one of the most brilliant men on Wall Street”, has now been named as the incoming president’s treasury secretary.
Our reporter Benedict Smith reveals all about his career and why Mr Soros, a boogeyman for the American Right, hired him twice.
08:56 AM GMT
FTSE 100 rises after Trump’s treasury secretary nomination
The FTSE 100 hit a two-week high after Donald Trump’s nomination for treasury secretary reassured investors.
The UK’s flagship stock market was up 0.4pc and the FTSE 250 gained 0.5pc, while European markets also rose.
The Cac 40 in Paris jumped 0.6pc, the Dax in Frankfurt gained 0.4pc and the Ibex 35 in Madrid gained 0.4pc after Trump’s selection of fund manager Scott Bessent as treasury secretary, who is expected to keep a leash on US debt.
In London, Anglo American rose 2pc after the miner announced plans to sell its Australian steelmaking coal mines for $3.8bn (£3bn).
B&Q-owner Kingfisher plunged 14.2pc to the bottom of the FTSE 100 after it downgraded its profit forecast and said it would take a £31m hit from the tax rises announced in the Budget.
ITV shares surged as much as 9.5pc to lead the FTSE 250 after reports that private equity giant CVC Capital Partners and a major European broadcaster - thought to be France’s Groupe TF1 - are among those considering a takeover bid for all or parts of the company.
08:35 AM GMT
Barclays fined £40m over Qatari fundraising during global financial crisis
Barclays has been fined £40m by the UK’s financial watchdog over failures to disclose arrangements with Qatari investors when it raised funds during the 2008 financial crash.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said Barclays had agreed to withdraw from referring the case to the Upper Tribunal for appeal.
In 2022, the FCA said Barclays’ conduct at the time was “reckless and lacked integrity”, and previously decided to impose a fine worth £50m.
It found that the bank paid hundreds of millions of pounds in fees to certain Qatari entities that were key investors during the 2008 financial crash.
Steve Smart, the FCA’s joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said today: “Barclays’ misconduct was serious and meant investors did not have all the information they should have had.
“However, the events took place over 16 years ago and we recognise that Barclays is a very different organisation today, having implemented change across the business.”
Barclays said it wants to “draw a line under the issues” but stressed that it does not agree with the FCA’s decision.
A spokeswoman for Barclays said that “in view of the time elapsed since the events, Barclays wishes to draw a line under the issues” referred to by the FCA.
08:24 AM GMT
B&Q slumps as it warns of £31m Budget tax blow
B&Q owner Kingfisher has warned it expects a £45m hit from tax raids in the UK and France.
Shares in the company, which also runs Screwfix and Castorama DIY stores, fell 11.8pc after it said Rachel Reeves’s plan to increase employer National Insurance contributions would cost it £31m in its next financial year.
It said proposed tax moves in France, where the government is plotting changes to social taxes and delaying the abolishment of the CVAE sales tax, would deal a £14m blow to its profits.
Kingfisher said it was working to mitigate the impact, although would only be able to offset part of the higher costs.
Chief executive Thierry Garnier said: “Recent political and macroeconomic developments have layered incremental uncertainty onto the near-term outlook in our markets.”
It came as the company said both uncertainty surrounding both the UK Budget and France’s Draft Finance Bill had weighed on consumers in its latest quarter, with sales dipping 0.6pc.
08:14 AM GMT
Budget tax rises will hit lowest paid the hardest, warns CBI boss
Lowest paid workers will be hit hardest by the tax rises on businesses announced in the Budget, the head of the CBI has warned.
Rain Newton-Smith, who will address business leaders at the lobbying group’s annual conference today, said bosses had been “taken back” by the decision to lower the threshold on employer National Insurance contributions (Nics).
In the Budget last month, the Chancellor raised Nics from 13.8pc to 15pc and lowered the threshold on which companies will start paying it on staff salaries from £9,100 to £5,000 per year from April.
Ms Newton-Smith told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think where businesses have been taken back is the lowering of the National Insurance threshold means that it particularly hits businesses that are offering opportunities to people that are on lower wages - on often the people who are making their first inroads into the labour market.
“On the other hand, the Government have talked about how we want to get more people back into work and keep them in work.”
08:05 AM GMT
UK markets open higher after Trump’s picks treasury secretary
The FTSE 100 has opened higher amid hopes that Donald Trump’s choice of US treasury secretary will be a steady hand on the world’s largest economy.
The UK’s blue-chip index was up 0.5pc to 8,299.54 after the announcement that hedge fund boss Scott Bessent had been given the nod to steward America’s public finances.
The midcap FTSE 250 jumped 0.5pc to 20,683.69.
07:50 AM GMT
Anglo American sells steelmaking coal business for $4.9bn
Anglo American has agreed to sell-off the rest of its steelmaking coal business in a $3.8bn (£3bn) deal.
The miner will sell its group of miners in Australia to Peabody Energy, months after announcing plans for a restructure after fending off a takeover attempt by rival BHP.
Anglo had already announced plans to sell its 33pc stake in coal miner Jellinbah for about $1.1bn, taking its total return from its steelmaking coal business to $4.9bn.
Chief executive Duncan Wanblad said: “The sale of our steelmaking coal business is another important step towards delivering the strategy that we set out in May to create a world class copper, premium iron ore and crop nutrients business.”
07:33 AM GMT
Two thirds of companies slash hiring plans after Reeves’s tax raid
Almost two thirds of companies plan to hire fewer people as a result of the Budget as Rachel Reeves is accused of forcing employers into “damage control” mode.
The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) chief executive will warn on Monday that “tax rises like this must never again simply be done to business” at the lobby group’s annual conference in London which the Chancellor is expected to attend.
A poll of 266 business leaders by the CBI underlines the extent to which workers will be hit by employer tax rises, with 62pc saying they will respond by slashing hiring plans. Almost half said they will be forced to lay off staff, while 46pc are looking to delay pay rises for their workforce.
Lucy Burton, Hannah Boland and Szu Ping Chan reveal how the CBI’s head will warn employers have been plunged into ‘damage control mode’.
07:29 AM GMT
China shares fall as interest rate left unchanged
The only outlier among global stocks was China, where shares fell further after its central bank left interest rates unchanged.
The Shanghai Composite index fell 0.4pc to 3,253.28 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped 0.3pc to 19,172.07.
China’s central bank kept the interest rate on the one-year medium-term lending facility unchanged at 2pc.
Shares in technology companies saw big declines, with online shopping platform Meituan falling 4pc while multimedia and video games company Tencent dropped 1.5pc.
07:28 AM GMT
Stocks rise as Trump picks new treasury secretary
Global stock markets have rallied after Donald Trump announced his choice to be the next man in charge of America’s public finances under his administration.
Asian shares bounced and the FTSE 100 and European markets were poised to open higher after the selection of fund manager Scott Bessent as US treasury secretary.
Bond markets also rallied after the selection, with the benchmark 10-year Treasury yields - which moves inversely to its price - down more than five basis points to 4.36pc.
Bond yields are an indicator of the price of government borrowing.
Stephen Spratt, strategist at Societe Generale, said: “The market view (is) that Bessent is a ‘safe hands’ candidate.”
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 1.3pc to 38,780.14 while the Kospi in Seoul rose 1.3pc to 2,534.34. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 picked up 0.3pc to 8,417.60.
Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.2pc and the Sensex in India was up 1.4pc. In Bangkok, the SET was nearly unchanged.
07:26 AM GMT
Good morning
Thank you for joining me. Stocks have risen after Donald Trump chose fund manager Scott Bessent to be the next US treasury secretary.
Mr Bessent, a hedge fund boss, is considered a measured choice who could inject stability into the American economy.
Meanwhile, bosses have been focused on “damage control” since the Budget and are less likely to “take a chance” on hiring people, the head of the CBI has warned.
Rain Newton-Smith said bosses were in “crisis containment” mode as she prepares to speak at the Confederation of British Industry’s annual conference, which Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to attend.
Miss Reeves is not likely to get the warmest of welcomes: almost two thirds of companies plan to hire fewer people as a result of her Budget, according to a survey of bosses by the business group.
The CBI’s chief executive will this morning warn that “tax rises like this must never again simply be done to business” in the wake of the national insurance raid.
5 things to start your day
Rachel Reeves’s inheritance tax raid ‘hits farmers harder than tax avoiders’ | Two-thirds of those hit by the death duty are working farmers, not land-buying investors, analysis shows
Labour must bring planning officers out of retirement to hit housing targets | Estate agency Savills says Angela Rayner needs “thousands” more staff to build 1.5m homes in five years
Observer posts £3m profit ahead of potential sale to loss-making start-up | Sunday newspaper’s earnings raise questions over claims it must be offloaded to protect The Guardian.
Tens of thousands of teens lying about their age on social media to beat safeguards | Users as young as eight say they claim to be over 18 when using apps
Roger Bootle: Bond vigilantes are a threat to Britain’s public finances | Today’s gilt market affords no scope for fiscal largesse or more inflationary pay awards
What happened overnight
The US dollar and bitcoin - which have been on something of a boom since Donald Trump’s election victory - both fell back a little.
Their dip has been linked with the incoming American President’s choice of Scott Bessent as his Treasury Secretary. A relatively conventional appointment, the elevation of the hedge fund boss to the new administration suggests to markets that Mr Trump may be measured in some of his economic policy choices.
As Erik Nielsen at UniCredit described it: “Following his other nominations, and the drawn-out battle among the contenders for the Treasury job, you could literally hear the sigh of relief from financial markets participants in the US when Bessent was announced.”
Asian markets rose. Tokyo advanced more than one percent, even as the yen pushed up against the dollar, while Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, Wellington, Manila and Jakarta also sat in positive territory.