0:00
The banking industry spent the majority
0:02
of 2025 on the defensive, fighting off
0:04
relentless calls for a tax on the
0:06
center. And now top lenders are set to
0:08
renew those efforts. Growing fears that
0:11
Keir Starmer could be set to depart
0:12
Downing Street as his premiership
0:14
continues to battle against controversy
0:16
after controversy are sending ripples
0:18
through the city. Because if Starmer
0:20
goes, it's all but certain his
0:22
Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will follow
0:24
suit. Reeves has shot down calls to tax
0:26
the banking sector, opting to spare them
0:28
in last year's autumn budget despite
0:30
calls from the opposition benches, think
0:31
tanks, and even Labour Party's former
0:33
Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner.
0:35
And it's Rayner who is tipped to take
0:37
the helm should Starmer head out the
0:38
door. A leaked memo last year revealed
0:41
the left-wing darling had called for
0:42
Reeves to raise taxes on the banks as a
0:44
way to avoid cutting welfare spending.
0:46
Banks have quickly reassembled into that
0:48
defensive mode that we saw so much of
0:50
last year. The chief executive of
0:52
Barclays has recently been making the
0:54
case for the outsized tax rate on the
0:56
bank sector. He pointed to the sector's
0:58
average of 46% rate in the UK. As bank
1:01
results continue, these lobbying calls
1:03
are only expected to pick up. And should
1:05
the volatility in Westminster go to the
1:07
next level, banks may also be forced to
