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Week in Business: Rachel Reeves goes looking for growth
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Jan 18, 2025
In this episode of Week in Business, City AM's Editor in Chief breaks down this week's top stories in the UK. Some of this week's top stories include the UK government's pro-growth policies, the Financial Conduct Authority lifting the £100 limit on contactless payments, the FTSE 100 hitting an all-time high and more. Get more of City AM 👇 🌐 http://www.cityam.com X(formerly Twitter): http://twitter.com/CityAM Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cityam Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/city_am LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/cityam Produced by: Christian May, Joseph Curay Teneda, Emmanuel Nwosu #business #businessnews #news #politics #politicalnews #finance #uknews #ftse100
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0:00
do you have any progrowth Economic
0:01
Policy sitting around unused perhaps
0:04
you're in charge of regulating the
0:06
increasingly state-owned Railways in
0:08
this country maybe you're responsible
0:09
for handing out fines when people are
0:11
rude on the Telly or perhaps you oversee
0:13
the UK's famously efficient water
0:16
industry maybe you're into bats and
0:17
nutes if so the chancellor is relying on
0:20
you to do some serious soul searching
0:22
cut your own regulations get yourself
0:24
out of the way of the rest of us and
0:26
unleash some economy boosting reforms if
0:30
my tone sounds a little cynical well
0:32
that's because I am a little cynical
0:34
actually skeptical is a better
0:39
word welcome to the week in business
0:41
with me Christian may my reasonably
0:43
Snappy end of week review of the biggest
0:45
stories shaping business and finance
0:47
this week now the Prime Minister began
0:49
the week by declaring that he has full
0:52
confidence in Rachel Reeves uh which
0:54
immediately put a question mark over her
0:56
future uh and she had to shake up her
0:58
ministerial team midweek after the
1:01
inevitable but inexplicably painfully
1:03
drawn out resignation of City Minister
1:06
tulip sadik following an international
1:08
corruption R but back to the
1:10
government's quest for growth and the
1:12
chancellor stepped up her campaign to
1:14
get the nation's Regulators to come up
1:16
with progrowth policies and as I said I
1:19
am a little skeptical I think it's
1:21
entirely sensible to scrutinize
1:23
Regulators mandates and mothball
1:25
unnecessary or counterproductive
1:27
regulations of course I do in fact I
1:29
wish the government would would go
1:30
further than simply asking The
1:31
Regulators to regulate their regulatory
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remit now she met The Regulators of rail
1:36
roads water energy and broadcasting this
1:39
week and I would be surprised to learn
1:41
if that particular meeting of Mines
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unlocks the economy the city's
1:45
Regulators the FCA P Bank of England CMA
1:48
F FRP they're all meeting the chancellor
1:50
next week but before that they've been
1:52
asked to respond to her call for
1:54
regulatory reform ideas now for example
1:57
the financial conduct Authority has said
1:59
that is prepared to wait for it consider
2:02
lifting the 100 limit on contactless
2:05
payments and boom the economy takes off
2:09
now look lifting the contactless payment
2:11
limit is perfectly sensible but just do
2:13
it don't reach for it in response to
2:15
government demands for bold ideas and
2:17
this is from the same FCA by the way
2:19
that is currently tearing its way
2:20
through the financial services sector
2:22
with a retrospective review of motor
2:24
finance deals from nearly 20 years ago
2:27
that's a regulatory Crusade that is one
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footy 100 CEO told me this week is
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making Americans nervous about investing
2:33
in the UK frankly and with all due
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respect to the many fine folk who work
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in the city's Regulators they are not
2:40
the ones that I would ask for advice on
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growing the economy instead I would ask
2:44
the businesses being regulated they
2:46
would tell you what needs to be done or
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what needs to stop being done to them I
2:50
had breakfast this week with a bunch of
2:52
fintech Founders and investors and the
2:54
chancellor should listen to them because
2:56
they know what they're talking about and
2:58
ministers have also got themselves in
2:59
the Absurd position where we now expect
3:01
the outcome of the regulator's growth
3:03
audit to constitute a breakthrough
3:06
rather than just a sensible review of
3:08
their own rules now in the absence of
3:10
many other progrowth ideas in the
3:12
absence of any actual growth having
3:14
tanked consumer and business confidence
3:16
with that 40 billion pound tax raid
3:19
feels like asking the nation's
3:20
Regulators to help out is the
3:22
government's last role of the dice now
3:24
of course reviewing regulatory mandates
3:26
is sensible I'd like it to happen a
3:28
whole lot more but isn't it telling that
3:30
the government isn't suggesting or
3:32
identifying regulations that in their
3:34
view need to go instead they're sort of
3:37
just Outsourcing it bring me some growth
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the sooner the better this is an edict
3:41
not a strategy now to be fair to the
3:43
government they are trying to lay the
3:45
groundwork for future growth in AI in
3:48
planning reform in infrastructure all
3:50
sensible stuff but what good is that if
3:52
there more immediate policies are
3:54
leading to stagnation maybe even
3:56
recession in the Here and Now choking
3:59
off growth now while hoping it arrives
4:01
in the future is pretty high risk and it
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only serves to confirm the idea rapidly
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gaining ground in Westminster that there
4:08
is no plan and it will take more than
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some Blue Sky Thinking by the nation's
4:12
Regulators to reverse that perception
4:15
well let's end on a high literally as
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the footsy 100 hit an all-time high on
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Friday morning driven by strong gains in
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the industrial sector a weaker pound
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which helps overseas earnings and
4:26
expectations of a rate cut in the UK
4:28
next month well that's it from me now do
4:31
stay up to date and in the know across
4:33
the weekend with the cam app and we will
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see you back here next week have a good
4:39
weekend
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[Music]
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