Government should fix ‘stubbornly weak’ growth with policy test, industry body argues Business The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) is calling on the government to break decades of low economic growth by introducing a new delivery test, as businesses continue to slash investment under the burden of mounting costs. In the BCC diagnoses, the UK’s growth problem is not a lack of potential but a failure to turn [...]
AI infrastructure boom helps power Halma to record sales and profit Tech The AI infrastructure boom helped underpin another record year at Halma as the FTSE 100 safety and equipment maker delivered more than £2.5bn in annual revenue for the first time. The 130-year-old group, which owns dozens of specialist businesses across safety, healthcare and environmental tech, posted record revenue and profit, extending a growth streak that [...]
As it happened: Stocks jitter on stalling US-Iran talks; OECD unemployment warning Markets Welcome back to the CityAM liveblog. Markets are being pulled in countless directions from the conflicting information emerging around the conflict in the Middle East. The FTSE 100 managed to shrug off some of these jitters yesterday and secure a finish 0.3 per cent higher as the price of oil slipped. But this morning [...]
Milburn review: Youth unemployment crisis costs £125bn a year due to ‘broken system’ May 28, 2026 The crisis of nearly a million young people who are out of education, employment or training – known as ‘Neets’ – costs the UK economy up to £125bn a year, the Alan Milburn review has found, as both the government and the private sector were blamed for failing to address youth unemployment. An extensive report [...]
Rising hiring costs push British businesses to the brink May 21, 2026 UK businesses are on the brink due to the government’s highly contentious employment rights agenda and cost hikes, following the first provisions of the Employment Rights Act, which came into force in April. According to new research from Employment Hero, an AI-powered employment platform, more than half of UK businesses feel employing staff has “become more [...]
Who is accountable when AI gets it wrong? May 21, 2026 AI operates across systems at a pace no human oversight function can match. So who's accountable when it goes wrong, asks Paul Loftus.
Top UK business groups pledge to combat rise of antisemitism May 15, 2026 More than 40 of the UK’s leading business organisations have issued a joint statement rallying against antisemitism, stating is has reached a level that requires “specific attention”. An open letter signed by the likes of from the British Chambers of Commerce, the CBI, and the Federation of Small Businesses calls for business leaders across the [...]
On this day in 1940: McDonald’s is born in a strange kitchen in California May 15, 2026 On this day in 1940, Mac and Dick McDonald opened an octagonal kitchen in San Bernardino and changed food forever, writes Eliot Wilson.
UK firms are spending billions on AI – but getting extra admin in return May 14, 2026 UK companies are pouring copious amounts of money into AI, while their employees spend nearly a full day each week doing work that AI was supposed to eliminate, new research has found. According to Workday, one in four UK workers loses seven or more hours a week moving information between systems, chasing down data and [...]
Atlassian AI chief: Firms still aren’t making AI ‘really productive’ May 13, 2026 Atlassian claims businesses are still struggling to turn the AI boom into real company-wide productivity gains, as the software giant pushes deeper into workplace automation with a new generation of AI agents. According to the software giant’s chief AI officer, Tamar Yehoshua, most companies have moved beyond simply experimenting with AI tools, yet many were [...]