By: Ali Lyon

Chief reporter Ali Lyon is the chief reporter at CityAM, responsible for covering the full gamut of business, finance and wealth news. He has been at CityAM full-time since July 2024. Get in touch with tips via email: [email protected]. Follow Ali on X: @alilyon_94

Connect on socials

All 968 Articles

Nike and Superdry adverts banned in ‘greenwashing’ crackdown

December 3, 2025

Adverts produced by Nike, Superdry and Lacoste which claimed to promote sustainable clothing have been banned by the advertising watchdog as part of a major crackdown on corporate greenwashing. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld complaints against the three fashion giants, assessing that environmental claims made in a series of search engine adverts were exaggerated [...]
Preferred site for Smithfield and Billingsgate markets confirmed

December 3, 2025

The controversial relocation of the centuries-old Smithfield and Billingsgate markets is one step closer to completion, after traders and local authorities earmarked a new site in east London’s Royal Docks for both markets to set up together. Canada Corporation, Greater London Authority (GLA) and representatives for the iconic markets’ traders identified a [...]
Tulip Siddiq rejects ‘kangaroo court’ conviction

December 1, 2025

Former City minister Tulip Siddiq has complained of living in a “Kafkaesque nightmare” after she was handed a two-year jail sentence in a Bangladeshi trial she branded a “kangaroo court”. In a ruling on Monday, a judge in Bangladesh found the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate guilty of abusing the “special influence” she had [...]
FCA to regulate ESG ratings providers

December 1, 2025

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) ratings providers will be policed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under plans published by the watchdog citing concerns of conflicts of interest and a lack of transparency in the burgeoning industry. In what promises to be the most radical overhaul of sustainable finance regulation in UK history, the City’s [...]
Autumn Budget: Investor confidence crisis ‘remains live’

December 1, 2025

The likelihood of an investor confidence crisis in UK assets after last week’s Autumn Budget “remains live” and markets will “gradually lose faith” in the government’s fiscal plans despite the initial reaction being largely positive, an economics consultancy has said. A fresh analysis published by Oxford Economics said the government’s frontloaded spending and backloaded tax [...]
‘We’ve been lied to’: Hospitality in uproar over business rates overhaul

November 28, 2025

A 5p reduction in business rates for hospitality and retail was held up by the Chancellor as a sign the government was listening to their concerns. But – writes Ali Lyon – as business owners calculated what it meant for their bottom line, they discovered that the devil was in the detail. It was supposed [...]
‘Fiscal fiction’: IFS challenges Reeves’ tax measures

November 27, 2025

The Chancellor may need to come back for more tax rises at a future Budget, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) which warned much of the headroom Rachel Reeves carved out for herself relied on “near heroic restraint” on departmental spending in an election year. Helen Miller, the think tank’s director, said that [...]
UK remains in ‘weak fiscal position’ after Budget

November 27, 2025

The UK remains in a weak fiscal position after Wednesday’s Budget despite the Chancellor launching an historic fiscal consolidation in an attempt to shore up the public finances and avoid another tax raising budget, several top economists have warned. Rachel Reeves chose to hike taxes by £26bn via a vast combination of sector-specific levies, pension [...]
Autumn Budget: Reeves pushes ahead with ‘mansion’ tax

November 26, 2025

A mansion tax will be introduced on homes worth more than £2m, Rachel Reeves confirmed, despite warnings from the property industry that the move was fraught with practical difficulties and would lead to a fire sale of high-end homes. The Chancellor ploughed ahead with widely rumoured plans to apply a “high-value council tax surcharge” on [...]
OBR accidentally publishes full Budget before Reeves speech

November 26, 2025

The government will freeze income tax thresholds, implement a mansion tax and freeze fuel duty according to an unprecedented leak from the government’s fiscal watchdog that revealed its full scorecard for the Budget update before the Chancellor delivered her speech. The Office for Budget Responsibility released its full report on the government’s fiscal plans for [...]

Yas Queen’s: Why HSBC Championships expansion has been a smash for business

Yas Queen’s: Why HSBC Championships expansion has been a smash for business

Bowls Club is the City’s most eccentric (and brilliant) pop-up

By: Ali Lyon

All 968 Articles