Peel Hunt has warned that the London Stock Exchange is experiencing significant challenges due to a surge in mergers and acquisitions led by foreign buyers. Currently, there are 42 ongoing bids for London-listed companies, totalling £74bn. This is more than double the £35bn seen in 2025, when 40 bids were recorded. Since the start of 2023, there have been 166 bids over £100m, with the collective value exceeding £180bn. This compares with just 11 IPOs, with these worth £6bn. Overseas buyers account for 64% of the bids logged this year. The investment bank’s head of research, Charles Hall, has warned that the market is experiencing “material depopulation.”

John Healey has been urged to abandon plans for a tax increase on gambling, with the Chancellor told that a hike could jeopardise thousands of jobs, particularly among women and young workers. The Chancellor is considering raising machine games duty to 40% in the upcoming Budget on October 28. Industry leaders warn that this could threaten 16,000 jobs and 1,500 betting shops, with Grainne Hurst, chief executive of the Betting and Gaming Council, saying: “Another tax rise would put thousands of those livelihoods on the line.”

James Reed, chief executive of recruitment firm Reed, has urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Chancellor John Healey to impose taxes on robots and AI tools in the upcoming Budget. This measure, he says, could reduce hiring costs for young workers and prevent a “missing generation” in the workforce. Mr Reed said: “The longer we allow entry-level opportunities to disappear, the harder and more expensive it will be to rebuild the talent pipeline.” A Confederation of British Industry poll shows that 75% of firms see high employment costs as a major threat to the labour market.

Retail leaders have told Chancellor John Healey that proposed tax increases will lead to higher prices and worsen the cost-of-living crisis. Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: “Retailers cannot absorb endless costs, which means ordinary shoppers shoulder the burden.” Retail executives from Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Amazon, the Co-op and Marks & Spencer have told Mr Healey that business rates, employment taxes and high energy costs are driving up inflation. Elsewhere, UKHospitality is urging the Chancellor to reduce the sector’s VAT rate to 10%.

Finance job vacancies in London fell by 30% in the third quarter, according to Morgan McKinley, dropping to 1,200 in September from 1,719 in July. This decline reflects a 6% decrease quarter-on-quarter and an 11% drop year-on-year, and was driven by economic pressures and uncertainty around whether the upcoming Budget will bring tax hikes. Mark Astbury, director at Morgan McKinley, said: “Selectivity comes against a fragile business backdrop… the commercial case for each new hire is coming under greater scrutiny.”

The International Monetary Fund has upgraded its UK growth forecast for this year from 1% to 1.3%, making Britain one of the strongest-performing G7 economies. The report shows that UK output increased by 0.6% in the first quarter and 0.4% in Q2. However, growth is expected to slow to 1.2% next year, while inflation is forecast to remain at 3.3% this year and not return to the Bank of England’s 2% target until the end of 2027. The IMF has warned governments against increasing public spending as rising borrowing costs and inflation threaten financial stability. Globally, the IMF expects growth to slow to 3.1% this year, with further escalation in the Middle East posing risks to energy prices and economic growth.

The Resolution Foundation has warned that Chancellor John Healey’s financial headroom has halved from £24bn earlier this year to £12bn, with the ongoing conflict in the Middle East having an impact as borrowing costs increased.

More than half of Gen Z adults aged 18 to 29 are at risk of cutting or stopping pension contributions over the next year, as short-term financial pressures threaten their retirement savings, research by pensions-finding platform Raindrop has found. Nearly half (47%) fear a retirement savings shortfall, while 48% expect to work longer to compensate. The risk of reducing contributions also affects 35% of millennials, 19% of Generation X and 18% of baby boomers.