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Times
6 minutes ago
- Times
Goldman Sachs boss: City's status is at risk
London's position as a global financial centre is 'fragile', the head of Goldman Sachs has warned. David Solomon, 63, said a combination of Brexit and not retaining increasingly mobile talent and capital put the City's status at risk. 'The financial industry is still driven by talent and capital formation. And those things are much more mobile than they were 25 years ago,' Solomon told The Master Investor Podcast. • Rachel Reeves refuses to rule out wealth tax despite fresh warnings Solomon is one of the world's most powerful investment bankers and has been chief executive of Goldman Sachs, which has about 6,000 employees in the UK, since 2018. He said he was 'encouraged by some of what the current government is talking about in terms of supporting business and trying to support a more growth-oriented agenda. But if you don't set a policy that keeps talent here, that encourages capital formation here, I think over time you risk that.' On July 15, Rachel Reeves unveiled a number of measures aimed at cutting red tape in Britain's financial services sector as part of attempts to kickstart the economy. The chancellor said in her Mansion House speech that Labour placed financial services, one of eight key growth sectors under the industrial strategy, 'at the heart of this government's growth mission'. However, there has been speculation the Treasury could target profits in the banking sector, which have been boosted by higher interest rates, with tax rises to help bolster the government's fiscal position. Reeves with Solomon and his Goldman Sachs co-CEOs Kunal Shah, left, and Anthony Gutman, right, in Wednesday's meeting SIMON WALKER/HM TREASURY Reeves is facing pressure over reforms to the non-dom tax regime, with research by New World Wealth, an intelligence firm, recently suggesting Britain has lost 18 billionaires over the past two years, more than any other country in the world. In the podcast, Solomon said: 'Incentives matter. If you create tax policy or incentives that push people away, you harm your economy.' Reeves also pledged in her speech last week to make 'meaningful reforms' to ringfencing, rules brought in following the 2008 financial crisis which forced lenders to legally separate their high street businesses from riskier investment banking divisions. • Why is the FTSE 100 so high when the UK economy is stuttering? Solomon pressed the chancellor, with whom he met in 11 Downing Street on Wednesday along with his co-CEOs Kunal Shah and Anthony Gutman, to 'follow through', saying: 'It's a place where the UK is an outlier, and by being an outlier, it prevents capital formation and growth. 'What's the justification for being an outlier? Why is this so difficult to change? It's hard to make a substantive policy argument that this is like a great policy for the UK. So why is it so hard to change?' The ringfencing regime has also faced criticism from the bosses of some of Britain's biggest banks, who called on the chancellor in April to abolish the rules, arguing that they were inefficient and had been superseded by other reforms.
Telegraph
6 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Tory membership falls under Badenoch
Membership of the Conservative Party has plummeted under Kemi Badenoch, figures reveal. The Tories have 8,000 fewer members than they did when Mrs Badenoch won the party leadership in November. The figures are likely to prompt concern among MPs that the party is failing to recover from the wipeout at the general election last year. At the time of the leadership election last year, the Tories had 131,000 members but this has since fallen to 123,000. The statistics, first reported by The Spectator and not denied by the party, are a further blow to Mrs Badenoch and come amid mounting questions about her future as party leader. The Tories have consistently lagged behind Reform UK in the polls since the beginning of the year. The party currently sits at just 17 per cent in opinion polls, behind Reform on 28 per cent and Labour on 22 per cent. A war of words between Mrs Badenoch and Mr Farage erupted last December when they accused each other of faking their parties' membership numbers. Mr Farage said that his party had more members than the Conservatives for the first time on Boxing Day last year. The Tory leader alleged that Reform's online membership tracker was 'not real' and claimed that analysis of their website showed that it automatically increased, regardless of the real number of members. Reform then invited several media outlets, including The Telegraph, to examine the system. The demonstration provided strong evidence that the ticker was based on verified membership data logged in real time through a third-party website. Mr Farage responded: 'We understand you are bitter, upset and angry that we are now the second biggest party in British politics, and that the Conservative brand is dying under your leadership. However, this [is] not an excuse to accuse us of committing fraud.' The Conservatives have also been hit by a series of defections of former MPs to Reform, most recently Sir Jake Berry, the former chairman of the party. The Tories suffered a bruising round of local elections in May, losing over 650 seats and control of all its councils amid a Reform surge. Their leader is likely to face another challenging set of May elections next year, when voters go to the polls to elect members of the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Senedd. Mrs Badenoch won the race to become Rishi Sunak's successor on the back of her 'Renewal 2030' campaign last November. She focused on returning the party to 'first principles' such as personal responsibility, freedom and family, rather than making concrete policy proposals. The approach has attracted criticism from some Tories, with over half of members saying they believed she was moving too slowly on policy development, according to a poll in April. Mrs Badenoch dismissed the claims, telling BBC Radio 4 that she was elected on such a strategy and adding: 'I'm not changing my mind or getting blown off course.' Meanwhile, Robert Jenrick, who came second to Mrs Badenoch in the race for the leadership and serves as her shadow justice secretary, continues to be the subject of speculation about a future tilt. But Sir Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, said in June that Mrs Badenoch will 'get better' as Tory leader like Margaret Thatcher did. Mrs Badenoch this week brought Sir James Cleverly, her former rival for the leadership, back onto her front bench in a move to boost party unity. As shadow housing secretary, Sir James will take on Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister, making him one of the most senior frontbenchers. Last week, the former home secretary said that the Tories had to 'get out of this habit of cycling through leaders in the hope that ditching this one and picking a new one will make life easy for us'.
The Guardian
6 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Matt Wrack elected general secretary of NASUWT in contested leadership battle
Matt Wrack, a former leader of the firefighters' union, has been elected as permanent general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union following a ballot in which less than 5% of eligible members voted. He beat challenger, Neil Butler, winning 5249 votes to his rival's 3126, after the NASUWT's first contested leadership election for a generation. The union had previously announced that Wrack had been elected unopposed, but it was put to the ballot after Butler, the NASUWT's national officer for Wales, launched a legal challenge to the executive's decision. Wrack, who led the Fire Brigades Union for 20 years, thanked NASUWT members for placing their trust in him. 'NASUWT is a proud and powerful voice for teachers, and together we will make that voice even stronger. Now, our priority is unity and action. 'Teachers have endured years of underinvestment, overwork, and undervaluing of our profession. We urgently need government to invest in education – that means fair pay, manageable workloads, and safe, respectful working environments for staff and students. 'I will work tirelessly with our executive and activists across all nations to secure the conditions and respect teachers deserve. This is a critical moment for education, and NASUWT will lead the way in fighting for our members' rights.' Wayne Broom, the NASUWT national president, said: 'This election engaged our members up and down the country, and the result reflects their confidence in his leadership. 'Matt will play a vital role in the next chapter of the union's work on behalf of teachers across the UK. The national executive and I look forward to working closely with him as we continue our mission to put teachers first. 'We also want to thank Neil Butler for standing in this election and for his ongoing service to NASUWT – his dedication exemplifies the strength of this union's democracy.' Wrack was named as the executive's preferred candidate for general secretary in March. Under NASUWT rules he would have automatically filled the position if no other candidate received enough nominations from local branches. Butler's initial attempt to collect nominations was ruled out on the grounds that, as an employee, he was not a member of the union. He launched legal proceedings and the NASUWT backed down shortly before a hearing at the high court. Wrack was named acting general secretary and nominations were reopened. Only 4.7% of the NASUWT's 178,306 eligible members took part in the ballot. Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union, was elected in 2023 on a 9% turnout.
