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OPINION: A welcome for the Mansion House Speech 2025 and Leeds Reforms

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves (C) gives a speech as the Lord Mayor of London Alastair King (R) listens at the Mansion House Financial Services dinner at the Mansion House on July 15, 2025 in London, England.
The UK chancellor has vowed to remove the “boot on the neck” of UK businesses Photo: Carl Court/Getty Images

David Gauke, former Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, welcomes the reforms but with caveats on who will be paying more tax as a consequence.

Rachel Reeves wants higher economic growth in the financial services sector, believes that this is being held back by an unpredictable regulatory system that has a disproportionate attitude towards risk, and has set out reforms designed to change a culture of risk aversion that she describes as being “bad for