Autumn Budget 2026: bank tax will put the City’s success at risk

It is 40 years since the Big Bang unleashed London to become the global financial centre that it is, but by hammering the sector with windfall taxes, John Healey risks putting that success at risk, says Chris Hayward Nigel Lawson’s Big Bang took London from a globally competitive financial and professional services sector to what we measure today as the pre-eminent financial centre of the world. Tomorrow, we mark 40 years since that defining moment that delivered prosperity across the UK in the decades following. On Wednesday, the Chancellor will deliver his first Budget, which if speculation is to be believed would put at risk the success we as a country have achieved since 1986, by levying higher taxes on banks. In an era increasingly defined by an absolute necessity to deliver growth, this would be the complete and utter wrong move. Proponents of the measure argue that higher sector taxes have merits on grounds of fairness. Banks have done well due to macroeconomic factors