Closing summary
Keir Starmer promised “stability and moderation” in his first speech as prime minister outside 10 Downing Street, after Labour won a landslide victory that ended 14 years of Conservative government.
This had been expected and “priced into” financial markets, so the market reaction was muted today. The pound rose by 0.4% against the dollar to $1.2809, and by 0.3% against the euro to €1.1826.
The FTSE 100 index rose by 0.4% in the morning and later gave up its gains to close 37.33 points, or 0.45% lower, at 8,203.93. The domestically-focused FTSE 250 ended the day 0.86% higher at 20,786.65, a gain of 176.31 points.
Housebuilders rallied on the London stock market, as investors bet that Starmer’s pledge to bulldoze planning rules and build 1.5m new homes would benefit the sector.
Vistry Group rose 3.4%, Taylor Wimpey added 2.8% and Barratt gained 2.4% while Persimmon and Berkeley Group both closed 2.2% higher.
Starmer appointed Rachel Reeves, a former Bank of England economist, as chancellor. She is the UK’s first female chancellor.
There were mixed feelings in the City, where Jasper Jolly and Mahliqa Ali talked to a number of workers.
Here is some reaction from a range of business leaders:
Thank you for reading. We’ll be back on Monday. Have a great weekend. Take care! – JK
The Invest in Women Taskforce has welcomed the appointment of Rachel Reeves as the first female chancellor, which she co-chairs. Fellow co-chair Debbie Wosskow said:
A female chancellor, one of the highest offices in the country, who has already vowed to put women at the heart of economic plans, is so vital. A female chancellor who also recognises the billions that female entrepreneurs could add to Britain’s economy is even better.
Reeves has already vowed to close the gender pay gap once and for all, and to make flexible working the norm. These are structural drivers of inequality that should be addressed at a policy level and will play an integral part in allowing women to embrace entrepreneurship.
For the most effective change, though, we need to enable a new era of public and private sector collaboration. Just 2% of capital investment goes into all-female founded teams in the UK, and we need to break this decades-long cycle. This is exactly what the taskforce exists to do and, by working with the new chancellor, we will make great strides this year and put the UK on the map for female entrepreneurs.
