Business news live: Rachel Reeves to address mortgages and pensions in

After a strong week last week and another rise yesterday, the FTSE 100 is within touching distance of 9000 points for the first time.

For some context, it reached 7000 in 2021, touched 8000 in 2023 but didn’t really get there and stay there until mid-2024, then has risen 10 per cent so far in 2025 to new all time highs.

Even a 0.1 per cent rise today will see it past the latest milestone.

One key issue Rachel Reeves is set to bring up this evening in her Mansion House speech is a shakeup of mortgages.

The chancellor is set to allow renters to show a good track record of payments to prove to lenders how much they can borrow, as well as launching a permanent mortgage guarantee scheme.

Many other mortgage market-related changes have come through in the past few weeks, from relaxed stress test rules at Santander to Nationwide cutting salary requirements for first-time buyers.

Rachel Reeves is likely to hit many topics today but in principle we’ll be looking out for details of mentions on:

• Taxes
• ISAs
• Pensions reform
• and anything else which impacts businesses, particularly SMEs.

The chancellor is expected to double down on not exceeding her fiscal rules and will focus on cutting red tape, looking to “regulate for growth”, says the FT.

Following news of the government considering offering electric car subsidies to the tune of £650m, Colin Walker, head of transport at the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said:

“A quarter of all new cars sold last month were EVs with sales in the first half of 2025 35% higher than the first half of 2024. This significant increase in sales is being helped along by the Government’s ZEV Mandate, which is sending prices down as manufacturers compete to hit their targets, all to the benefit of the British driver.

“The UK car industry’s survival is based on a rapid transition to building the EVs to which the world is moving. CBI Economics found that our car industry, currently worth £46.8bn to the UK economy and employing over 550,000 full-time equivalent jobs, could see its economic output grow by £16bn, or 35%, and employ an additional 167,000 jobs, if it embraces the EV revolution.

“Conversely, go slow, and economic output could collapse by 73%, or £34bn, with over 400,000 jobs being lost. This fund, together with other support for the industry recently announced by the Government, increases the likelihood of the positive scenario being secured”.

Morning and welcome to Tuesday’s business and money coverage on The Independent.

Today’s big lines will doubtless come from Rachel Reeves’ speech at Mansion House, where taxes, pensions and ISAs may…