The Financial Conduct Authority must launch a full, independent investigation into potential market abuse by the Treasury ahead of the Budget, says Blake Stephenson

Markets rely on trust, clarity, and the even‑handed release of information. When those principles are compromised, confidence falters. That is why the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) must launch a full, independent investigation into potential market abuse in the weeks before the Budget.

This is not trivial, nor a fixation by the opposition on process, as ministers would have you believe. It goes to the heart of how the UK’s economy is governed, how ministers communicate with the public and our markets, and whether our regulators are willing to uphold the standards they claim to enforce.

MPs – including myself – have been vocal in parliament about the troubling pattern of briefings, leaks and selective disclosures that preceded the Budget. The concern is simple: that the Treasury painted an unduly bleak picture of the public finances, despite receiving more positive information from the Office for Budget Responsibility weeks earlier. That pessimism fuelled speculation about tax rises and shaped market expectations. If ministers or officials knowingly disseminated misleading or incomplete information, that is not politics – it is potentially unlawful.

The........

© City A.M.