Andy Burnham’s first weeks as Prime Minister have collided with second-quarter results from the big banks and oil companies.

Predictably, Labour’s response has been accusations of profiteering and demands that energy firms be punished with higher levies for polluting the planet.

Chancellor John Healey blames the Middle East conflict for the rising cost of living and insists the Government is on the lookout for ‘price gouging’ at the ‘pump or till’.

Bumper profits reported by oil majors, including BP and Shell, with windfalls estimated at $90billion across eight groups, including Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, led to accusations that the oil giants were ‘cashing in on human misery’ and causing climate change.

All of Britain’s big four banks, meanwhile, have used results to argue against further levies on the sector.

The British psyche often denigrates financial success. Yet the High Street, the banking sector and oil are among the biggest contributors to the Exchequer. 

In 2025, some £43.3billion of taxes were paid by City and High Street banks, or almost 5 per cent of the UK tax take. NatWest, which releases a tax transparency report, paid £3.6billion alone.

Big oil is also among the nation’s biggest taxpayers. So the concern should be that the tax squeeze on businesses of all sizes is suffocating growth. BP’s proposed withdrawal from the North Sea is a case in point.

It is suggested that oil companies should use trading and windfall profits to subsidise the cost of petrol at the pumps. 

But that would be unfair competition for the supermarkets that rely on cut-price petrol to tempt shoppers into out-of-town stores.

And any extra taxes on the banks, which face tough UK prudential regulation, would hit the very housing and infrastructure lending which Labour promotes.

Moreover, Britain’s largest bank, HSBC, and oil giants Shell and BP all have the option of moving share listings and even their HQs overseas if life is made uncomfortable. 

Consumers should be grateful that prices are being monitored, however. 

But Healey would make a colossal error should he rely on higher taxes as the best way to plug holes in the public purse.

The London Stock Exchange has long been the premier league for mining stocks. Slowly that leadership is drifting away. 

The decision by £64billion Glencore, a top FTSE 100 player, to seek a secondary listing in Australia is not a good sign.

Following failed merger talks with Rio Tinto, the mining and commodity group says it wants to broaden its investor base and improve liquidity.

Heading to Oz is slightly more reassuring than a shift to New York. But one shouldn’t preclude it following rival BHP’s shift from the City to Sydney. 

Some 15 years ago, the LSE sought to consolidate its leadership in natural resources by merging with Canada’s TMX Group, which owns the Toronto Stock Exchange. The deal was blocked by the Ontario authorities.

When miner Anglo American completes its merger with Vancouver-based Teck Resources, the plan is for a secondary listing in Toronto to go with London and Anglo’s spiritual home of Johannesburg.

London was also the preferred market for Russian natural resources stocks. 

But after Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, London share trading in dozens of Russian stocks – including such behemoths as Gazprom, Lukoil, Rosneft, Norilsk Nickel and Polyus – was frozen and has remained so ever since.

The City’s historic grip on a booming commodities sector is vanishing before our very eyes.

The City regulator is easing rules for new listings to revive London floats. AIM, which has been sinking like a stone, is trying to become more user-friendly.

But neither Government nor opposition can bring themselves to offer a transforming lifeline to the LSE – the abolition of stamp duty on share trading.

The Tories claim a lack of ‘dynamic’ effects means the Exchequer cannot swallow the loss of income.

The reality is that with each company that departs London for New York – ARM, Flutter, CRH and AstraZeneca (which is half out) – the loss of tax income, jobs, tech and much more is profound.

Ending the exodus is a priority.