Andy Burnham has become Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade, walking into Downing Street with a pledge of relief for the high street in one hand and a small business community bracing for impact on the other.

Buckingham Palace confirmed the appointment on Monday. “His Majesty received in audience the Rt Hon Andrew Burnham MP and requested him to form a new administration,” a spokesman said. “The Rt Hon Andrew Burnham MP accepted The King’s offer and kissed hands upon his appointment as prime minister and first lord of the treasury.”

No actual kissing took place, the phrase being the traditional shorthand for accepting the King’s invitation to form a government. The business community will hope the rest of the new administration’s promises prove less ceremonial.

Burnham’s rise has been remarkably swift. The former Greater Manchester mayor became MP for Makerfield only four weeks ago, took the Labour leadership on Friday following Sir Keir Starmer’s resignation, and now heads a government facing an autumn Budget with precious little room for manoeuvre.

For the owners of Britain’s 5.5 million small firms, the question is not the constitutional choreography but what the new prime minister intends to do with the power he has just acquired.

On that, there are early signals. Burnham has pledged a 20 per cent business rates cut for pubs, clubs and music venues, with the rates threshold for smaller independent hospitality, leisure and retail firms raised for the first time since 2017, funded by higher levies on the giant distribution sheds of the online retailers.

He has also promised to honour Labour’s 2024 manifesto commitments not to raise VAT, income tax or national insurance. “I stick by the manifesto and the promises that it made,” he said before taking office. “So, let me be absolutely clear about that, but there is some room within that manifesto for movement on tax.”

That last clause is the one to watch. Any rebalancing would come on top of the permanently lower business rates multipliers introduced for retail, hospitality and leisure properties from April, and would mark a further shift of the property tax burden away from the high street.

The economic inheritance, however, is unforgiving. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the economy grew by just 0.1 per cent in May, with services doing almost all the heavy lifting while production and construction contracted.

Ben Caswell, senior economist at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, put it bluntly: “With volatile energy prices, higher inflation on the horizon, and fragile public finances, the new PM inherits a stagflationary economy and will have just under three years to turn around a tough economic situation.”

Nor does Burnham start with the benefit of the doubt. Exclusive research shared with Business Matters last month found that eight in ten SME owners fear what a Burnham premiership will mean for their business, anxiety rooted in his interventionist instincts and past flirtations with a land value tax.

In his first remarks as prime minister in waiting, Burnham promised to make politics “less toxic”, to improve living standards across the country and to “bring back the hope we have all been missing.”

Hope, though, is not a line item in a cash flow forecast. For SME owners, the real test arrives with the autumn Budget, when the gap between the new prime minister’s high street sympathies and the state of the public finances will have to be reconciled. Until then, Britain’s business owners will do what they have learned to do through six previous prime ministers: keep calm, and keep the overdraft facility open.

Paul Jones

Harvard alumni and former New York Times journalist. Editor of Business Matters for over 15 years, the UKs largest business magazine. I am also head of Capital Business Media’s automotive division working for clients such as Red Bull Racing, Honda, Aston Martin and Infiniti.

The British Chambers of Commerce, which has a presence in every region of the UK and represents some 50,000 businesses, is presenting itself as a “natural” delivery partner for incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s economic growth agenda

One of the UK’s most prominent business organisations is positioning itself as a delivery partner for Andy Burnham’s economic agenda as the incoming Prime Minister vows to deliver “growth in every postcode”.

The British Chambers of Commerce, which operates across every region of the UK and represents approximately 50,000 businesses, is putting itself forward as a “natural” collaborator on the former Manchester Mayor’s plans as he seeks to shift power away from Westminster.

Prior to his move into Downing Street, Burnham has pledged to “rewire the state” through devolution, boost youth employment and reindustrialise Britain, partly driven by a new ‘Number 10 North’.

However, the British Chambers of Commerce has cautioned the incoming Prime Minister that he “will face the same fundamental challenge as Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves” in driving economic growth. The organisation has urged Burnham to draw upon its extensive network to realise his ambitions.

“We’ll be reinforcing how Chambers are a natural delivery partner for growth-focused projects ‘in every postcode’,” Kate Shoesmith, Director of Policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, told City AM. “Our network is already delivering Local Skills Improvement Plans in 33 areas of England, a successful example of Chamber leadership.”, as reported by City AM.

Shoesmith added that the new Prime Minister must show “that he backs business from day one”.

Burnham will take the reins of an economy in which business confidence and investment have cratered in recent months. The Institute of Directors’ monthly business confidence survey revealed a sharp decline in economic sentiment among company bosses in June.

Directors also expressed greater pessimism regarding their own firms’ outlook and future revenue, with sales expectations falling to their lowest point this year.

Meanwhile, available positions in London fell by five per cent in the second quarter compared with the opening three months of the year, according to the latest employment monitor from recruitment firm Morgan McKinley.

Separate findings from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) revealed that fewer than a quarter of businesses intended to grow their headcount in the months ahead, while just over one in 10 were considering reducing their workforce.

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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Lionel Messi was left in tears and with his international future uncertain after he was unable to conjure up one more piece of magic to save Argentina from defeat to Spain in Sunday’s World Cup final at MetLife Stadium.

Ferran Torres scored 37 seconds into the second period of extra time, lifting Spain to a 1-0 victory and the country’s second World Cup title, denying Messi and Argentina the chance to become the first back-to-back men’s champion since Brazil accomplished the feat in 1962.

Speaking after the match, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni reflected on Messi’s legacy regardless of Sunday’s outcome. “I hope that everyone feels proud of him, of what he’s achieved because he’s the best football player ever stepping foot on a pitch,” Scaloni said.

An uncertain path forward

Whether Sunday marked Messi’s final appearance in an Argentina jersey remains an open question. Messi had previously said the 2022 World Cup, which Argentina won, would be his last major tournament before going on to become the first man in history to play in six World Cups just last month. Scaloni said afterward that he had not yet spoken with Messi about whether the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner intends to continue playing for the national team. Messi, along with the rest of Argentina’s players, did not stop to speak with reporters as they exited the stadium following the loss.

Inside a stadium packed with 80,663 fans, the overwhelming majority appeared to be rooting for a recoronation of Messi as a two-time champion. Instead, he fought back tears and wore a look of visible anguish as he and his teammates faced applauding, bowing Argentina supporters at the stadium’s south end, even as Spanish players lifted the trophy on a podium at midfield.

A dominant performance from Spain

Spain’s control of the match was thorough from start to finish, both in Sunday’s final and across the tournament as a whole. La Furia Roja held a commanding 20-2 advantage in shots and out-passed Argentina 845 to 433 over the course of the match.

Torres, who scored the decisive goal, described the psychological weight of facing Messi in a final. “When you have Messi on the other side, well, you are nervous,” Torres said. “At the end of the day, we always depended on us. We always come up with our football, and we showed it again.”

After leading Argentina to victory in the 2022 final against France, sandwiched between consecutive Copa América titles, Messi could only bow his head, grimace and place his hands on his hips as Spain’s Lamine Yamal, not yet a week past his 19th birthday and already regarded as the sport’s next transcendent star, ran to embrace Torres following the winning goal.

From doubts in MLS to World Cup history

When Messi left European soccer for Major League Soccer three years ago, having collected four Champions League medals and 12 league titles between Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, some speculated he might quietly fade into retirement. Instead, he led Argentina back to this year’s final, contributing eight goals and four assists across the tournament and lifting his career World Cup goal total to 21, a mark that had stood as the all-time record until France’s Kylian Mbappé scored twice in Saturday’s third-place match to move ahead of him with 22.

Messi also became the first player in history to start three separate World Cup finals, and Sunday’s match pushed his career international goal total to 125, trailing only Cristiano Ronaldo’s mark of 146. For many observers, this tournament only further cemented Messi’s standing as the greatest player in the sport’s history, surpassing even Diego Maradona and three-time World Cup champion Pelé in the eyes of many fans and analysts.

A frustrating final for Argentina’s captain

Messi’s distinctive playing style, a slow, deliberate walk with his arms swinging at his sides before bursting into a sprint at the decisive moment, made him the center of attention any time he touched the ball on the right flank. Opponents and fans alike anticipated his signature cut toward the center of the field, followed by a shot from his dangerous left foot.

On Sunday, however, Messi finished with just 15 touches in the first half and 54 total for the match, at a stadium where he has repeatedly faced frustration over the years. He had famously announced his retirement from international soccer following a penalty-shootout loss to Chile in the 2016 Copa América final at the same venue, only to reverse that decision 47 days later and eventually lead Argentina to its third World Cup title.

Against Spain, Messi was never able to receive the ball in a dangerous scoring position, and his attempted passes to teammates repeatedly failed to connect. Spain coach Luis de la Fuente acknowledged after the match that neutralizing Messi had been central to his team’s game plan. “The first idea was to keep Messi at bay,” de la Fuente said.

A gracious moment amid the heartbreak

Half a dozen Spanish players approached Messi after the final whistle to hug and console him. Messi dropped to the grass, sitting with his hands behind him, staring ahead in visible disbelief. When Spain’s players later formed a guard of honor for Argentina’s squad to walk through en route to receiving their second-place medals, Messi attempted to smile but could not manage it, maintaining a blank expression as a few Spanish opponents patted him on the back and chest in a show of respect.

Spain crowned a global soccer power

With the win, Spain became the first nation in history to simultaneously hold both the men’s and women’s World Cup titles, further cementing the country’s status as the dominant force in international soccer. As gold confetti fluttered down onto the celebrating Spanish players, Messi walked out through one of the stadium’s corner exits, his shoulders hunched and his expression somber, closing out a tournament that may yet prove to be the final chapter of his extraordinary World Cup career.

Sunday’s World Cup final between Spain and Argentina drew far more than soccer fans to New York New Jersey Stadium, with the venue’s stands, suites and red carpet packed with an extraordinary roster of celebrities spanning entertainment, sports, business and politics for what organizers billed as one of the most star-studded closings in tournament history.

The championship match, played at what is commonly known as MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, capped a tournament that had drawn celebrity attention throughout its run, beginning with performances from Shakira, Michael Buble and Katy Perry at the opening ceremonies weeks earlier. FIFA built Sunday’s closing festivities to match that scale, adding a first for the tournament’s biggest stage: an official halftime show.

A historic halftime show

For the first time in World Cup history, the championship match paused at halftime for a full musical performance, curated by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin in support of the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund. Headliners Madonna, Shakira, Justin Bieber and BTS represented the United States, Colombia, Canada and South Korea respectively, joined by British rockers Coldplay, Nigerian singer Burna Boy, Los Angeles Philharmonic music director Gustavo Dudamel and New York’s PS22 Chorus, along with characters from Sesame Street and the Muppets.

Bieber, reflecting on his involvement ahead of the show, said in a statement that the World Cup brings the world together in a way nothing else can, adding that he felt grateful to be part of the halftime show and that its proceeds were already helping expand educational access for children worldwide.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino echoed that sentiment in a press release, saying organizers were thrilled to have so many stars from both football and entertainment taking part, and that the ceremony was designed to set the tone for a historic final uniting the passion of the tournament’s 48 teams, 16 host cities and millions of fans.

Musicians and performers across the closing ceremony

Beyond the halftime show, the tournament’s closing ceremony featured Jennifer Hudson performing the U.S. national anthem, while Argentine singer Maria Becerra performed her country’s anthem ahead of kickoff. The broader closing lineup included Post Malone, Swae Lee, Laura Pausini, Nicole Scherzinger, Robbie Williams and internet personality-turned-musician IShowSpeed, who performed a backflip as part of his set. Tenor Christopher Macchio also delivered a rendition of “America the Beautiful” as part of the pregame festivities.

Sports and entertainment icons fill the stands

The crowd inside the stadium featured an equally dense concentration of star power. David and Victoria Beckham attended with sons Romeo and Cruz, along with their respective partners, while Jay-Z and Beyonce were on hand fresh off a run of concerts at Yankee Stadium the previous week. Actor Timothee Chalamet served as the match’s ceremonial ball carrier, arriving alongside girlfriend Kylie Jenner, who was photographed sharing a kiss with the actor during the match.

Tennis star Carlos Alcaraz and actress Hoyeon presented the Louis Vuitton trunk containing the World Cup trophy ahead of kickoff, while Spanish World Cup-winning midfielder Andres Iniesta was also present for the presentation. NFL legend Tom Brady, who had appeared at a World Cup-related event at Fanatics Fest in New York days earlier, attended the final alongside a wide range of athletes and entertainers, including Kevin Durant, Kevin Hart, Travis Scott, Novak Djokovic and former England international Rio Ferdinand, several of whom had gathered for a widely shared selfie with tournament finalists Rodri, Emiliano Martinez and Lionel Messi at Fanatics Fest that Friday.

Political leaders join the celebration

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump made a rare joint public appearance for the final, with the president photographed shaking hands with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez alongside Infantino, Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney were also present, alongside Carney’s wife, Diana Fox Carney, reflecting the shared hosting arrangement between the three North American countries.

Hollywood and music’s biggest names turn out

The red carpet and stands featured a sprawling list of additional attendees spanning film, music and television. Actors Tom Cruise, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Javier Bardem, Richard Gere, John Hamm, Norman Reedus, Jessica Alba, Adrien Brody and Anya Taylor-Joy, the latter of whom grew up partly in Buenos Aires and attended with husband Malcolm McRae, were among those spotted at the match. Musicians including Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, Mick Jagger, Pharrell Williams, Drake, Future, Dua Lipa and her husband Callum Turner, Sexyy Red, Yeat, 21 Savage and Central Cee were also seen throughout the venue.

Sports figures beyond the soccer world were similarly well represented, with WWE’s Roman Reigns attending with his family, alongside NFL quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his wife Brittany, NBA veterans James Harden and Victor Wembanyama, and tennis legend Serena Williams. Television personality Gayle King attended with her son, while MrBeast and girlfriend Thea Booysen, comedian Trevor Noah, and internet stars Druski and Winnie Harlow were also spotted across the venue’s various suites and hospitality areas.

A finale matching the tournament’s scale

The extensive celebrity presence throughout Sunday’s final reflected FIFA’s broader ambitions for the tournament, which organizers have described as the largest and most attended World Cup in the competition’s history. With Spain’s 1-0 extra-time victory over Argentina closing out the six-week tournament, Sunday’s blend of sporting drama and cultural spectacle underscored the scale of an event that FIFA and its partners had spent years building toward, drawing together fans, athletes, entertainers and world leaders alike for the championship match’s dramatic conclusion.

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Apple is piloting a new artificial intelligence tool designed for use at its Genius Bar locations that transcribes and summarizes conversations between employees and customers, a feature that has already prompted concerns among staff about how the resulting data might be used to evaluate their performance.

The tool, called Live Notes, was first reported by Bloomberg’s “Power On” newsletter as part of the outlet’s ongoing coverage of Apple’s internal artificial intelligence initiatives. According to the report, Live Notes uses AI to listen to interactions between Genius Bar employees and customers, generating a transcript and summary of the conversation so that staff members can focus more fully on the customer in front of them rather than manually taking notes throughout the exchange.

How the tool is designed to work

Live Notes requires consent from both parties before activation, according to the report, meaning both the employee and the customer must agree to its use during any given interaction. There is currently no indication that Apple plans to make the tool mandatory for Genius Bar staff, and the available reporting suggests it is being introduced as an optional, time-saving feature rather than a company-wide requirement.

Despite those built-in consent requirements, some Genius Bar employees have reportedly expressed concern about the broader implications of having their customer interactions recorded, transcribed and summarized by an AI system, given the potential for that data to later be reviewed by management as part of performance evaluations.

Apple’s current safeguards during testing

According to the report, Apple has implemented a specific policy during the current testing phase intended to address those concerns directly: managers are not given access to the transcripts generated by Live Notes, and employees themselves retain the ability to edit the transcripts produced from their conversations. However, it remains unclear whether that policy protecting employees from manager access will remain in place once testing concludes and the tool potentially moves toward a broader rollout.

That uncertainty around long-term data access appears to be a central source of the unease among staff, since a policy limiting managerial visibility during a testing phase does not necessarily guarantee the same protections will persist if and when the tool becomes a permanent fixture of the Genius Bar workflow.

Part of a broader push into internal AI tools

Live Notes appears to be one piece of a larger effort by Apple to integrate artificial intelligence into its internal operations and employee-facing tools, following earlier reports of separate AI assistants being tested across the company. One previously reported tool, called Enchante, is designed to help employees proofread written work, brainstorm ideas and answer general knowledge questions. A second tool, referred to as Enterprise Assistant, is built around a centralized internal knowledge hub intended to help employees quickly access company information and resources.

According to the report, Live Notes could represent a variation of the broader Enterprise Assistant framework, though the exact relationship between the tools has not been detailed publicly. Both Enchante and Enterprise Assistant reportedly rely on Apple’s own foundation AI models, and while the specific underlying technology behind Live Notes has not been confirmed, it is considered likely to be built on the same internal Apple AI infrastructure given the company’s broader approach to these tools.

No timeline for a wider rollout

There is currently no publicly available information regarding a rollout timeline for Live Notes, nor any confirmed details about how or whether the tool might eventually be implemented more broadly across Apple’s retail locations. Based on available reporting, the tool is expected to remain optional for both employees and customers even if it eventually moves beyond its current testing phase, though Apple has not issued public comment confirming those plans.

Part of a broader industry trend

Apple’s testing of Live Notes comes amid a broader wave of AI tool adoption across the technology industry, both in customer-facing and internal workplace contexts. Many companies across sectors have introduced AI tools for employees in recent years, with some organizations mandating their use as part of broader efficiency and productivity initiatives. So far, available reporting has not indicated that Apple is taking a similarly mandatory approach with any of its internal AI tools, including Live Notes, positioning the company’s current strategy as more conservative and employee-consent-driven compared with some industry peers.

The concerns raised by Genius Bar staff reflect a broader tension increasingly playing out across workplaces as AI-driven monitoring and transcription tools become more common: balancing the genuine efficiency benefits such tools can offer employees, such as reduced note-taking burden and more focused customer interactions, against legitimate worries about surveillance, performance evaluation, and how collected data might ultimately be used once initial testing safeguards are no longer guaranteed to remain in place.

As Apple continues testing Live Notes and its related internal AI tools, additional details are likely to emerge regarding the company’s longer-term plans for data access policies, potential rollout timelines, and whether the current employee protections established during testing will carry forward into any eventual broader deployment. For now, the tool remains in a limited testing phase, with Apple yet to confirm publicly how it intends to address the underlying employee concerns that have already surfaced around monitoring and evaluation as the technology continues to develop.

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