Skip to content

Person

Jonathan Reynolds

British Labour politician serving as UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade, overseeing industrial strategy, trade policy and AI regulation plans.

Known aliases

  • Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds
  • Jonny Reynolds

Current stories

leadershipOne report1 publisher

Minister who helped negotiate the India and US deals says closer EU ties are worth more

Scotland secretary Douglas Alexander says closer EU trading ties would be a bigger prize for Britain than separate trade deals, the Guardian reported. He endorsed no route, and the dated item is next month's EU summit, where Burnham hopes to sign deals on emissions, electricity and farm products.

Reality

Evidence40
Adoption20
Hype gap
Not scored
Incentives60
Confidence65
leadershipOne report1 publisher

UK consultation proposes making employers prove contractors are not workers

UK ministers have opened a consultation on ending bogus self-employment that the Resolution Foundation says may put 900,000 people at risk. Employers that use substitution clauses are the stated target of its proposals.

Reality

Evidence50
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+8
Incentives40
Confidence55
leadershipOne report1 publisher

Reynolds rules out UK tariffs on Chinese vehicles despite pressure from Brussels

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds says the UK will not follow Brussels in putting tariffs on Chinese vehicles, citing an export-led car industry. He left tariffs open as a future option, so the stance stays under review ahead of the 20 November summit in Brussels.

Publishers:theguardian.com

Reality

Evidence45
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap
Not scored
Incentives55
Confidence55
leadershipConfirmed2 publishers

Stellantis and Renault chiefs pair a UK place in Made in Europe rules with a call to limit Chinese imports

Stellantis's Emanuele Cappellano and Renault's François Provost say the UK should count as one of the EU's 27 members under Made in Europe rules. London has so far rejected its own tariffs on Chinese cars, and Jonathan Reynolds said this month the decision is under review.

Reality

Evidence55
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+8
Incentives65
Confidence58
leadershipOne report1 publisher

Number 10 privately reassures Heathrow backers as Burnham declines to endorse the third runway

Number 10 has privately assured aviation executives it still backs Heathrow's third runway, three industry figures told City AM. For firms with money riding on the runway, the vote on its policy framework is still the firmer signal.

Publishers:cityam.com

Reality

Evidence45
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+15
Incentives65
Confidence40
leadershipConfirmed3 publishers

Burnham moves to limit the non-competes and long notice periods used to hold tech and finance staff

Prime Minister Andy Burnham is expected to announce a clampdown on non-compete clauses and long notice periods used to hold tech and finance staff. Employers that rely on these terms get a direction to plan against from the speech, but the rules themselves have not been written.

Perspective Coverage

3 publishers
Builder
Builder 20%
Operator
Operator 45%
Investor
Investor 35%

Reality

Evidence66
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+20
Incentives70
Confidence64
leadershipOne report1 publisher

UK-German tech corridor, backed by Siemens and Bosch, to host roundtable for AI scale-ups

Britain and Germany launched an Industrial Tech Corridor, backed by Allianz, Bosch, RWE and Siemens, to connect AI scale-ups with industrial demand. Its first step is a CEO roundtable later this year, so a sales route into those buyers is still a plan.

Publishers:itpro.com

Reality

Evidence40
Adoption20
Hype gap+30
Incentives65
Confidence45
leadershipConfirmed3 publishers

Britain's refusal to tariff Chinese cars draws a reported 'made in Europe' threat from Brussels

EU officials reportedly told Andy Burnham the UK must tariff cheap Chinese cars or face 'made in Europe' barriers on exports to a bloc that takes 58% of them. The case for staying open now rests on Chinese investment and cheaper cars at home.

Perspective Coverage

3 publishers
Builder
Builder 22%
Operator
Operator 41%
Investor
Investor 37%

Reality

Evidence58
Adoption72
Hype gap+30
Incentives62
Confidence55
leadershipOne report1 publisher

Lawyers doubt Labour's worker status test will reach the 100,000 workers Reynolds cited

Employment lawyers warn Jonathan Reynolds's bogus self-employment crackdown may fall short of the 100,000 workers he said could gain pay rights. With no plan to change tax status, self-employment stays the cheaper classification for employers going into this month's consultation.

Reality

Evidence42
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+30
Incentives65
Confidence40
leadershipOne report1 publisher

UAE reportedly ties a multibillion-pound UK tech hub to Manchester City's guilty verdict

UAE officials have reportedly threatened to pull multibillion-pound backing for an Oxbridge tech hub after Manchester City were found guilty on 114 charges. Until City's appeal is decided, a football ruling is a live risk for UK projects that depend on Emirati state money.

Reality

Evidence45
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+25
Incentives70
Confidence45
productOne report1 publisher

OpenAI's first ask for binding UK AI rules covers a much shorter list than MPs want

The Joint Committee on Human Rights wants stricter duties on higher-risk systems and an oversight body written into law. OpenAI says it would accept a narrow frontier-only law on security risks. The two asks name different companies.

Publishers:thenextweb.com

Reality

Evidence58
Adoption18
Hype gap+12
Incentives74
Confidence55
leadershipOne report1 publisher

Two cabinet ministers set out different UK positions on AI risk on the same day

Louise Haigh will tell the TUC conference that ministers must heed the warnings of AI's own developers, while on the same day the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said talk of a kill switch has little practical meaning.

Publishers:theguardian.com

Reality

Evidence56
Adoption
Not scored
Hype gap+36
Incentives74
Confidence54
productOne report1 publisher

UK's new space strategy earmarks £57m for satellite broadband on mainline trains

The Department for Transport's share of the £7.8bn plan pays for low Earth orbit capacity to cut signal dropouts on trains by 2030. The plan does not name a service provider, and the date repeats one the rail minister gave in May.

Reality

Evidence46
Adoption9
Hype gap+37
Incentives68
Confidence52
productOne report1 publisher

A four-year annex turns Britain's £7.8bn space strategy into a list suppliers can price

The delivery annex gives every programme a budget, an owning body and a financial year between 2026/27 and 2029/30, and its biggest line is £2.3bn for the military satellite communications work the projects authority rated red in July.

Publishers:thenextweb.com

Reality

Evidence62
Adoption28
Hype gap+30
Incentives68
Confidence55
productOne report1 publisher

JLR rebuilds its product plan around 300,000 cars a year

The 4,000 redundancies fund £15bn to £18bn of product investment over five years, and the smaller volume base underneath them loads about a third more of that spend onto every car JLR sells.

Publishers:thenextweb.com

Reality

Evidence60
Adoption18
Hype gap+15
Incentives62
Confidence45