US new home sales figures lay foundations for June rate hike May 24, 2016 Sales of new homes in the United States jumped to their highest level since before the crisis, as the US economy picks up momentum in the second quarter. The number of newly-built homes sold – on an annual basis – hit 619,000, a jump of 16.6 per cent on last month and around 100,000 ahead of [...]
Long day and night ahead for Eurozone ministers as they discuss Greek debt crisis May 24, 2016 One of the key players in the latest Greek bailout talks has warned there is a long way to go to strike a deal to unlock another €11bn (£8.4bn) of loans. The Slovakian finance minister, Peter Kazimir, said talks currently underway in Brussels between the Eurozone finance ministers could last all night, pointing to a host of [...]
The income gap between the richest and poorest Britons remained stubbornly wide last year May 24, 2016 The income inequality gap stayed pretty much flat in 2015, according to data released today by the Office for National Statistics – despite reports suggesting inequality has fallen in recent years. Once the impact of taxes and benefits were taken into account, any changes in the inequality gap were negligible, despite a slight narrowing in gross average incomes. [...]
Think tank warns lower levels of immigration will mean higher taxes May 24, 2016 A post-Brexit fall in migration would hit growth across the UK and result in higher taxes for UK citizens, according to a new think tank report. If net migration from the European Union were to drop – as it might should the UK vote to leave the European Union – the National Institute of Economic [...]
Mark Carney and George Osborne have been asked to reveal the details of their Brexit discussions May 24, 2016 Mark Carney has come under pressure to reveal details of his meetings with George Osborne in the run-up to the EU referendum. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Conservative MP who sits on the Treasury Select Committee (TSC), asked the governor of the Bank of England whether he had notes, documents or minutes from his conversations with the [...]
EU referendum: Mark Carney clashes with Jacob Rees-Mogg over Brexit warning at Treasury Select Committee May 24, 2016 Mark Carney has defended the Bank of England's Brexit analysis as he faced accusations of becoming "politically involved" with the EU referendum in a tense hearing in front of MPs. Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg accused the chancellor of making unprecedented political interventions of the kind that would be impossible before a general election. Carney fired back in [...]
The deficit is even higher than we thought – again May 24, 2016 The UK's deficit is even higher than first thought, according to new figures released today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) this morning. Public sector net borrowing – the amount of cash the government has to borrow to plug the difference between its income and outgoings – came in at £76bn for the 2015/16 [...]
These are the MPs Mark Carney will be up against at the Treasury Select Committee May 24, 2016 Nobody enjoys select committee hearings. Mark Carney, however, might be the exception to that rule. For a man who wears a pained expression every time he is probed on something Brexit-related, the governor of the Bank of England has really been stepping up the warnings of late. And it's set to make for a tasty showdown at [...]
Why Brexit won’t be a disaster (and as former City minister, I should know) May 24, 2016 As someone who spent 25 years working in finance, four years scrutinising the Treasury as a backbencher, and then two years first as City minister, now as Energy Minister, I've seen at first hand the economic cycles, the disasters and triumphs. These experiences tell me that the UK has an outstanding future as a free trading global [...]
Storm clouds are gathering – but Osborne hasn’t fixed the roof May 24, 2016 Uncertainty caused by a potential Brexit in the run up to June's crunch vote may be creating a smokescreen as far as the UK economy is concerned: the reality could be far worse than a few pre-referendum jitters. Recent economic data and surveys reveal some worrying signs about the economy's underlying performance. Profits at the UK’s [...]