Tories slammed by free market groups over state aid pledges November 29, 2019 Business and free market groups slammed pledges today by Boris Johnson to expand state aid for businesses if the Conservative Party win the upcoming election. In a press conference today, Johnson promised to expand Britain’s state aid regime once the UK leaves the EU. “We will back British businesses by introducing a new state aid [...]
None of the parties have a credible plan to fix the social care crisis November 29, 2019 Every day, 1.4m elderly people are left unwashed, unsupported, and without the care they need — because our social care system is broken. “Crisis” is an overused term, but in this instance, it’s no exaggeration. And people are increasingly aware of this. Recent polling commissioned by Deloitte and Reform revealed that social care is the [...]
UK services sector confidence falls further as election looms November 29, 2019 Optimism among businesses in the UK services sector fell again in the three months to November, new survey data has shown, but at a slower pace than in the previous quarter. Business and professional services firms had a worse quarter than those in the consumer realm and intend to cut back staff and reduce investment [...]
UK consumer confidence is at its lowest point since 2013 ahead of General Election November 29, 2019 Consumer confidence was flat this month as the UK waits for the outcome of the upcoming General Election and for the new government’s Brexit plan to become clear. The overall index score for consumer confidence this month was minus 14, according to the latest data from GfK. This is the same score as was recorded in [...]
UBS wealth arm pessimistic about UK earnings in 2020 November 28, 2019 UBS Global Wealth Management (GWM) has said it expects earnings growth for UK equities to flatline in 2020, regardless of which party wins the upcoming General Election. Analysts at the Swiss banking giant’s wealth arm said that if the Tory party wins and pushes through a Brexit deal, the benefits will be limited by fresh [...]
General Election 2019: Conservatives and Labour’s spending plans not credible, warns IFS November 28, 2019 Neither the Tories nor Labour have presented voters with credible tax and spending plans in their General Election manifestos, according to damning analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Labour is unable to raise the money it wants to and the Conservatives cannot meet the pledge to balance the budget with tax freezes and [...]
Labour and Tories already on track to break spending rules, says report November 28, 2019 Both Labour and the Conservatives are already on track to break their spending rules due to uncosted promises made in their manifestos, according to the Resolution Foundation think tank. The two main parties have both changed their so-called fiscal rules to allow more government spending, but say they will balance day-to-day spending with receipts by [...]
Chinese industrial profits fall at fastest in eight months November 27, 2019 Chinese industrial firms suffered their biggest fall in profits in eight months in October in the latest evidence that the world’s second-biggest economy is slowing. Industrial profits tumbled 9.9 per cent in October compared to a year earlier, following a 5.3 per cent fall in September, the country’s National Bureau of Statistics said this morning. [...]
Labour’s rejection of conventional economic theory ignores important insights November 27, 2019 One of the first tasks facing whoever becomes chancellor after the General Election will be choosing the next governor of the Bank of England. Getting to make this choice would be a key step in the plans of Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell to shake up the Bank of England, but his radicalism is not [...]
UK employer confidence slips to three-year low November 27, 2019 Employer confidence in the UK economy has fallen to its lowest level in over three years as Brexit and General Election uncertainty hangs over firms, new data from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has shown. Companies said they were ready to invest in November, however, showing that the upcoming General Election should focus on [...]