UK wage growth accelerates at fastest rate since financial crisis October 16, 2018 Employees received a bumper pay rise in the three months to the end of August, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed today, showing wages have grown at their fastest rate since the financial crisis. Employees’ average weekly earnings received a bumper year-on-year rise of 3.1 per cent excluding bonuses, or 2.7 per [...]
Europe’s banks are right – the EU must act to avoid a Brexit cliff edge disaster October 16, 2018 Retail king Lord Wolfson raised eyebrows at the weekend when he insisted that a no deal outcome to Brexit talks “would not be a disaster”. The Next boss was referring to the overall effect on trade and, politically, he articulated his point well – you have to be prepared for no deal in order to [...]
End of austerity not ‘compatible’ with eliminating deficit says Institute for Fiscal Studies ahead of Budget October 16, 2018 The government faces a stark choice between upholding Theresa May’s promise to “end austerity” or meet its target of eliminating the deficit, according to a detailed analysis by one the UK’s most trusted economic bodies. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) will today say that chancellor Philip Hammond will have to find an extra £19bn [...]
Think like a small business to solve the productivity puzzle October 15, 2018 Economists, some might argue, have a knack for making the vital sound dull, for making the immediate seem remote and abstract. There’s perhaps no better example of this than the much-discussed “productivity puzzle”. This “puzzle” often sounds a bit like one of those educational computer games you might try to occupy a particularly precocious five-year-old [...]
Downing Street: Theresa May will rule out a customs union if no Brexit deal is reached October 12, 2018 Downing Street said today that Theresa May would never agree to a permanent customs union with the EU, as the Prime Minister attempts to set cabinet ministers at ease over the Brexit negotiations. “The Prime Minister would never agree to a deal which would trap the UK in a backstop permanently,” a spokeswoman told the [...]
Hammond predicts economic boost from ‘Brexit deal dividend’ October 12, 2018 Chancellor Philip Hammond said today that securing a Brexit agreement with the EU will lift the economy. Speaking in the run up to the Budget later this month, Hammond told the BBC that there has been a “measurable change of pace” in the negotiations between the UK and the EU, adding that the UK could [...]
Going Pacific: The CP-TPP is the perfect trade partnership for post-Brexit Britain October 12, 2018 This week, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan added his voice to those calling for the UK to accede to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership (CP-TPP). This trade agreement between a group of 11 countries that border the Pacific has been identified by the UK’s Department for International Trade as a priority for [...]
Action on productivity must take centre stage as calls for action grow louder October 12, 2018 The British economy has surprised experts time and time again in recent years, as unemployment has continually hit new lows. Yet the flipside of this miraculous fall in jobless numbers has been a truly dire slump in productivity growth – a slowdown which threatens the UK’s place at the top table among the world’s big [...]
Stockpiling, sterling plunge, and demand slump consequences of no-deal Brexit warns Budget watchdog October 11, 2018 The government’s independent budget watchdog today warned that a no-deal Brexit would likely prompt a wave of stockpiling, plunging asset prices and a slump in demand in the British economy. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the body tasked with producing economic forecasts based on government policy, warned that increased barriers to trade will have [...]
It’s a mistake to dismiss the Anglosphere as mere romance – it could be the future October 11, 2018 The Prime Minister’s strong point is not vision, particularly when it comes to post-Brexit Britain. But as the Chequers Agreement dies a slow death, she would do well to consider the possibilities for a much wider geopolitical shift with regard to the so-called Anglosphere. A Canada+++ agreement with the EU could lead to trade agreements [...]