Gin is in, dumb phones are out: Meet the new ONS basket of goods for measuring inflation March 14, 2017 Poor old Nokia… no sooner has it made a comeback with the surprisingly popular 3310 than bean counters decide such "dumb phones" should be ditched from the shopping basket used to measure how prices are rising in the UK. The Office for National Statistics has revealed its annual update to its basket of goods for measuring inflation, which can be [...]
The chancellor’s shambolic national insurance hike is based on a faulty reading of aggregate statistics March 14, 2017 "Britain is damning itself to be a low wage, low productivity economy”. How many headlines like that have we read over the past few years? Certainly, the UK has performed poorly when it comes to overall real wage growth since the financial crisis, reflective of weak aggregate productivity growth. But often these average statistics are [...]
Britain’s growth prospects upgraded by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) March 14, 2017 The UK economy has received another forecast upgrade as the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) becomes the latest to predict growth will be faster than previously expected this year. The economy will expand by 1.4 per cent this year, the BCC says, faster than the 1.1 per cent rate predicted in December. The upgrade in [...]
Businesses must put more cash into commercialising top tech R&D from universities, say MPs March 13, 2017 Businesses have been told to increase their investment in the world-class research and development which goes on in UK universities by MPs, to bring innovations to market and bring it in line with other countries. Members of the science and technology committee have called for a greater focus on the demands of business rather than the supply of [...]
Mario Draghi says Eurozone should make it easier for companies to fail to boost productivity March 13, 2017 European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi has said the Eurozone should make it easier for companies to fail in order to allow stuttering productivity in the region to accelerate, while his criticised the deregulatory impulses of Donald Trump in a thinly veiled attack. He said: “Ensuring that failed firms are able to smoothly exit [...]
Why markets are so calm about the coming triggering of Article 50 March 13, 2017 Brexit is back and this time it looks for real. The UK government’s decision to trigger Article 50 imminently means the start of official negotiations with the European Union on the exit plan. But while financial markets remain cautious, the tension seems to be less as compared to the 23 June referendum vote. There are [...]
Private sector business confidence has rebounded to its strongest level since 2015 as Brexit fear fades March 13, 2017 Business confidence among the UK's private sector firms recovered to the strongest level since mid-2015, according to new figures. The EU referendum sent the net balance of optimism to a four-year low of 39 per cent, but now the index has rebounded to 52 per cent, comparing favourably with other developed markets, data released today [...]
The UK will get a US free trade deal post-Brexit – but Donald Trump will drive a hard bargain March 13, 2017 Back in 1783, when Britain signed a trade deal with the fledgling United States as part of the Treaty of Paris which concluded the revolutionary war, the world-class British delegation was infinitely more experienced and better prepared than their novice American counterparts. Sadly, this is not the case today. Fast forward 234 years and Britain’s [...]
Consumer spending is up but caution appears to be growing March 13, 2017 Consumer spending for February was up 1.5 per cent on the same time last year, according to the monthly Visa UK Consumer Spending Index. This marks a jump back up from a five-month low of just 0.4 per cent year-on-year growth in January. Trends from previous months held fast, with yet another rise for e-commerce [...]
The man leading a major review of workers rights thinks National Insurance rise is progressive March 12, 2017 The man put in charge of a major review into workers rights and the rise of the gig economy has called the chancellor's election pledge-breaking rise in National Insurance for the self-employed "progressive" and "economically rational". "As tax rises go, this is broadly progressive," said Matthew Taylor, the head of the Royal Society of Arts [...]