George Osborne should turn attention from cutting corporation tax to helping smaller businesses July 6, 2016 The Chancellor’s biggest ever policy U-turn appears to have snuck under the radar amid the political resignations, betrayals and leadership bids currently dominating the headlines. On Sunday, Mr Osborne announced that he plans to cut corporation tax to less than 15 per cent in an effort to attract companies deterred from doing business in a [...]
Theresa May’s pitch for Tory leadership: Distilling the persuasion July 6, 2016 Aristotle suggested that effective persuasive communication turns on three different elements: the character of the speaker (ethos), the emotions stirred within the listener (pathos) and the strength of the logical argument presented (logos). In her pitch for the Tory leadership – and Prime Minister – candidacy late last week, Ms May tapped into all three of these elements. [...]
Ikea’s drawer debacle won’t destroy UK image July 6, 2016 Last week, Swedish furniture retailer Ikea recalled 29m Malm chests of drawers in North America, following the tragic death of three children in the US. The drawers had toppled over, despite advice from the company to use wall mounts along with the product. Ikea has received 41 separate reports of tip-over incidents since 2014,17 of which [...]
Tory race should come down to experience July 6, 2016 By Thursday night we'll know which two Tory MPs will face a ballot of the party membership. One will emerge as David Cameron's successor in No 10. Five aspiring PMs entered the first round of voting yesterday, and now just three remain. Liam Fox was the first to fall. Having stood unsuccessfully for the party [...]
Pensions under threat from Brexit July 6, 2016 Savers have faced the biggest shake-up to the pensions system in a generation under the watch of chancellor George Osborne. Many of the changes are controversial, and others have been announced yet not formalised. But Brexit has put a spanner in the works – as negotiations over a deal with Europe under a new Conservative leader [...]
Britain will retain its golden spirit of enterprise if we keep backing entrepreneurs July 5, 2016 One of the more astonishing features of the British economy over the last few months, and indeed the last turbulent few weeks, has been the robustness of the UK’s small business owners, particularly its growing army of high-growth tech entrepreneurs. In the most challenging of environments leading up to the Brexit vote, the London Stock [...]
How Stalin’s right-hand man could help the UK in EU exit negotiations July 5, 2016 The topic of behavioural economics is very fashionable. But many economists remain rather sniffy about it, arguing that it often does not really add to what the discipline already knows. But one of its most distinctive and strongest results from a policy perspective is its emphasis on what is called the “architecture of choice”. Economists love [...]
George Osborne and the government share some of the blame for post-Brexit uncertainty July 5, 2016 "Businesses and markets hate uncertainty”. How many times have we heard that recently? In the aftermath of the referendum result, when the value of the pound fell and the FTSE 100 and 250 indices contracted, “uncertainty” was the buzzword. This suggests that the market reaction was a manifestation of investors asking the question: “what is [...]
As Mark Carney warns of a “material slowing in the economy”, can Britain avoid a recession? July 5, 2016 Simon French, chief economist at Panmure Gordon, says Yes. Avoiding a recession is now the number one challenge facing our economic policy-makers. Despite a base rate at 0.5 per cent and public sector deficit still in excess of 4 per cent of GDP, the Bank and the Treasury still possess a well-resourced policy arsenal. Nimble use [...]
Why we need to make the Brexit vote work for women July 5, 2016 Imagine voting with a sense of hope that you can make your life and country better. Imagine voting – and then being told that you were wrong and that you don't count. Many people on either side of the Brexit vote are feeling that way now, but many women have been that way after every election [...]