Prioritise Commonwealth trade post Brexit: It’s what UK businesses want March 10, 2017 The UK’s vote to leave the EU presents British businesses, large and small, with significant export opportunities with the rest of the world – and in particular with Commonwealth countries. In fact, UK businesses are calling for much closer ties and the government must listen. Polling commissioned by The Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) and PLMR [...]
With RICS finding the housing market subdued, should we brace for falling house prices? March 10, 2017 Kay Neufeld, an economist at the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR), says Yes. With infallible regularity, every year a number of property market analysts predict that “this year prices surely must fall”. Most of the time, they are wrong. Looking at market fundamentals, not much has changed in 2017. The demand for housing [...]
Editor’s notes: Hammond falls down the cracks between politics and policy, the bigger threats to the media than Rupert Murdoch and why the UK needs a new army of trade negotiators March 10, 2017 There are plenty of people willing to defend the chancellor’s controversial raid on the self-employed, not least the chancellor himself who was out and about yesterday claiming that the government faced “some new challenges” and that it has “to pay for these things somehow”. As opposition to the move grows on his own backbenches, he [...]
Mario Draghi says Brexit has had no economic impact as the European Central Bank (ECB) holds interest rates steady March 9, 2017 European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi said Brexit has so far not had a significant economic impact. Draghi said: "We haven't seen yet a consequence" or a "significant economic impact" from Brexit, despite the ECB's expectations. He also painted a more positive picture of the Eurozone economy as the bank held monetary policy steady, [...]
Chancellor Philip Hammond unveils Midlands Engine strategy with £392m investment and plans to cut congestion March 9, 2017 Chancellor Philip Hammond unveiled details of his Midlands Engine plans today, including £392m through the Local Growth fund to improve transport connections. This includes £151m for the West Midlands City region, the largest award for any area. There are also transport and infrastructure plans to improve the Midlands, including a commitment that by 2018, all [...]
Tax rise on national insurance “modest but welcome” says IFS on chancellor Philip Hammond’s Budget March 9, 2017 Moves by chancellor Philip Hammond to increase national insurance tax on the self-employed are “modest but welcome”, according to an influential economics think tank. Paul Johnson, head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said the tax increase will help “shore up the tax base and create a slightly less unequal playing field.” The increase [...]
West Texas Intermediate oil prices are below $50 a barrel March 9, 2017 After sharp losses yesterday, oil prices have continued their biggest downward slump of the year as US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) dropped below $50 a barrel. WTI is trading more than 2.5 per cent lower today at $48.79 a barrel while global benchmark Brent crude fell to a low of $51.60 a barrel. Yesterday, oil prices posted their sharpest [...]
Hammond will need legendary persistence to find the productivity Holy Grail March 9, 2017 Legend has it that the Holy Grail was the cup used during the Last Supper and by Joseph of Arimathea to collect Christ’s blood at the Crucifixion. Finding the Grail was the mission of the knights of King Arthur. They are still looking. King Arthur and the Grail rarely feature in the cast of Budget [...]
Q&A: How will Philip Hammond’s 2017 Budget affect your taxes? March 9, 2017 Chancellor Philip Hammond delivered several blows to the self-employed yesterday, but they're not the only group impacted. Here, we've laid out all the ways in which the Budget will affect your tax affairs: NATIONAL INSURANCE What’s happening to National Insurance? National Insurance contributions (NICs) for self-employed workers will be hiked over the next two years, [...]
Google parent Alphabet’s venture arm GV backs London fintech startup Currencycloud in £20m funding round March 9, 2017 Top London fintech startup Currencycloud has attracted Google as an investor in a fresh £20m funding round in a stamp of approval for the sector after Brexit. GV, Alphabet's high-profile venture arm formerly known as Google Ventures, which has backed the likes of Uber and Slack in the past, joins existing investors for the series D [...]