Now Deliveroo drivers are launching a bid for greater workers rights November 8, 2016 Drivers delivering food for restaurants through Deliveroo are seeking greater workers rights following a high-profile court case which handed Uber drivers worker status. A group of drivers has asked the startup to recognise the union and give it collective bargaining rights over issues such as pay and hours, the BBC reports. Read more: The government wants "flexibility [...]
Cautious hopes of Hillary Clinton win against Donald Trump lift most stock markets in Asia November 8, 2016 Most Asian stock markets rose today as Americans prepared to head to the polls and investors remained cautiously optimistic that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton will secure the White House. Modest upswings in Asian shares pushed the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific-based stock outside of Japan up 0.3 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose [...]
Consumer spending grows at record levels during October November 8, 2016 Consumer spending rocketed during October with Britons splashing out on visits to the cinema and drinking sessions in the pub. Spending grew at the fastest recorded levels during October according to Barclaycard. The 5.5 per cent year on year increase was driven by 20.9 per cent growth in movie going and a 12.9 per cent increase in [...]
The Institute for Fiscal Studies says that reduced tax revenues will undermine hopes of a budgetary surplus in 2019 November 8, 2016 Britain's economic slowdown means that public finances will be £25bn worse off than previously thought and still in deficit by 2019. Lower growth forecasts mean Philip Hammond can expect to be nursing a Treasury deficit of £15bn, compared with the £10bn surplus George Osborne predicted in the Budget earlier this year, according to the Institute for [...]
Autumn Statement: Government has little room for giveaways November 8, 2016 In the early months of 1975, with Britain creaking out of recession, the government’s debt was equivalent to around 56 per cent of GDP. A year later, Harold Wilson was replaced as Prime Minister by James Callaghan who promptly went cap in hand to the IMF. Such was the parlous state of the UK’s economy, [...]
Expect a Donald Trump victory to drive gold prices higher November 8, 2016 The 2016 presidential election and its likely impact on financial markets is proving incredibly difficult to call. First we have the relative outperformance of the US economy versus many other major countries to consider. Regardless of who wins, it seems as good as inevitable that US interest rates will still be rising before the year [...]
UK named as repair hub for F-35 jets in defence industry boost November 7, 2016 The UK has been named as a global repair hub for the F-35 fighter jet. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the hub would provide repair, overhaul, and upgrade services, and is expected to generate hundreds of millions of pounds for the industry. “This establishes Britain as a hub for all European F-35s and is [...]
Britain is embracing free trade just as the world turns to protectionism November 7, 2016 In pointed contrast to President Obama, Donald Trump has promised Britain that it will be at the front of the queue for a free trade deal should he triumph in today’s presidential election. Yet whether a President Trump, or indeed a President Clinton, would be minded to expend political capital on any trade deal has been thrown [...]
On economic policy, Trump is the bigger danger to both the US and the world November 7, 2016 The Western world is retreating from economic liberalism. Don’t take my word for it – look at the platforms of both Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump ahead of today’s election. While a commitment to individual rights and a clear separation of powers has facilitated the conditions to maintain the US at the world’s [...]
Clinton good, Trump bad: Market reaction to changing odds is too simplistic November 7, 2016 Thank goodness Britain is a nation of geniuses (or should that be genii?). Not even six months after the UK got to grips with the minutiae of EU rule-making and its enormous, surreptitiously dastardly implications for our country, we have all suddenly become experts in British Constitutional Law. We have had a lot of assistance [...]