Give parliament a vote on quantitative easing January 9, 2025 QE should not be the preserve of bean-counting central bankers – money printing is not an abstract issue, it has real consequences for people’s ordinary lives, says Sam Bidwell If one thing characterises British politics in the post-Thatcher era, it is a serial addiction to avoiding questions about the structure of our economy. On the [...]
Bank of England governor to visit China with Chancellor December 21, 2024 Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey will accompany Chancellor Rachel Reeves to China next month, Sky News said on Saturday, a visit intended to revive high-level economic and financial talks that have been frozen since 2019. Sky News said Bailey was expected to hold talks with Pan Gongsheng, the governor of the People’s Bank of [...]
Bank of England: Andrew Bailey names ‘biggest issue’ after Budget tax hikes December 4, 2024 "How companies balance the mixture of prices, wages, the level of employment, what is taken on margin, is an important judgement for us," he said.
Bank of England warns on threat of global trade barriers November 29, 2024 Rising global trade barriers threaten to drag on global economic growth and unsettle the stability of the UK’s financial system, the Bank of England has warned today. In its half-yearly financial stability report, the central bank said the financial system could be hit by disruption to cross-border capital flows and a reduced ability to diversify [...]
Forget Reeves’ CV – there’s a bigger transparency problem in monetary policy November 28, 2024 The real discussion shouldn’t be about whether Reeves deserves to call herself an “economist”. It should focus on the unchecked power of current central bank leaders, the far-reaching consequences of their decisions, and how we hold them to account, says Tim Focas The recent controversy over Rachel Reeves’ tenure as an economist at the Bank [...]
MPs flag ‘major concerns’ over errors in labour survey November 21, 2024 An influential group of MPs has taken aim at the UK’s national numbers body today amid fears that errors in its labour survey are hamstringing “accurate” economic policy making. The chair of the Treasury Select Committee, Meg Hillier – a Labour MP – wrote to the boss of the UK Statistics Authority, Professor Sir Ian [...]
Inflation surprise scuppers hope of Christmas interest rate cut November 20, 2024 A bigger than expected rise in inflation last month has all but scuppered hopes of a cut to interest rates by the Bank of England in December. While economists had been expecting rising energy prices to push inflation beyond the Bank of England’s two per cent target last month, a sharper than expected lift in [...]
Lidl boss warns retailers are ‘reeling’ after Budget tax raid November 20, 2024 The boss of budget supermarket Lidl has warned retailers are “reeling” following Labour’s tax raid in the Autumn Budget. The German supermarket’s UK boss Ryan McDonnell said the discount brand was staring down the barrel of “tens of millions of pounds” in extra costs. This comes after the Chancellor unveiled a £25.7bn tax-raising package, with [...]
Retailers ‘right’ to warn of Budget job cuts, says Bank of England governor November 19, 2024 The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, has said a group of retailers were “right” to warn of sweeping job cuts as a result of Labour’s punishing £40bn tax raid at the Budget. A group of Britain’s biggest supermarkets and retail chains, including Tesco, M&S, Boots and B&Q, wrote to the Chancellor Rachel [...]
Is Brexit back on the agenda after Mansion House? November 15, 2024 Reeves said that the economy faced "structural challenges" as a result of Brexit, which simply added to an already long list of obstacles to economic growth.