Swelling debt interest bill fashions second highest April government borrowing on record at £25.6bn May 23, 2023 A near £10bn debt interest bill helped to push UK borrowing to the second highest monthly total for April since records began in 1993, official figures out today reveal. The government took on an additional £25.6bn of debt last month, above market expectations and up from £13.7bn in the same month last year, according to [...]
UK inflation poised to slip out of the double digits to lowest level in over a year May 22, 2023 UK inflation is poised to tumble to its lowest level in over a year in what is expected to begin a steady descent from its multi-decade highs, new figures out this week are likely to reveal. The rate of price increases in April is tipped to have dropped markedly to 8.2 per cent last month, [...]
House prices surge at fastest pace this year to record £373k despite Bank of England rate hikes May 22, 2023 Britain avoiding a much-forecasted recession has helped push house prices up by the greatest amount so far this year to a record high of £372,894, new figures out today reveal. The average price of a home coming to market climbed 1.8 per cent over the last month, the strongest increase in 2023, according to property [...]
Former CBI boss insists organisation did not have a ‘toxic culture’ May 21, 2023 Former CBI chief Dame Carolyn Fairbairn has insisted the organisation did not have a toxic culture as she broke her silence on the sexual misconduct scandal that has engulfed the body in recent months.
Britain firmly on path away from recession as hiring and growth ramp up May 19, 2023 Britain seems almost certain to dodge a recession this year as two new surveys out today reveal businesses are hiring at the strongest pace in half a year and families are upbeat about their finances. Numbers from Lloyds Bank show nearly every sector of the UK economy stepped up headcount last month. Hiring was led [...]
Sunak insists he will bring down taxes when inflation cools May 18, 2023 Rishi Sunak has insisted he will bring down taxes when inflation cools and claimed the economy is defying expectations. It comes after economists warned one in five people will be paying the higher rate of tax under his policies. The Prime Minister said the nation’s finances are receiving boosts from the departure from the EU, [...]
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey warns of uncertainty over inflation drop May 17, 2023 The risk of inflation staying higher for longer than the Bank of England’s two per cent target than it expects is mounting due to the slow reduction of wage pressures and price rises, the Governor of the central bank warned today. Speaking at the British Chambers of Commerce’s (BCC) annual conference, Andrew Bailey warned the [...]
Jeremy Hunt: UK not ‘in a position’ to know if it can cut taxes before election May 17, 2023 The government is currently not “in a position to know whether we’re going to have any headroom at all” to cut taxes in the run up to the next election, Jeremy Hunt claimed today. Speaking at the British Chambers of Commerce’s (BCC) annual conference, the Chancellor said he and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “have our [...]
Signs of unemployment jump emerge in UK economy – and it won’t solve worker shortages May 17, 2023 There are some signs that Britain’s red hot jobs market is calming down. That’ll please officials at the Bank of England, who, remember, are trying to make people and businesses (on average) a bit worse off to tame inflation. Wage growth which, in cash terms, has been rising rapidly for around a year, didn’t spring [...]
FTSE 100 close: Vodafone tumbles more than seven per cent after announcing 11,000 job cuts May 16, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 gave up gains today as fresh data yielded tentative signs that the UK workforce is rebalancing and telecoms giant Vodafone tumbled quickly. The capital’s premier index fell 0.34 per cent to 7,751.07 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, was [...]