Budget: Childcare support and energy bills on Hunt’s to-do list March 12, 2023 Ending the prepayment meter penalty on energy bills and boosting childcare support for the poorest parents are among measures set to be announced in the spring budget. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt this weekend confirmed households on prepayment meters will no longer pay more than people on direct debits, as of July 2023. Energy security secretary Grant [...]
UK economy ‘bounces back’ in another signal a recession is off the table but experts warn of stagnation March 10, 2023 The UK economy “bounced back” from a sharp contraction over Christmas and is holding up better than feared in another sign the country could avoid a recession, official figures out today show. Gross domestic product (GDP) jumped 0.3 per cent in January, better than the consensus forecast of 0.1 per cent growth, according to the [...]
Jeremy Hunt readies placeholder budget that will let a lot of people down March 9, 2023 Jeremy Hunt is going to let a lot of people down at his budget next Wednesday. Businesses. Families. Even former Prime Ministers. The Chancellor is poised to resist calls to save a flatlining economy by staying the course set in his November autumn statement of balancing the books. Households want an extension of energy support [...]
Labour tells Jeremy Hunt to ‘get a move on’ with Solvency II reforms March 7, 2023 Labour has hit out at the government over delays to overhauling EU-era Solvency II rules demanding that it needs to “get a move on”. Shadow city minister Tulip Siddiq called on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to reform the rules – which govern the sums of money insurers must hold on their balance sheets to protect themselves [...]
Jeremy Hunt is at sharp end of economic consensus on childcare revolution March 7, 2023 It’s rare for consensus to emerge in economics. Quibbles about the role of the state in society, the level of taxation and where to spend taxpayers’ money often turn into heated arguments thrashed out in just a handful of words on social media. But for once people interested in policymaking are behind around one area [...]
Chancellor to face ‘tough choices’ in delivering Spring Budget despite having to borrow £30bn less March 6, 2023 Jeremy Hunt will be forced to make tough decisions in his upcoming Budget, experts have warned, despite the Chancellor having considerably more wiggle room than previously thought. Improvements in the state of the British economy mean Jeremy Hunt will have to borrow £30bn less than the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR’s) November forecast showed, according [...]
Small businesses call on Hunt to tackle ‘childcare crisis’ as economic impact grows March 1, 2023 One of the UK’s leading business groups has called on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to immediately tackle the “childcare crisis” in the upcoming budget as the high cost of childcare is increasingly forcing parents out of the workforce. Childcare providers face insufficient funding, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) told City A.M., and are either having [...]
London to be crippled by fresh tube strike on budget day as RMT joins Aslef walkout March 1, 2023 Further London Underground Tube strikes are set to hit the capital on Budget Day this month. Underground workers will walkout on March 15, when chancellor Jeremy Hunt will announce the government’s financial plans for the next year, amid a row over pensions, jobs and pay. It comes after Tube drivers with the Aslef union announced [...]
Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt must help families with soaring childcare bills to strengthen UK economy, CBI urges March 1, 2023 Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt should help young families with the cost of childcare to tackle worker shortages that are holding back the UK economy, the country’s largest business lobby group has urged today. British households have been spiked by a 60 per cent cash terms rise in childcare bills over the last decade, far [...]
More data points to UK economy avoiding recession but experts urge Hunt to prevent investment cliff edge at March budget March 1, 2023 The prospect of the UK avoiding a recession after a batch of better than expected recent data has propelled business confidence higher, a closely watched survey out today shows. Optimism among company leaders jumped 11 points to minus 17 this month, shifting it back to levels seen when the government launched Plan B measures to [...]