Jeremy Hunt on track to ‘obliterate’ fiscal rules as OBR warns of much higher debt bill July 13, 2023 Jeremy Hunt is on track to blow out his financial goals due to the Bank of England hiking interest rates aggressively to bring down sticky inflation, according to new forecasts out today from the UK’s spending watchdog. Payments to investors who have purchased UK government debt are poised to rise more than £90bn above what [...]
Truss suggests mini-budget may have paid off in the long-term July 12, 2023 Liz Truss appeared to suggest her mini-budget may have paid off long-term as her new taskforce warned the UK risks lagging behind other nations unless it tackles stagnation. Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister likened sluggish growth in recent years to a “boiling a frog situation” as she attended an event to launch the Growth Commission. Members [...]
Sunak says Ukraine ‘belongs’ in NATO as Wallace warns UK is ‘not Amazon’ for weapons delivery July 12, 2023 Rishi Sunak told Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky he belonged in NATO as he assured him “real progress” had been made on security guarantees for Kyiv in its fightback against Russia. The prime minister met the Ukrainian president on the fringes of the NATO summit in Vilnius. Zelensky has been left frustrated by the reluctance of [...]
Michael Gove’s housing department hands £1.9bn back to the Treasury in ‘blow to developers’ July 12, 2023 Michael Gove’s department returned £1.9bn of housing money to the Treasury claiming it was unable to spend it, leaving industry insiders baffled. The sum comprised money to pay for new house building projects, including affordable homes, and to conduct building safety remediations. Joshua Bond, founder and managing director of Bond Land, called Gove’s move “the [...]
PMQs sketch: A trip down memory lane July 12, 2023 If you’re ever in need of a history lesson, there are worse places to head than the storied and ancient House of Commons for a PMQs. But when it comes to political debate, we tend to hope our leaders will have their fingers on the pulse of the nation. Not so during this week’s Prime [...]
Starmer more trusted to build a strong economy than Sunak, poll finds July 11, 2023 Sir Keir Starmer has gained a seven point lead over Rishi Sunak on being trusted to build a strong economy, a poll of voters has found. Based on whether the public trusted them on the economy, the Labour Party leader scored 39 per cent compared to the Prime Minister’s 32 per cent, while just 29 [...]
Biden hails US-UK relationship as he meets Sunak at No10 July 10, 2023 US President Joe Biden hailed the “rock-solid” relationship between the US and the UK as he met Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Downing Street. The US President praised the closeness of ties between the two countries as he and the Prime Minister held talks in the garden of No10. Biden, whose short layover in London [...]
Jeremy Hunt unveils plans to boost pension funds’ investment July 10, 2023 Jeremy Hunt is set to announce hotly-anticipated plans to supercharge pension funds to invest in high-growth sectors and boost British businesses. The Chancellor will spell out his plans today to encourage schemes to invest cash in infrastructure, startups and green tech – in a bid to rocket power the UK’s growth while avoiding adding to [...]
Meta Threads rivalry with Twitter intensifies as lawsuit looms July 10, 2023 Meta and Twitter’s rivalry has escalated with the successful launch of Threads and the threat of a lawsuit, but analysts suggest that Twitter still has fight left. Threads, Meta’s highly anticipated app, amassed over 70m subscribers within days of its recent launch. The app’s availability caused a staggering 455 per cent surge in Meta’s stock, [...]
President Joe Biden to land in UK amid cluster bombs row over Ukraine July 9, 2023 President Joe Biden is set to land in the UK today amid an international row over the US supplying cluster bombs to Ukraine. The trip, which the White House hopes will “showcase the president’s leadership on the world stage”, is expected to be dominated by the weapons and Ukraine’s potential NATO entry. Biden has committed [...]