Jeremy Hunt’s fiscal rules are holding back the UK economy – it’s time for change February 21, 2023 Bean counters are running the Treasury again. I’m imagining sheets of paper plastered with Jeremy Hunt’s current fiscal rules pinned up around Whitehall to remind departments of the belt-tightening needed to balance the books. Fiscal rules are targets Chancellors have aimed to meet since George Osborne pivoted away from Gordon Brown’s “Golden Rules” in 2010 [...]
House prices rose just £14 last month as Bank of England rate hikes chill demand February 20, 2023 UK house prices rose by just £14 last month indicating possible buyers are turning their noses up at sellers slapping huge tickets on their homes, new figures out today reveal. The average asking price for a home in the UK came in at £362,452, making last month’s increase the smallest between January and February since [...]
Week ahead: UK January borrowing bill to hit £5bn to pay for cost of living support, experts predict February 19, 2023 Britain is expected to have borrowed around £5bn last month, largely to pay for household energy support, new figures out from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) this week are poised to show. The difference between what the government spends and takes in tax revenue – the deficit – is likely to have been kept [...]
Why is the UK economy poised to tumble into a recession and fall behind Europe, US and even Russia? February 16, 2023 Britain avoided a much-tipped recession at the end of last year. Phew. “However, we are not out of the woods yet,” warned Chancellor Jeremy Hunt after last Friday’s GDP figures from the ONS revealed the economy stagnated at the end of 2022, meaning it narrowly avoided the technical recession definition of two consecutive quarters of [...]
UK inflation drops for third straight month in sign Bank of England is nearing end of interest rate hikes February 15, 2023 Inflation in the UK is falling faster than experts expected which may convince the Bank of England to consider ending its aggressive campaign to tame prices with interest rate rises, official figures out today reveal. The rate of price increases in Britain dropped to 10.1 per cent last month, down from 10.5 per cent in [...]
Inflation erodes UK real pay rapidly despite record wage increases as 137,000 Brits return to workforce February 14, 2023 UK take home pay is falling at one of the fastest paces since records began over two decades ago despite wage growth racing ahead at the quickest rate outside the pandemic, official figures out today reveal. Real pay fell 4.3 per cent over the three months to December last year when using the consumer price [...]
The £200bn Covid savings war chest that could prevent a UK recession February 14, 2023 There’s a war chest of nearly £200bn – which started to be built up during the pandemic and has grown ever since – that could save the UK from recession. This may come as a surprise when all we hear from Westminster is how skint we are, but the stash of cash isn’t made up [...]
UK narrowly avoids recession as GDP remains unchanged but Jeremy Hunt warns country ‘not out the woods yet’ February 10, 2023 The UK very narrowly avoided a recession in the final months of last year but the economy contracted sharply over Christmas, official figures out today reveal. Gross domestic product (GDP) remained unchanged in the final three months of last year, meaning the country swerved the technical recession definition of two consecutive quarters of contraction, according [...]
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey ‘very uncertain’ about inflation decline February 9, 2023 The Bank of England’s governor, Andrew Bailey, has today admitted he is “very uncertain” about whether inflation will decline, forcing him to back another steep interest rate increase last week. Responding to a grilling by MPs on the commons treasury select committee, Bailey, 63, said he wants to see “more evidence” of the rate of [...]
Exclusive: Brits turn to buy-now pay-later to fund spending amid cost of living crisis February 9, 2023 Brits are turning to buy-now pay-later products to fund online spending amid a cost of living squeeze that is eroding their disposable income rapidly, exclusive research shared with City A.M. reveals. Nearly £1 in every £8 spent online last month was sourced from buy-now pay-later providers, according to research by Adobe Analytics. The proportion is [...]