All eyes on UK Autumn Budget as Sunak’s government goes Hunt-ing for cash November 17, 2022 Markets’ main focus today will be on Westminster and Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt as he delivers the long-anticipated Autumn Statement. Over the past few weeks, Brits heard an array of estimates of the size of the fiscal black hole at the heart of the public finances, ranging from £40bn to £55bn. “However, this [...]
The taxman cometh: Hunt to deliver toughest Budget in years today November 17, 2022 Jeremy Hunt will launch a vicious round of tax hikes and spending cuts today as he vows to “deliver strong public finances”. The chancellor tonight said “families across Britain make sacrifices every day to live within their means” and that “so too must governments” as he prepared to lay the ground for a second round [...]
More retailer woes send London’s FTSE 100 lower November 16, 2022 Another bad day for middle-class favourite and online supermarket Ocado led London’s FTSE 100 lower today. The capital’s premier index dropped 0.25 per cent to 7,351.19 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, tumbled 1.77 per cent to 19,112.40 points. Fresh inflation figures [...]
UK assets in focus this week November 16, 2022 This week’s focus in markets apart from the US’s weak inflation print last week is on Sterling and the FTSE in the wake of a raft of economic data points, as well as the new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn statement on Thursday the 17th. UK inflation this morning came in at a level not seen [...]
UK inflation scales to 41-year high, but analysts bet it has peaked at 11.1 per cent November 16, 2022 UK inflation has surged above the City and Bank of England’s expectations to reach a new 41 year high, but experts said it may now have peaked, official figures revealed today. Prices rose 11.1 per cent over the last year, pushing the rate a whole percentage point higher from September, according to the Office for [...]
Digital Assets Week: A ‘DAW’ to the future November 16, 2022 Lord Holmes reports on an opportunity to share the current approaches being undertaken by the UK Government on crypto regulation.
Hunt says council tax hikes coming in Thursday’s fiscal statement November 15, 2022 Jeremy Hunt has said he will hike council tax on Thursday, with the increase set to help pay for social care. The chancellor told MPs today that he will “be asking people who have more, to contribute even more” and that this “will be reflected in our decisions on council tax”. Thursday’s statement will have [...]
UK loses over half a million work days to strikes and unions signal more to come November 15, 2022 The number of working days lost to strike action in the UK over the summer topped 560,000, stats out today reveal, and unions have warned this year’s total could hit the highest yearly number this century. The combined September and August figure is the highest two month total in over a decade, according to the [...]
Workers’ real pay erodes at historic pace despite huge wage rises November 15, 2022 Workers’ pay is still being eroded at a historic pace by rampant inflation despite employers hiking wages by one of the greatest amounts since records began, official figures revealed today. When taking off the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) preferred measure of inflation, pay excluding bonuses dropped 2.7 per cent over the last three months, [...]
Without Brexit, there would never have been a harsh austerity Budget this week, says BoE veteran November 15, 2022 The real reason Britain is facing harsh austerity measures is the UK’s departure from the EU, according to a senior economist. Former Bank of England interest rate policy maker Michael Saunders said that Brexit has ‘permanently damaged’ the UK’s economy. “The UK economy as a whole has been permanently damaged by Brexit,” said Saunders, who [...]