City minister defends ‘safety valve’ call-in power over financial regulators October 11, 2022 A proposed new power that allows Whitehall to overrule financial regulators will only be a “safety valve”, City minister Andrew Griffith has said. Griffith told a Westminster committee today that the new call-in power would only be used “sparingly” in the face of concerns that it will reduce the independence of the UK’s regulators. The [...]
Bank of England steps up bond market support again to tame ‘risk to financial stability’ October 11, 2022 The Bank of England today stepped up its emergency bond buying scheme to tackle “a material risk to UK financial stability”. It is the second time in as many days the Bank has ramped up support for the UK bond market, underscoring the scale of volatility it is grappling with. The monetary authority led by [...]
Kwarteng promises ‘upbeat’ Halloween fiscal plan amid speculation of cuts October 11, 2022 Kwasi Kwarteng today promised his Halloween fiscal plan will be “upbeat” amid widespread speculation he will unveil spending cuts. The chancellor batted away a series of questions in the House of Commons around whether he will introduce real-terms cuts to benefits and promised more details would be unveiled on 31 October. The Treasury has said [...]
UK headed for stagnation on worst inflation crisis in G7, IMF warns October 11, 2022 A historic hit to Brits’ living standards from roaring inflation and rising interest rates has thrown the UK economy on course to stagnation, the world’s lender of last resort warned today. The UK economy will grow a better than expected 3.6 per cent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) latest World Economic [...]
Bank of England urged to extend emergency action to manage market volatility October 11, 2022 A pensions industry body is urging the Bank of England to extend its emergency action to calm the markets and to manage volatility. After the Bank made fresh moves, widening the scope of its bond-buying programme, the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) said a “key concern” of pension funds had been that the period [...]
Astonishment as Liz Truss fails to mention today’s Bank of England emergency move during Cabinet meeting October 11, 2022 There is widespread astonishment among City analysts and Westminster insiders as Liz Truss failed to discuss the Bank of England’s latest emergency move with her Cabinet this morning. Downing Street said this afternoon the Bank of England’s latest intervention did not come up at Tuesday morning’s Cabinet meeting, nor did uprating benefits. Asked if the [...]
Number 10: BoE announcement will bring bond-buying scheme to ‘orderly end’ October 11, 2022 The Bank of England’s decision to extend its emergency bond-buying scheme today will bring the programme to an “orderly end”, according to Liz Truss’ official spokesperson. The Number 10 official told journalists today that today’s announcement was “in line with” the Bank’s “financial stability objective”. The central bank announced this morning it would purchase an [...]
Fire sale UK plc: Goldman Sachs to snap up British assets on the cheap as panicky UK pension funds flee October 11, 2022 In a near-unprecedented rush by British pension funds to raise their cash holdings, Goldman Sachs and a range of other investment giants are planning to snap up UK assets at discounts of up to 30 per cent. Since Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrously received mini-budget at the end of September, UK pension funds are rushing to improve [...]
UK unemployment falls to 50 year-low amid jobs market exodus October 11, 2022 A sharp rise in the number of Brits dropping out of the jobs market altogether has artificially pushed the UK unemployment rate down to its lowest level since the mid 1970s, official figures published today reveal. The volume of people in the UK not looking for work climbed around 330,000 over the last three months, [...]
£62bn of spending cuts needed to balance books, IFS forecasts October 11, 2022 Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng will need to slim the size of the state by £62bn to put the UK’s public finances on a stable footing, a top economic think tank said today. The prime minister and chancellor could be forced to reduce education and transport spending, which suffered deep cuts during the David Cameron [...]