UK recovery blinks in the face of supply chain breakdowns leaving economy stumbling behind G7 rivals November 11, 2021 The UK economic recovery is blinking in the face of severe supply chain breakdowns and soaring inflation, leaving Britain stumbling behind its G7 rivals. Over the three months to September, the British economy grew 1.3 per cent, much lower than experts’ expectations, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Worryingly, the ONS revised down [...]
GDP: Summer spending pushes UK economy growth spurt of 1.3 per cent November 11, 2021 The UK economy grew by 1.3 per cent between July and September, down from 5.5 per cent in the previous three months, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said. The quarterly figure has fallen below analyst estimates of 1.5 per cent. The UK’s GDP remains just 0.6 per cent below its pre-pandemic levels after [...]
Rishi Sunak’s approval rating sinks, says new polling November 10, 2021 Rishi Sunak’s approval rating has dropped by 26 points since March as almost half the country think his latest Budget will be bad for them personally, according to new polling. A poll out today from Ipsos MORI showed Sunak has an approval rating of +6, down from +32 in March, while 44 per cent of [...]
Treasury Committee chief leads the crusade against fraudsters and financial crime November 10, 2021 Conservative MP Mel Stride has been a busy man recently. As chair of the Treasury Committee, a group of MPs that probe the government on their spending plans, he has been preoccupied with finding out whether Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s decision to swell the tax burden to its highest level in decades is a good idea. [...]
Mel Stride MP: It’s hard to see an ‘easy glide path’ to tax cuts November 10, 2021 The chief of an influential parliamentary committee that scrutinises the government’s spending plans has expressed his distaste at the tax burden swelling to its highest level since the 1950s. Speaking to City A.M., Tory MP Mel Stride, who chairs the Treasury Committee, expressed concerns over Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s decision to finance a ramping up of [...]
Brexit in the City: New powers for watchdogs FCA and PRA as UK moves away from EU rules November 10, 2021 The City’s main regulators, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), will be given new powers to set rules as the UK moves away from the EU framework after Brexit, according to Government proposals. Regulators will be required to consider how the UK’s financial sector can grow and compete internationally when setting [...]
Britons squeamish to spend their savings are jeopardising our economic recovery November 10, 2021 The economic recovery is under threat. British consumers are saving and not spending. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates that during lockdown, households accumulated a massive £180bn of so-called “excess savings”. Earlier in the year, most economic forecasts assumed that these would be run down. Lockdown had constrained people’s normal behaviour and with the [...]
City watchdogs ordered to go for growth by government November 9, 2021 The government will task financial regulators with boosting the City’s competitiveness as part of a push to secure the UK’s status as a leading financial hub. In a sweeping set of reforms launched yesterday designed to overhaul the regulatory regime shaping the City, the government said regulators would be given a further objective to “facilitate [...]
Forget second jobs, ministers should do start with the grunt work of their first ones November 9, 2021 In a storm of sleaze allegations, it was an unfortunate day for Sir Geoffrey Cox to publish details of his £400,000 a year job at Withers LLP. For the pleasure of being paid almost half a million pounds, he offers “international legal services”. Sir Geoffrey, is, after all, a QC. To borrow a lawyer’s phrase, [...]
How financial services must respond to the Chancellor’s challenge to the sector at COP26 November 8, 2021 The major surprise announcement for the UK’s financial sector at COP26 came this week in the form of a pledge by the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, for the UK to become the ‘world’s first net zero aligned financial centre.’ This very bold ambition, which we see as a natural leadership step for the UK to take [...]