Kate Andrews is economics editor of The Spectator
The whispers going around last year’s party conference largely centred on the state of government – how it was deteriorating so quickly. This year’s whispers are about something that is by no means as dramatic, but possibly as existential to the future of the party: the prospect of tax cuts. The official line is simple:
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This week Freddy Gray takes a trip to Planet Biden and imagines what would happen if little green men invaded earth and found a big orange one back in the White House (01:15), Kate Andrews finds herself appalled by the so-called ‘advice’ routinely handed out to women that can be at best, judgemental, and at
The Office for National Statistics has released the UK’s quarterly national accounts this morning, which show growth in the second quarter of the year remains unrevised at 0.2 per cent. Meanwhile growth in the first quarter has been revised slightly upwards, from 0.1 per cent to 0.3 per cent. This means the economy is now 1.8 per
Adulthood was once determined by age, but now we’ve extended childhood far beyond the teenage years. If the government gets its way, the next generation will never grow up: there are reportedly plans to ban cigarette sales to anyone born after 2009. This would mean that, come 2060, 50-year-olds could be begging their elders to pop
Is the country morphing into ‘sick note Britain’? According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the average worker took 7.8 sick days in the past year: that’s up from 5.8 days from 2019 and the highest level reached since 2010. The number of days taken off is up in all sectors, but
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Jeremy Hunt said yesterday that it would be ‘virtually impossible’ to cut taxes in 2023. James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews about why the government has decided to spent more, rather than cut levies, and about whether Hunt and Sunak’s economic plan will come under criticism from Tory MPs at the Conservative
No one was expecting a big tax cut this year. Rishi Sunak’s government has been clear that 2023 is for the ‘difficult decisions’. If the Tories are to offer up a tax cut, it is much more likely to be announced in the Budget next March. Still, that didn’t make Jeremy Hunt’s comments on LBC
The Bank of England has voted to maintain interest rates at 5.25 per cent, rather than opt for a 15th consecutive hike. Reports that the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee decision was on a knife edge this week were bang on: the MPC voted 5 – 4 to hold the rate, with four members voting to
Will the government have room for tax cuts before an election? Politically, it’s thought to be non-negotiable that they must. Having put the tax burden on course for a post-war high by the end of this Parliament, Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt are going to have to relieve some of that pressure on taxpayers
Jeremy Hunt has been warning for weeks that inflation could rise over the summer due to an increase in fuel prices. Economists said much the same: the consensus was that the headline rate would jump to 7.1 per cent on the year in August. But this morning the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that the rate
You’d struggle to describe the start of 2023 as anything like ‘good economic times’. But according to the OECD’s economic outlook interim report, it’s better than what’s to come. The report, published this morning, expects rising rates around the world to take their toll on economic growth. Global growth has been downgraded for next year –
Was Liz Truss a fiscal hawk inside No. 10? That is the rather startling claim made by the former prime minister, speaking today at the Institute for Government about the future of economic growth. She has claimed public spending would be £35 billion lower over the next few years had her plans been followed, due
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Liz Truss took the stage this morning for her first major intervention on the economy since leaving No. 10. Her speech at the Institute for Government comes almost a year to the day since her mini-Budget saw the markets panic and her premiership come to an abrupt end not long after. What did she have
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For the first time since 1992 the US and the UK will have elections in the same year, and – for the first time since 1964 – there is a real chance that those campaigns could overlap. How will they impact each other? Kate Andrews speaks to Katy Balls and Freddy Gray.
Train drivers will strike for two days in the coming weeks, on 30 September and 4 October. These dates are no coincidence: they directly overlap with when MPs and attendees will be travelling to and from the Conservative party conference in Manchester. This move from Aslef and the RMT is far from subtle: the unions
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The government is reportedly looking into whether it should cut the second phase of HS2. But with so much money having already been pumped into the project, should they just see it through to the end? Katy Balls speaks to Fraser Nelson and Kate Andrews.
Last week there should have been a great victory for the British turbine industry. Auctions were held for offshore wind power, asking companies to bid for the right to supply electricity at £44 per megawatt hour – a third of the price offered eight years ago. The government and the renewables lobby hoped that a
Did GDP fall in July because of the wet weather? That’s the argument being made this morning, as the Office for National Statistics reveals that the economy contracted by 0.5 per cent in July, after having grown 0.5 per cent in (warm and sunny) June. Services output, production output and construction sectors all fell, by 0.5 per
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Rishi Sunak has refused to commit to keeping the pensions triple lock in the next Conservative manifesto. What’s behind his equivocation? And, if the triple lock is ditched, will Labour follow suit? James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and Kate Andrews.
Whisper it, but British workers seem to be getting a pay rise. This morning’s update from the Office for National Statistics reveals that average regular pay (which excludes bonuses) was up by 7.8 per cent between May and July this year, unchanged from the last three-month period. Wage growth has stayed a percentage point above headline inflation