Kate Andrews is deputy editor of The Spectator’s World edition.
Rishi Sunak has released photos of his Budget prep, as he prepares to stand up in the House of Commons tomorrow to deliver not just the government’s latest fiscal decisions, but the results of its three-year spending review. (Photos include a shot of his pre-Budget Twix and Sprite snack, which Sunak revealed to Katy Balls
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It’s Budget Week and Rishi Sunak has already telegraphed a lot of what we can expect from it, branding it as a good news affair including NHS spending and minimum wage reform…but who stands to feel the pinch? Katy Balls sits down with James Forsyth and Kate Andrews to discuss the Budget as well as
Is Rishi Sunak losing his battle within the Cabinet to promote fiscal responsibility? We’ll find out this week, when he unveils his Budget and three-year Spending Review on Wednesday, but there were hints this morning that more spending is coming down the track. Speaking to Andrew Marr on BBC One, Sunak laid out the principles
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Katy Balls talks to Kate Andrews and James Forsyth about the prediction from the Bank of England’s chief economist that the UK’s inflation rate could hit 5%.
Whisper it, but Rishi Sunak looks to be heading into the Budget next week with the public finances in a far better state than once predicted. The Office for National Statistics update on public sector net borrowing showed September’s total — £21.8 billion — coming in several billion pounds below the Office for Budget Responsibility’s
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Can the company that feeds the world beef burgers lead hospitality in reaching net zero? That’s what McDonald’s hopes to do as they lay out their Plan for Change 2021. With 1400 restaurants, over 23,000 British and Irish farmers and four million customers visiting them every day, will it be enough? Or is it just a drop
The health secretary has announced more money for the National Health Service. It’s a story we’ve heard time and time again – but this time the details are different. Sajid Javid has committed an additional £250 million for GP health practices to assist them in expanding their hours and upping the number of face-to-face appointments
Compared with July, August’s GDP boost looks much healthier — but that’s not saying much. Originally thought to have stagnated at 0.1 per cent, the economy in July actually shrank by 0.1 per cent, according to the latest update from the Office for National Statistics. If inflationary pressures continue to surge, the Bank may have
Now that the Chancellor’s furlough scheme has come to an end, are employers rushing to lay off those workers whose wages have been paid, at least in part, by the government? The good news for Rishi Sunak – and the taxpayer, who footed the bill for this multi-billion pound scheme – is that the early evidence suggests
International cooperation is alive and well – at least when it comes to raising taxes. One hundred and thirty six countries have now signed up to a global minimum corporation tax of 15 per cent, proposed by G7 countries in June and pushed heavily by the UK Treasury. This is another step forward for what
Rishi Sunak always said furlough wouldn’t save every job, especially as the pandemic changed the way we live and spend. Now that the scheme – which paid the salaries of millions of workers across the UK – has come to an end, was Sunak right? Early evidence suggests businesses are bringing their employees back to work, either into
Rishi Sunak didn’t give too much away tonight when he spoke in the ‘ThinkTent’ at Conservative Party Conference. The Chancellor is known for being cautious with his words, and has been increasingly tight-lipped in the weeks leading up to his October Budget. But his presence at the fringe event was telling in itself. Sunak was only billed
Are Covid restrictions coming back this autumn? It’s a far from settled question as we move into the colder, influenza-dominated months. But if there are those calling for tiers and lockdowns in winter, it seems increasingly likely that they’ll be coming up against, among others, the new health secretary. Gone are the days of the
There are two Tory conferences simultaneously taking place in Manchester, within the same conference hall and inside the same fringe events. One is attended by elated activists, who are revelling in the December 2019 victory they never got to celebrate at party conference last year. The other is attended by increasingly agitated grass root faithfuls,
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Ministers are bracing for the ‘EFFing crisis’ – that’s energy, fuel and food. As shortages are set to continue for months ahead, the knock-on effects have started to snowball. Will families have a turkey for Christmas? Will inflation cause the costs of living to spiral out of control? Can businesses cope with labour shortages? Katy Balls
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Freddy Gray speaks to the Spectator’s Economics Editor Kate Andrews about President Biden’s Infrastructure Bill and the US debt ceiling.
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As the UK faces a rising energy crisis with gas supplies in short supply, questions are arising of not just how we mitigate the problem in the short term but how we hedge against it in the long term? What role might nuclear energy play? What’s slowing down its development? Is it the technology? The
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In this week’s episode: is Boris Johnson running on empty or is a weak opposition giving him the momentum he needs? Kate Andrews asks in her cover story this week if Boris Johnson’s government has run out of ideas – as well as petrol. Katy Balls also writes in the magazine that the opposition seems
The Prime Minister is thought to thrive on chaos. If so, then he should be in his element. Wholesale gas prices have risen sixfold, winter heating bills are set to be the highest on record. Millions of people across the country are wondering what they might have to forgo to pay for heat. Supermarkets are
Labour avidly disagrees with the Tories’ plan to fill budget gaps by hiking National Insurance. So what would they do differently? This was one of the many tasks Rachel Reeves had today as the shadow chancellor delivered her speech at Labour party conference. Reeves not only had to set out an alternative tax-and-spend policy but also
