Matthew Lynn is a financial columnist and author of ‘Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis’ and ‘The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031’
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Rachel Reeves is in the headlines again, for all the wrong reasons. The Chancellor’s entry in Who’s Who lists her as a contributor to the Journal of Political Economy. The problem? Reeves has, in fact, only published a single article in a far less prestigious publication, the European Journal of Political Economy. At this rate,
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The Labour government was pinning everything on an ambitious industrial strategy to boost growth. It was meant to make the UK the fastest-growing economy in the G7, reboot the economy, raise real wages and generate all the extra tax revenues that were going to pay for improved public services. The trouble is, there is not
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Electricity bills are going up. Netflix is adding a couple of pounds a month to the price of a standard subscription, and council tax is going through the roof. Most of us are probably struggling with the cost of living. There is, however, one piece of good news: the sub four per cent mortgage is
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They won’t have liked the message or the messenger. With characteristic bluntness, the American vice president J. D. Vance tore into the European Union’s smothering regulation of artificial intelligence today. Still, Europe’s leaders should listen. Vance happens to be absolutely right. When President Macron convened an AI summit in Paris this week, he was probably
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The European Union has hit back against Donald Trump’s decision to impose 25 per cent tariffs on steel imports. “Tariffs are taxes – bad for business, worse for consumers,” the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said, adding that the levy “will not go unanswered”. Yet for all the fire and fury, Europe will
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So, it seems that Donald Trump wasn’t bluffing after all. On his way to the Superbowl, the president made time to impose 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium imports into the United States, ramping up a trade war that has been looming ever since he moved into the White House last month. Speaking
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Mexico and Canada have been given a last-minute reprieve from Donald Trump’s tariffs. China has offered only the most half-hearted response to them. At this rate, even the European Union may be off the hook. Equity markets have rallied strongly as the trade war which seems about to crash the global economy appears to have
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It will hit back immediately. It will target the industries that will hurt the most. And it won’t be bullied or pushed around. We can expect to hear lots of tough rhetoric from European leaders today as the bloc prepares to retaliate against Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs of 10 per cent or more on
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The wait is over. After six months in government, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has decided that today is the day to step forward and pull the big lever marked ‘growth’. In a widely-trailed speech, she has outlined all the different ways her government is going to get the economy moving again. There is just one snag.
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Business confidence is falling. Companies are warning that profits will be lower than expected, and they are already planning to cut their output. The Chancellor Rachel Reeves might have hoped that this week would open with better news on the economy, especially as she is planning a major speech to relaunch her plan for growth
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You won’t be able to get a cup of coffee. Nor will you be able to pick up something from the patisserie or the pizza oven. A trip to Sainsbury’s was hardly the most exciting thing in the world, but it is about to get a little bit duller, with the grocery chain set to
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42 min listen
This week: the death of British industry In the cover piece for the magazine, Matthew Lynn argues that Britain is in danger of entering a ‘zero-industrial society’. The country that gave the world the Industrial Revolution has presided over a steep decline in British manufacturing. He argues there are serious consequences: foreign ownership, poorer societies,
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It may prove to be just the first of many screeching U-turns. Whilst hobnobbing among the plutocrats in Davos this week, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves has admitted that she may have to tweak her clamp-down on non doms, to make it less punitive for anyone who isn’t British, and happens to have a bit of
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The French sociologist Alain Touraine coined the term ‘post-industrial society’ in 1969. By the 1980s it had become shorthand for the kind of services-based, individualistic economies most major developed nations had created. Today, the UK is moving its economy beyond that. We are creating what might be called a ‘zero-industrial society’. Climate change targets, soaring
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As President Trump takes office later today, Keir Starmer has assembled his top team, tasking them with landing a trade deal with the United States. It’s a nice idea, sure, but he is not going to get a deal – and he will simply embarrass himself by very publicly failing. The Prime Minister has put
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If it was a Netflix mystery series, it would be the moment for the ‘big reveal’. After months of boasting about how she would make the UK the most competitive, dynamic, and indeed fastest growing economy in the G7 we finally have some idea of what Rachel Reeves is going to do to deregulate the
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Perhaps you could gather a group of traffic wardens and ask them how to build a racetrack. Or get the leaders of the Salvation Army over to suggest some cool ideas for a cocktail bar. Think up any improbable brainstorming sessions, and it will still be hard to imagine anything more awkward than the gathering
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They drive up prices. Rents go through the roof. And the locals can no longer afford a home. The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is so fed up with wealthy expats inflating the property market he is planning a 100 per cent tax on anyone from outside the EU buying a home in Spain. Of
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Bond yields are soaring to their highest levels in almost 30 years and sterling is sliding. The government’s economic strategy is facing its first real test, and where is the chancellor? So far Rachel Reeves has been silent, preparing for a jaunt to China. At some point she will have to address the markets –
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He has global experience. He has proven his leadership. And he has the management skills needed to turn around a sinking ship. As Mark Carney makes a bid to succeed Justin Trudeau as Canadian prime minister, he will no doubt make much of his credentials as a ‘rock star’ central banker. There is just one
