Rupert Harrison is an economist and was George Osborne’s chief of staff when he was chancellor
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This week: the Chancellor’s Budget dilemma. ‘As a former championship chess player, Rachel Reeves must know that the first few moves can be some of the most important of the game,’ writes Rupert Harrison – former chief of staff to George Osborne – for the cover of the magazine this week. But, he says, the
As a championship chess player, Rachel Reeves must know that the first few moves can be some of the most important of the game. In preparing her Budget, she appears to be starting her tenure as Chancellor from a position of strength. Her background in the Bank of England gives her institutional credibility, and the
Olly Robbins will be trying to avoid the Prime Minister today after his hurricane strength gaffe was splashed all over the newspaper front pages. He deserves a fair share of the criticism that has come his way, but I’m sure most of us have mouthed off a little too loudly in the pub after a
Today’s budget forecasts a £20bn reduction in the tax receipts by 2021-22. That’s the cost of the productivity downgrade: The Treasury got a £9bn windfall this year from a lower borrowing forecast. That’s the same as the £9bn peak fiscal loosening in 2019-20: The £14bn higher borrowing by the end of the period is roughly
